[Tango-L] Your milonga secrets

[Jay Rabe]

I agree with Trini. I actually thought he was dancing very musically. That is, his steps were interpreting themes in the music. Maybe not the predominant themes, but he WAS dancing well to aspects of the music. While it's true he was not doing the "default" of stepping on every beat, I've always thought that was more a guideline than a "rule." 

I've always found interpreting milonga music problematic. Milonga music, like tango and valz, is complex music, multi-layered, multi-voiced. The problem is that I may "hear," and focus on and dance to, something different in the music than what my partner hears. In the slower tango and valz, this is not a problem, but in milonga, everything is going so fast that if she is not hearing and dancing to the same theme in the music, we can misstep. In my own dancing I notice this happens most in the transitions between dancing on the beat vs. dancing double-time, or dancing on the beat vs. pausing. This difficulty in making transitions at milonga-speed is no doubt why most people simply dance on every beat to avoid confusion.

As an aside, I've found that leading almost complete beginners in milonga can be pretty easy, once you give them the verbal expectation that they step and change weight on every beat.

        J 
    TangoMoments.com



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