[Tango-L] Gratuitous insults and "social" tango

[Carol Shepherd]

To me "social dancing" is, simply, any partner dance that is not 
choreographed and/or for competition.

There are those who understand "social dancing" to customarily imply 
dancing around with multiple partners in one evening.  For some of 
those, the intimacy of tango may be too much for more than the one 
partner they regularly dance with.  And so they may say they do not like 
to "social dance" or that social dancing to any style of tango is 
inappropriate.

Many on here are inappropriately using the word "social" (as in "nuevo 
is not a social dance") when they really should be using structural 
terminology and dance etiquette concepts to make these statements, such 
as traveling dance vs. slot or stationary dance, line of dance errors, 
and bad floorcraft.  Examples of line of dance errors and bad floorcraft:

--crossing a traveling line of dance, blocking a traveling line of 
dance, going too fast or slow or changing abruptly with no warning

(specifically in tango: stopping your traveling dance to execute several 
measures of nuevo in place, thereby causing couples behind you to 
collide like dominos.  Can we stop this PLEASE?)

--leading your partner into another couple without looking in your 
'blind spot,' failing to contract one's dance space to accommodate 
others on a crowded floor

It is very common in a small dance floor for a traveling dance to not 
coexist well with a stationary dance.  Most forms of nuevo are 
predominantly stationary and milonguero is a traveling dance with a line 
of dance.  The same structural conflict exists where some dancers are 
doing quickstep and others are doing lindy hop.  AFAIK there is no good 
way to deal with this on a very small floor other than the DJ announcing 
a set of one or the other and trying to make everyone happy some of the 
time.

The social convention in a larger dance floor that accommodates both 
structures, is for the traveling dance to progress around the outside 
and the stationary dance to be limited to the inside with a safe margin 
between them.  (Doh!)

It never ceases to AMAZE me that the non-traveling dancers will plant 
themselves directly in the line of dance.  They just haven't been told 
how to behave.

Any dance is a 'social' dance if the dancers are aware of and courteous 
to others and obey basic dance etiquette rules.  And any dancer is 
'anti-social' in being unaware by selfishly ignoring other dancers and 
their needs.

Sorry folks, but it's my experience that tango dancers on average know 
the least of all dancers in every style I do about standard dance 
etiquette and floorcraft.  Maybe because tango dancers are much less 
likely to come into tango as their first dance rather than from other 
ballroom experience where these are more frequently taught.  But I also 
think that floorcraft and etiquette are rarely taught in damce.  I 
myself cannot recall any tango class where the basic concepts of 
floorcraft and etiquette were presented and practiced.  (As opposed to 
practicing the structural characteristics such as the 'chairs in the 
center' line-of-dance type of exercise.)


David Thorn wrote:
>>> Which I suspect is why many people enjoy Nuevo. No need
>>> to worry about that pesky walk :-)
> 
> 
> I know that there is a smiley face at the end of this statement, but this nevertheless seems to me
> a rather gratuitously insulting remark, creating more heat than light, and perhaps reflecting significant
> ignorance on the part of the author.  I love the pesky walk in close embrace.  I love the joy of the open, more
> intellectual connection that exists in Nuevo.  What is the point of insulting the Nuevo dancers?
> 
> And while I'm bitching, I often fail to understand the use of the word "social" in the context of Tango.  To me, social
> dance is simply that which can be danced socially.  Much of what comes under attack here as "not social" can be
> easily danced in a social environment IF there is room on the dance floor, and IF the lead is good, and IF the follow
> has the requisite skill and fitness.  But lack of any of these doesn't make the style "not social", it simply means that
> the floor is too crowded or that the lead or follow isn't up to his / her job.
> 
> 
> Cheers, David
> 
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-- 
Carol Ruth Shepherd
Arborlaw PLC
Ann Arbor MI USA
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