[Tango-L] bitter sweet experience

[Amaury de Siqueira]

I just came back from a workshop in the Midwest.  The instructors line up was very good; the themes for the workshop were all very useful and carefully put together; the hosts were incredibly hospitable and kind.  Eight of my students attended the workshops and their learning experience was wonderful.
Overall the experience from the event stand point was very positive!

The dark side was represented by some of the dancers attending the workshop and the nightly milongas.  During class we could feel the disdain and anger that some of the dancers had towards others either because they superior to less skilled dancers or because they were not selected during one of the many 'couple switches'.

The milonga event was SO terrifying that a very famous couple switched an entire class theme to address the horrible events that took place on the dance floor in the night before.
We spent an entire class period learning how to navigate and to move cordially and politely on the dance floor.
What I witnessed was sad... people were simply stepping on the dance floor instead of waiting for a proper timing to step onto the dance floor.  As a result I saw most the male dancer jumping in front of other couples and causing in some instance collisions. No matter how crowded the floor is one can always carefully merge with the traffic.

In another instance I saw a woman kicking the mid-section of a man's back while she was attempting to do some sort of flying leg movement.

In a sad way the lack of respect, anger, disrespect experienced in this workshop mimic some of the past events we have witnessed in the tango list.

This was truly a bitter sweet event...

Good night
Amaury