[Tango-L] leaving the floor

[Crrtango@aol.com]

 Stephen Brown wrote:

< Some of the djs in the United States have begun reducing the length of
tandas to three songs to promote/enable more rotation between partners.
I'm interested in opinions about the desirablity of such an approach. >

 Traditional tandas serve a good purpose in that they establish cycles of 
slow or fast dancing interspersed with playful milongas and romantic waltzes. 
After one good tanda cycle, one is prepared to start again. Although breaking the 
cycle up into smaller increments may help rotation of partners it can make a 
choppy flow to the evening just as too-long tandas tend to drag out the flow 
and actually kill the mood.  I think once the beginners develop some skill and 
finesse they appreciate the standard structure. I think short segments are 
better for a practica than an actual milonga. It might be a question of balancing 
out the needs of the beginners with the needs of the more advanced dancers. 
As an advanced dancer I would not like a milonga of too-short tandas (although 
three tangos followed by a couple of waltzes and milongas isn't too bad). When 
I was running milongas at one of the schools where I taught, I used the 
three-tango, two-milonga, two-waltz structure for the same reason as Stephen... to 
get the students circulating, but at a larger Saturday-night milonga I would 
play four or five tangos before changing. Part of the problem is that there are 
more tangos than other types so you can use up your milongas and waltzes if 
the tango cycles are too short.
As for playing out the cortina that wouldn't go over very well here. People 
tend to get grumpy if the non-tango stuff stays on too long. One non-tango 
break of salsa and swing is all we ever do here, often right after, or right 
before the announcements and/or performance of the night. The notable exceptions 
are the few alternative-music milongas that we have.

Cheers,
Charles



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**************
Start the year off right.  Easy ways to stay in shape.
     
http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489