[Tango-L] To dance or not to dance

[WHITE 95 R]

>From: "Jacob Eggers" <eggers at brandeis.edu>

>
>It's easy as a leader to say that you can have a night of dancing
>every tanda because there are more good followers out there than good
>leaders. (It's something that I've only recently appreciated)

Not true. I think the numbers are about equal.

>
>However, even for me as a leader. I find that I have usually have a
>better night if I only dance for my absolute favorite tandas and
>dancers. Either every dance can be good with some amazing dances, or
>every dance can be AMAZING. I find that I'm happier if every dance is
>amazing. This is not because of a lack of good followers, but because
>the difference in quality between the best followers and the good
>ones.

Of course it's better if all one's dances are "wow".. But how can you make 
sure of that? Even if you restrict yourself to dance only with your fave 
partners and to the music you like best, there is no guarantee that you'll 
have AMAZING dances. No 2 dances are alike and you'll spend time in vain if 
you go chasing for that special "tango high" (-;

>
>Still, I usually find that I'm unable to sit out and so >80% of the
>time I still dance >80% of the tandas in a night (excluding all night
>milongas).

This is more like it. Now I can agree with you. Generally what you say is 
true and I would be happy with those percentages. Unfortunately, the quality 
of the dancers present and the skill of the DJ can make or break the 
milonga. I've been to too many milongas wre the music was abominable and 
even with the best dancers I could not get satifyingly good dances. Also, 
sometimes the best dancers might not be available and even with good music, 
the dance experience is not superb. This is why I'm choosy about which 
milongas I attend. I avoid the ones with DJs who play music I don't like or 
those fequented by dancers who are not a good "fit" for me (usually those 
are one and the same).

Manuel