Reasons to give up Tango

[tangoing]

As a younger leader I find older unknown followers to be very polarizing in terms of skill. Either they’ve been dancing for decades or they just began. The ones who are intermediate I mostly already know since I’ve taken classes with them.

 

[WhiskeyPapa]

Let's be brutally frank for once. You are a good leader and you go to a milonga where you don't know anyone. Really no one. Perhaps in another city or even in another country. You take a quick look at the followers. You don't want to waste time watching them dance before inviting someone. Who do you assume will be the most skilled followers? The young and fit-looking women? Or the older women who aren't looking as fit? My experience is rather the young and fit-looking ones.

What about older fit looking women?

 

[LadyLeader]

Let's be brutally frank for once. You are a good leader and you go to a milonga where you don't know anyone. Really no one. Perhaps in another city or even in another country. You take a quick look at the followers. You don't want to waste time watching them dance before inviting someone. Who do you assume will be the most skilled followers? The young and fit-looking women? Or the older women who aren't looking as fit? My experience is rather the young and fit-looking ones.

When I land in a totally unknown milonga my ultimate goal is to find someone who I can dance with even if the tango communication would turn out to be a problematic chapter. Yes, to start with, I want to minimize the risks and therefore I ask the young dancers because they have faster reflex responses, they are lighter and the best they are still full of life and curiosity making the tanda a fun experience!

On other hand there is hardly anything to beat the feeling when a voluminous, skilled follower is turning around! This and many other options for good experiences need a more careful eye and timing before entering the pista.

 

[opendoor]

..there is hardly anything to beat the feeling when a voluminous, skilled follower is..

Volume does not correlate with skill. It's more likely the other way around! And for me, dancing and flirting are two very different things. I only assess the attractiveness of a woman away from and independently of the dance floor.

 

[LadyLeader]

Volume does not correlate with skill. It's more likely the other way around! And for me, dancing and flirting are two very different things. I only assess the attractiveness of a woman away from and independently of the dance floor.

I maybe should have written: . . . when a voluminous and skilled follower is turning around!

The future may be different but so far my most important and appreciated experiences have never been about pure high-level technique alone. It has always been about what the dancer expressed with that skill.

 

[ArbeeNYC]

They didn't always start late in life, though. I know quite a few followers who said that the number of invitations they receive declined as they get older, and it's definitely not because their dance skills waned ...

Yeah, not surprising. Age is a factor, unfortunately, even for very good dancers.

 

[ArbeeNYC]

That's why I'm sceptical about tango really being any worse or better than other dances in this respect. But doesn't this competition also exist in tango?

Competitiveness? It's most definitely a factor. It's not always overt but it's there.

 

[ArbeeNYC]

In part because leaders are always in short supply, in part because tango idolizes viejos milongueros.

It may idolize them, but they're only found in B.A. (or were). Being "of a certain age" doesn't make you a viejo milonguero, it just makes you viejo.

 

[ArbeeNYC]

You don't want to waste time watching them dance before inviting someone.

That can be a mistake, however.

 

[ArbeeNYC]

voluminous, skilled follower

What does "voluminous" mean here?

 

[JournalInTime]

It may idolize them, but they're only found in B.A. (or were). Being "of a certain age" doesn't make you a viejo milonguero, it just makes you viejo.

But you understand that most people don't split that hair, right? Old guys who dance tango are viejo milongueros in the eyes of many people, and that's that. The details of how Argentine tango culture works in Buenos Aires aren't even on the table for 95% of tango dancers.

 

[Rabbit]

But you understand that most people don't split that hair, right? Old guys who dance tango are viejo milongueros in the eyes of many people, and that's that.

Ah, no one is buying that myth around here.

 

[JournalInTime]

Ah, no one is buying that myth around here.

Lucky you where you are! Around here, all kinds of weird ol' creeps have managed to sell that.

 

[Rabbit]

and the best they are still full of life and curiosity making the tanda a fun experience!

I think you touched on an important point there. This curiosity and enthusiasm is a very desirable trait in a dancer and we should take care not to lose it with experience.

 

[opendoor]

..silver-haired ...dance as much as ever ..because. ..tango idolizes viejos milongueros..

You can find old men in many milongas. And many followers complain about it too.