[Tango-L] Milonga 101 -- leaving the floor at the end of a tanda

[Carol Shepherd]

Don't know what you are experiencing but here in MI there are less leads 
than follows by a large ratio, so dancers are frequently snarfing up 
their dance partner for the next tanda, while still on the floor.  Less 
common with the older folks than the college set.

Some observe the 'codigos' here but many people are very familiar within 
their own small group and have their 2 or 3 preferences and do not 
really dance around socially.  They have their tandas all lined up.

This can unfortunately be very hard for a newcomer (or a latecomer) (or 
a NNNNNN, where NNNNNN=more prevalent gender, if there is a handful or 
more extra of one gender).

Sitting out two or more tandas is maybe de rigeur somewhere like BsAs 
when you are an out-of-towner.  But if you are in your own community and 
you are not on the floor for 45 minutes it sure feels like you came out 
for a night of dancing and got nothing but a lot of sitting in.

A plea for taking the follow back to the floor, and dancing around with 
partners you haven't danced with in a while! :)


HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE :)


'Mash wrote:
> Now I don't know if this is just a UK thing but since I am at the moment watching more milongas then dancing them I may notice this more. It is that there is an almost audible popping sound at the end of the dance when partners seem to change polarity and repel the other away from them. It really is sometimes like watching people force themselves to be connected while the music plays and when it stops; like musical chairs they "pop" out of each others arms like it was some horrible ordeal they have been through. 
> 
> I have personally made a point to enjoy the embrace a little longer and slow the whole thing down, this is though with a regular partners and not with complete strangers yet. I am talking about pausing and enjoying the fact that we have just spent time totally immersed in music and dance and not bursting away from each other and ruining the moment. A (strange) parallel I can draw would be my own habit of when watching a DVD in the evening before I heading to bed I make sure I turn the TV off at the end of the credits and then the DVD so that the last thing I remember and hear is the moving sound score during the credits and by not switching off the DVD first avoid being hit with some unforgivable TV show and thus ruining the still introspective atmosphere. Now don't judge me too much on this madness it does make some sense.   
> 
> I was wondering if this magnetic repulsion (want of a better word, repulsion is a little too strong "repelation?") is something other people see and is actually the norm and more so am I with my alien attitude going to get a reputation as being clingy if I stay in the moment?
> 
> 'Mash
> London, UK
> 
> "Tango; sorry I thought it was a dance."
> 
> 
> On Sun, Dec 30, 2007 at 03:56:36PM -0300, Janis Kenyon wrote:
>> It's surprising how many men in the milongas turn around and walk the other
>> way when a tanda ends, leaving women on the floor.  They either haven't
>> observed proper ballroom dance etiquette or are too lazy to accompany the
>> woman to the edge of the floor.  Unfortunately, this isn't usually discussed
>> in classes; many teachers don't practice this themselves.
>>
>> Men need to be reminded.  I was amazed when I saw a friend of mine, who has
>> years of experience in the milongas, constantly leave women in the middle of
>> the floor at the end of a tanda.  He seemed to be opting out for the
>> shortest distance to his table, rather than escorting a woman back to where
>> he met her on the floor.  Often he was seated before the woman reached her
>> table.  Last night the woman seated next to me returned alone practically
>> every tanda.  That says something about her choice of partners.
>>
>> There are gentlemen in Buenos Aires.  It is common practice by milongueros
>> to hold the woman's upper arm or place their hand on her back while
>> escorting her to the edge of the floor.  There is no handholding or hand on
>> her shoulder by the man unless he is seated with his partner.
>>
>> As any milonguero will tell you, it isn't necessary to say "thank-you"
>> because you made a mutual agreement to dance together.  If you danced to the
>> end of the tanda, mutual enjoyment is understood.  Nothing needs to be said.
>>
>> Janis
>> www.ToTango.net/milongueros.html
>>
>>
>>
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-- 
Carol Ruth Shepherd
Arborlaw PLC
Ann Arbor MI USA
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