[Tango-L] Surplus Tanguera - Not (reply to Skip's 1st)

[Carol Shepherd]

Trini, I disagree. I think the multiple-tanda woman is motivated by not 
wanting to mess with a good thing.  She looks around and sees surplus 
women standing around not dancing every time she goes out, and she 
thinks "that could be me if I'm not careful, he wants to dance a lot 
with me, I like dancing with him, and maybe he would move on to another 
partner who is willing to dance multiple dances."

A lot of men are not looking for novelty and the challenge of figuring 
out different follows.  They are simply going to stick with a partner 
all night if there is no pressure to do otherwise.  It makes them feel 
more competent with the responsibility of leading, they relax more 
because they know what is going to happen, and of course...everyone 
enjoys dancing more with someone they enjoy dancing with.  These guys 
are in every type of social dance, not just tango.  (A lot of people on 
this list are extremely high level and very motivated and might like the 
novelty of different partners.  They forget that the average dancer who 
is not so committed, doesn't necessarily enjoy the challenge of figuring 
out multiple partners.)

Long cortinas are absolutely necessary to encourage people to switch.

I would recommend a cortina of 2 minutes or more, ie, a whole non-tango 
song.  With a short cortina it's very easy to remain standing in the 
middle of the floor with the same partner--sometimes they even keep 
their arms together!  If the cortina is longer, standing in the middle 
of the floor with people staring at you starts to feel uncomfortable, 
and people are more likely to leave the floor and get a drink or socialize.

The power struggles and effects on social behavior caused by a surplus 
of leads or follows are underrated.  Community organizers should be 
thoughtful about this.

Plus my other comments on the way this problem is exacerbated by long 
tandas, and not having available non-tanda dancing at practicas in 
communities where partners are more willing to try out new partners, etc 
etc.

Regards,

Trini y Sean (PATangoS) wrote:
> 
> She is trying to be polite so she doesn't refuse tanda
> request #3?  That's absurd.  These women are either not
> telling you the truth or must say yes to every guy who asks
> her for sex.

...

> 
> Skip:
> It takes two to agree to a dance.  So I interpret these 3+
> tandas as being that these people really like dancing
> together.  If I dance 3 or 4 tandas with a man at one time,
> it's because I find him to be very musical and I'm
> interested in how he interprets different musical styles (a
> very nice thing about the tanda system is its
> predictability).  If during two tandas his dance is the
> same, then, he's pretty much played all of his cards and
> the game is over.  For these long sets, I try to save those
> tandas for later in the evening so that I can end my night
> on a high note.
> 

-- 
Carol Ruth Shepherd
Arborlaw PLC
Ann Arbor MI USA
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