Why some women are not asked to dance

[Brummbaer]

4T-c-4T-c-3V-c-4T-c-4T-c-3M-c-

I'd need to check, but isn't that somewhere's tradition? Some recollection of it being related to ad breaks in US radio shows of the 40s/50s...

In the UK the majority seem to go for 3T-c-3T-c-3V-c-3T-c-3T-c-3M-c... I've come across the 4T here amongst traditionalists, but mainly the 4T option in EU countries. I won't get into the 'c is silent' lazy TJs. There's also the full length 'c', which is either boring for some, or doesn't clear the floor.

The cortina needs to be sufficiently long to find another partner

 

[Rabbit]

But if you can't hack reading a crowd, managing its energy, and a establishing a flow in general . . . you can't magically do so for tango in particular merely because you dance it yourself.

Well, for some reason in tango, people think that collecting lots of old recordings, being a competent sound technician or studying the history of "golden age" orchestras is sufficient to make them a good DJ. This is absolutely not the case, it's the skill set of an archivist rather than a DJ. As a result, the standard of tango DJing is much lower than regular DJing and it's rare to get a DJ set that's any better than "okay".

Nobody dares deviate from that, and nobody much takes a gamble on music from lesser-known orquestas, especially those of the 1950s and 1960s.

Why stop there... at least play some music recorded this century, FFS. We are not in a museum.

 

[JournalInTime]

I won't get into the 'c is silent' lazy TJs.

Ugh. That breaks the mood so badly that I want to go home. ("There's no music, so it must be over.")

There's also the full length 'c', which is either boring for some, or doesn't clear the floor.

That's almost as bad. One of our local DJs is terrible for this. I find a 15- to 25-second clip more than enough.

 

[JournalInTime]

Well, for some reason in tango, people think that collecting lots of old recordings, being a competent sound technician or studying the history of "golden age" orchestras is sufficient to make them a good DJ. This is absolutely not the case, it's the skill set of an archivist rather than a DJ.

100% this. You get far more tango DJs obsessed with "deep cuts" and bitrates than . . . well, any other kind of dance DJs. It's like they're trying to be late-night radio DJs, or as you say, archivists. Nothing to do with dancing at all.

As a result, the standard of tango DJing is much lower than regular DJing and it's rare to get a DJ set that's any better than "okay".

My favorite around these parts was better than "okay." Then he died of cancer, on the same day my father died of cancer.

Why stop there... at least play some music recorded this century, FFS. We are not in a museum.

True. I've seen a lot of live tango, some of it original, most of it good. Even if the pieces aren't original, why not play them instead of scratchy, tinny old recordings whose main claim to fame is nostalgia about who's playing or where they were recorded.

 

[itwillhappen]

That's down to a poor DJ. Even where there are no tandas the music should still be played in "sets". Every nightclub and wedding DJ understands how to work a floor so I don't see how a tango DJ can't manage. There are 30minutes or so of one "mood" followed by the next. In tango it would be like an hour of tango, followed by 30 minutes of milonga, back to laid back slow to moderate tangos, then Vals, more energetic or modern tangos, then a bit of fun stuff ending with a final set of tango and the last song.

Each community gets the DJs they want to pay for.
However, all of this can easily get tested, even for an hour or two at the beginning of a milonga. If there is a demand, the market will take care of it.
I like it to be attentive during the first song of a tanda and after that to relax and chat.

 

[Mr. Moustachio]

I'm not 100% on board with dancing the cortinas.

Almost all Montreal tangueros don't know anything aside from tango, so it doesn't matter if the cortinas are danceable or not.

 

[JournalInTime]

Almost all Montreal tangueros don't know anything aside from tango, so it doesn't matter if the cortinas are danceable or not.

Well, a lot seem to dance Latin dances . . . one whiff of bachata, salsa, or merengue and good luck clearing the floor. Beyond that, yeah. Personally, I've always liked the DJs who played recent popular music or rock; Bernard Caron playing Prince is priceless, and Réal Cloutier loves him some 1970s chansonniers québécois.

 

[Tangogal]

Almost all Montreal tangueros don't know anything aside from tango, so it doesn't matter if the cortinas are danceable or not.

I didn’t say they were good at dancing the Cortinas

I’d like a clap of thunder and short storm - the kind of Nature sounds for meditation as a cortina. No possible way to dance to that. Nothing too melodic so no whale song or dawn chorus

 

[Cabbit]

When a dj plays a whole salsa song as a cortina. Im a very calm and non violent person, but...

 

[JournalInTime]

I didn’t say they were good at dancing the Cortinas

As someone who came of age in the 1980s, that's how I feel whenever the DJ plays '80s music and I see people trying to dance to it.

I’d like a clap of thunder and short storm - the kind of Nature sounds for meditation as a cortina. No possible way to dance to that.

Great ideas!

When a dj plays a whole salsa song as a cortina. Im a very calm and non violent person, but...

Yeah. For whatever reason, Latin dance does nothing for me, so two-three minutes of clave and clanking does nothing for me, either.

 

[Tangogal]

When a dj plays a whole salsa song as a cortina. Im a very calm and non violent person, but...

I actually carry earplugs with me. They’ve come in handy so many times

 

[Numawan]

I’d like a clap of thunder and short storm - the kind of Nature sounds for meditation as a cortina. No possible way to dance to that. Nothing too melodic so no whale song or dawn chorus

Something like that?

 

[Tangogal]

Something like that?

way too danceable!
this is more like I had in mind.

 

[Brummbaer]

Ugh. That breaks the mood so badly that I want to go home. ("There's no music, so it must be over.")

Ah, the 'silent c' is a slightly longer, sometimes imperceptible, pause between tandas. Sometimes indistinguishable from the pause between tracks - although I have seen TJs with a short 'silence' track between tandas. You have to know that the custom is 3T and not 4T!

 

[TTanguero]

There are 30minutes or so of one "mood" followed by the next. In tango it would be like an hour of tango, followed by 30 minutes of milonga, back to laid back slow to moderate tangos, then Vals, more energetic or modern tangos, then a bit of fun stuff ending with a final set of tango and the last song.

One of my favourite milonga DJs alternates lyrical and rhythmical tango tandas, and I love that: means I know the tandas I'm (mostly) going to want to dance, and allows time for chat.