The long-term solution is dual-role dancing?

[Rabbit]

I watched an interesting spectacle at a recent milonga. There was a gorgeous ballet dancer follower who looked really hot and was wearing at least 10cm heels. Good leader after good leader danced with her, but she was perfectly awful and danced as if she was fabulous. I could see the leaders disorientation as they were aggressively back led and pulled through completely inaccurate interpretations. One leader friend of mine danced with her and kindly said “wow. She’s got a mind of her own. Buckle up and hold on.”

Relevant to the subject of active following actually. Maybe we call this hyperactive following.

I'm familiar with this type of follower, IE skilled dancers from other disciplines that are trying out tango. I find the unpredictability and high energy fun because I might not get the standard response to a lead. So long as they have general dance skills, I don't care whether they know any tango or not. I just improvise with them.

 

[itwillhappen]

All things being equal (dance compatibility, body type, clothes, height when wearing their choice of footwear, etc.), I would cabeceo the follower wearing heels over a follower wearing flats.

One of the main reasons I dance tango is to enjoy unbridled, intense, actual femininity; androgyny is mediocre, and I experience enough masculinity just by existing.

Tangueras in flat shoes live healthier than tangueros who make a flippant comment about it!

 

[Tangogal]

This video demonstrates pretty much everything I was saying!

The experienced dancer (she said she studied ballet) is able to articulate her feet and simply implement the techniques with her heel lowered. A beginner dancer will need a lot more practice to find those balance and pivot points on their feet. A heel (and how high is again down to previous experience in dance and heel wearing) eliminates the heel raising and calf strain associated with it.

 

[JournalInTime]

It's a fuzzy continuum; using topology terms here, one goes from observing and analysing the ronda as a union of only isolated points (individual couples) to some nebulous union of a connected space and isolated points (distinguishing between individual couples who are behavioural outliers, and the other dancers which we can group together into the same set), and then a single connected space (emergent behaviour of the group). And we just move along the continuum from moment to moment as we observe the ronda.

I agree that it's fuzzy! Which said, I'm training myself to see only the emergent behavior when I look beyond my own couple.

Most of the ills of tango originate from seeing and judging individuals or small groups. That's the path to arguments, cliques, enmities, etc., however. When I ignore that it's Leader X who did Thing Y I didn't like, or that Follower P dances more often than Follower Q, and just look at the ronda as a collective inside the milonga as a greater collective, destructive emotions melt away and I understand better what I need to do to improve the experience for not just me, but also others. Moreover, my skill become portable outside of communities where I know who Leader X and Followers P and Q are.

More concretely, I think that good floorcraft is less about what you do as emergency measures in your immediate bubble and more about how you match what you do to the big picture in the entire room . . . If you know what the dominant demographic is, how fast things are moving overall, where the trouble spots are, what the trouble hours are, etc., you can preempt the need to respond to local emergencies.

I sound like I'm quoting the so-so action film Equilibrium:

Through analysis of thousands of recorded gunfights, the Cleric has determined that the geometric distribution of antagonists in any gun battle is a statistically predictable element. The gun kata treats the gun as a total weapon, each fluid position representing a maximum kill zone, inflicting maximum damage on the maximum number of opponents while keeping the defender clear of the statistically traditional trajectories of return fire. By the rote mastery of this art, your firing efficiency will rise by no less than 120%.​

That, but for tango floorcraft.

 

[pianistamediano]

Most of the ills of tango originate from seeing and judging individuals or small groups. That's the path to arguments, cliques, enmities, etc., however. When I ignore that it's Leader X who did Thing Y I didn't like, or that Follower P dances more often than Follower Q, and just look at the ronda as a collective inside the milonga as a greater collective, destructive emotions melt away and I understand better what I need to do to improve the experience for not just me, but also others. Moreover, my skill become portable outside of communities where I know who Leader X and Followers P and Q are.

I agree! But we must try to see both the forest and the trees, regardless of whichever perspective is more useful at the moment.

 

[pianistamediano]

Tangueras in flat shoes live healthier than tangueros who make a flippant comment about it!

I have a shield wall of tangueras in heels ready to defend my honour (and an assurance of a multitude of great tandas from a grateful tanguero)!

 

[JournalInTime]

I agree! But we must try to see both the forest and the trees, regardless of whichever perspective is more useful at the moment.

Perspective is going to depend on your role at the moment:

Teacher in group lessons where individual attention would be "a few minutes"? See the forest.​

Organizer planning an event? See the forest.​

DJ choosing what to play? See the forest.​

Maestros planning a demo or tour? See the forest.​

Leader managing floorcraft? See the forest.​

Teacher in private lessons? See the trees.​

Organizer greeting people at the door? See the trees.​

Following looking for an invitation? See the trees.​

Leader inviting someone? See the trees.​

Dancing with a partner? See the trees.​

I'm not saying it's a strictly binary either/or! I'm just saying that it's always going to be more one than the other, so if you're cutting corners, it's safest to cut corners in favor of the dominant perspective.

 

[pianistamediano]

I watched an interesting spectacle at a recent milonga. There was a gorgeous ballet dancer follower who looked really hot and was wearing at least 10cm heels. Good leader after good leader danced with her, but she was perfectly awful and danced as if she was fabulous. I could see the leaders disorientation as they were aggressively back led and pulled through completely inaccurate interpretations. One leader friend of mine danced with her and kindly said “wow. She’s got a mind of her own. Buckle up and hold on.”

I dance with those types of followers only when the floor is emptier. I am not afraid to admit that I don't do it only for the dance — I do have ulterior motives some of the time! Backleading or pulling isn't an issue because I am strong enough to just stand there and stop them from moving. All that time in the army has had its benefits!

If they go wild, well... Let's just say that I can go even wilder.

But her femininity was getting her a lot of tandas.

Some women just ooze (bad verb, but still quite fitting!) femininity. It's in the way they move off the pista (let alone on the pista!), in the way they speak, in their body and facial expressions. I do not have the words to adequately describe what that experience is like. While I remain level-headed in all but the most extreme of situations, I'm still a sucker for women like that.

Anyway, i do think that people who dance tango are attracted to the masculine and feminine of it; to the respectful chivalry and feminine reinforcement; to the interplay and exchange of lead and follow; to the agreement of followers to follow and leaders unapologetically l, but respectfully leading. And yes… to the ever iconic tango heels. <3

Apropos of that, I'd like to direct you to this post by Tango and Chaos.

The Holy Grail of Tango is entrega... and entrega is a trinity. It has three parts: man, woman, and music. To attain it, a man and a woman must both have an informed passion for the music. They must understand and feel deeply together, and they must both be willing to put all the meat on the fire—to surrender themselves with no self-consciousness and no vanity.

We understand this to be within the non-all-encompassing context of masculinity and femininity opposing yet complementing each other in tango. The whole is so much greater than the sum of the parts. But that requires that each of us hold nothing back, and be as much ourselves as we can be.

 

[pianistamediano]

I'm not saying it's a strictly binary either/or! I'm just saying that it's always going to be more one than the other, so if you're cutting corners, it's safest to cut corners in favor of the dominant perspective.

Indeed! Approximations require sacrifices, and should be made when deemed more practical.

 

[Be Present]

This video demonstrates pretty much everything I was saying!

The experienced dancer (she said she studied ballet) is able to articulate her feet and simply implement the techniques with her heel lowered. A beginner dancer will need a lot more practice to find those balance and pivot points on their feet. A heel (and how high is again down to previous experience in dance and heel wearing) eliminates the heel raising and calf strain associated with it.

I found another in my feed while watching yours. Great information in both. Thanks for posting!

 

[David_In_CA]

I watched an interesting spectacle at a recent milonga. There was a gorgeous ballet dancer follower who looked really hot and was wearing at least 10cm heels. Good leader after good leader danced with her, but she was perfectly awful and danced as if she was fabulous.

In the leaders' defense -- you can definitely pick up when someone has had a lot of dance training before you see them dance. Then, once you're on the floor, you realize that dance training was in an entirely different dance. Nothing to do but hold on for the ride at that point.

 

[pianistamediano]

I found another in my feed while watching yours. Great information in both. Thanks for posting!

Yelizaveta's Tango Banters (her podcast) are also quite enjoyable to listen to, I highly recommend them too!

 

[ArbeeNYC]

I am not getting into gender beliefs. I am just stating this generally. But their will be male followers who may prefer heels for function or because of how feminine the heels are.

Heels also occupy less floor area than flats do (especially the really clunky dance sneakers), which can be an advantage at times to both partners. Most of the time, the women only has the small sole of her high heel on the floor in front of the leader (front, side, whatever), so it occupies less space.

 

[Mr. Moustachio]

I could see the leaders disorientation as they were aggressively back led and pulled through completely inaccurate interpretations.

So, an active follower?

 

[Be Present]

So, an active follower?

As someone else said… ‘HYPERACTIVE.’

But the replies to that post are both honest and enlightening, ehich I appreciate.

Apparently a lead’s tolerance for being aggressively backled or a follower not understanding his proposals is directly affected by the follower’s hotness. I find this honest and genetic. : D