So, simply structured music with a reliable rhythm, more Donato than Troilo, more D'Arienzo than Biagi; and of course Di Sarli, Di Sarli, Di Sarli; never ever Gobbi/Landó??
Here, practicas are more like a sandbox for course participants.
As you're aware, practicas nowadays can range from a few people meeting somewhere to practice, through 'guided practica', with some teacher, to 'informal' milonga. That may mean anything from using some music (possibly on their smartphone) someone wants to try out (including Troilo, Biagi, Fresedo, Pugliese,... to contemporary renditions, or alternatives) which they tryout when there's a slot, to some playlist just running for that 'informal milonga'. Some traditional, some 'alternative' (i.e. a longer cortina)
A 'guided practica' with some teacher - who may have music appropriate to what they're guiding, possibly from some previous lesson, or as requested.
I used to be something of a Nürburgring addict, and a small syndicate of us bought an old Golf GTi to live there so we could just fly in. We spent some money on the suspension and brakes (but not the engine) and were found there almost every weekend overtaking Porsches and Ferraris.
It sounds like you may know my friend Chris Rae?
How great to run on the world's best race track! I don't know Chris, but will look for him as I'm hoping to spectate (maybe crew) at Lemons this summer.
Good point and I did take it in a different direction. If racing for enough prize money (implies a large crowd, like NASCAR or F1), significant money does get spent on the car. I remember insufficient equipment at last summer's milonga on the beach -- the waves were surprisingly loud and it was hard to hear on the little bluetooth speaker (1st one broke, and they did rush and eventually get a big speaker going). One of my best computer enhancements was attaching speakers with a good bass speaker. Wow, what a difference!
This is shocking. There is always at least one at every milonga I attend here.
Dunno, that sounds rather surprising.
Maybe aspiring DJs should practice there. It's usually informal in dress and any etiquette only, but no reason it should just be the simpler pieces - depending on the clientele.
Maybe they're more consistent, or conform to some expectations. I find it varies.
The vast majority of the "Spotify Dancers" copies from mediocre and overplayed playlists, listening to the tracks sporadically, and then they're happy when, during a dance session, the time finally comes to play that stuff. And especially if it's real tango music, and even then, the sound quality is poor.
Musically of course - and if it hasn't been realized today, then probably in a few years.
Isn't it there and chosen because, by some measure, it's 'popular', danceable, liked, and enjoyed, whereas some DJ's choice of some obscure 'gem' isn't?
I don't think the quality of the orchestra is the deciding factor, Rabbit ! It's about style, it's about ideology! Let's not kid ourselves, 15 to 20 years ago the character of the music played at milongas changed drastically: suddenly, dos-por-cuatro became fashionable again, and music oriented towards cadencia became popular. Long melodic arcs vanished. And don't forget, parallel to the change in musical style, the codigos began to be promoted, which hadn't existed in that form in the previous decades. New formats like encuentros also emerged. And the DJs orchestrated this development.
Personally I wouldn't trust a presentation to Spotify, or similar. Rather like I'd never trust a PowerPoint presentation to files on a remote network or cloud storage. I'd want something local, under my control - with backup(s).
In my opinion, DJs who play music that's unpleasant to dance to for the majority, should be replaced by better DJs.