[Tango-L] Reports from Buenos Aires: Navigation et al.

[Tango Society of Central Illinois]

Club Gricel has a long and narrow dance floor, the smallest width to
length ratio of any milonga dance floor in Buenos Aires that I know
of. The length of the floor can accommodate a lot of dancers in a
moving line of dance; however there is less mobility in the narrow
middle, so it is more likely that center-of-floor dancers will drift
into the perimeter. As far as I've seen, Michael is correct in saying
that, strictly speaking, there is only one line-of-dance in Bs As
milongas that moves counter-clockwise along the perimeter of the
floor. However, in contrast to what Michael has reported, I have never
seen a clockwise moving center area. In my experience the center also
generally moves more or less counter-clockwise, but with varying
degrees of mobility, including couples who are stationary for the most
part, and counter-clockwise progression may be less linear with
passing of other couples possible if necessary. One will occasionally
see some dancers moving clockwise or even in no particular direction.

Michael commented that there is a line on the floor at Lo de Celia
near the perimeter of the floor and, as I understood it, he suggested
this demarcated the line of dance. I have never thought this was a
traffic lane maker, nor that the porten~os needed it, especially in Lo
de Celia, where the line of dance is pretty well respected. As I
remember it, this line is not painted on the tile, but actually part
of the tile pattern. In any case, from my recollection, this line is
about 0.5 meters from the tables. The line demarcation is too narrow
for a line-of-dance progression, because in actually the progression
is not linear, but a progressive spiral. On a crowded floor it is
necessary to turn most of the time; the skill is to orient these turns
so that there is progression in a forward direction to keep up with
the slowly but surely moving forward progression of the line of dance.
Actually, in Bs As milongas, the line of dance generally progresses
more rapidly and smoothly under the same floor density as would a
typical progression at a US tango festival.

With respect to porten~os having poor navigation skills, it is true
that there are some who navigate poorly. In my experience milongas are
more crowded on weekends (Fri-Sat-Sun), in part because some porten~os
dance only or mostly on weekends, and collisions are more likely with
more inexperienced dancers on more crowded floors. However, a general
characteristic of porten~os who attend milongas regularly is that they
learn to navigate. Foreigners who go to Buenos Aires often encounter a
high floor density they have never experienced before. However, with
generally better navigational skills and a truly progressing line of
dance, navigation in Bs As milongas is typically easier than in US
tango festivals with the same floor density.

With respect to the decline in the quality of dancing in Buenos Aires
milongas, I believe that is true. There are several contributing
factors:
- Older dancers with a lot of experience are no longer dancing
- There are many porten~os leanring tango for the first time who are
now attending milongas
- More foreigners who have not learned the skills and codes of
navigation are attending milongas

Despite all of this, there is no better place to dance tango than in
the milongas of Buenos Aires.

I believe it is also correct to say that the quality of tango dancing
in the US has deteriorated over the last several years.

Ron