[Tango-L] Abusing the available space

[Shahrukh Merchant]

tony parkes <macromagix at gmail.com> said:

> last sunday night at porteno y bailarin there was a large young crowd
> so both floors had a large proportion of couples dancing nuevo. there
> were no physical conflicts, 

And last night at El Beso there was a large crowd of all ages (as is 
usually the case there). Nothing that I saw that resembled outwardly 
what people call nuevo, except a half-hearted colgada attempt towards 
the end when there were only a handful of couples on the floor.

There were about 5 men causing navigation problems (I memorized their 
shirt colour and form to make it a little easier to anticipate problems 
emanating from them and to avoid them). All but one was "young" (let's 
call that 20-35 range)--the other was well over 60. Yes, the 
half-hearted colgada guy was one of them. At least one of them was a 
teacher, and probably a second as well (both Argentines). There was also 
one guy trying out all sorts of gancho/sacada tricks on his 
tortured-looking partner that he apparently recently learned, but he was 
clearly a novice dancer.

80% of the problems they caused (that I experienced and to a lesser 
extent saw with others) was caused simply by their taking back steps 
against line of dance without looking or having confirmed the space was 
clear beforehand. The remaining 20% was caused by aggressive dancing, 
especially from the "teachers," which by design or otherwise resulted in 
their clearing a space around them arguably larger than their "fair 
share" (there were a number of other dancers as or perhaps more 
technically skilled than they that didn't feel the need to exhibit their 
"skill" in this way).

(Digression -- So whoever said that it was an oversimplification that 
back steps are the cause of navigation problems (actually it is back 
steps by the man against line of dance in a crowded situation without 
having visually cleared the space, and almost always consecutive back 
steps) was correct on the oversimplification part, but as a practical 
matter, that would be an *excellent* start, thank you!)

But at any rate, I couldn't and wouldn't blame "nuevo" for any of these 
navigation problems I encountered.

> but i for one was emotionally put off by
> their dancing with a different energy, a different rhythm, a different
> topographical direction. when moreno sang rodriguez's llorar por la
> mujer there was no connection by the nuevosists to the lyrics, it
> could have been jingle bells.

I sympathize -- the energy of the room undoubtedly influences the energy 
of an empathetic dancer. But where are you going to find a Milonga where 
everyone or almost everyone is dancing with the same energy, or even 
with compatible energies?* The energy or rhythm one feels is a personal 
thing (except for the "different topographical direction" part, which is 
the previously discussed bad-navigation problem, but they don't 
necessarily go hand in hand). Yes, there needs to be compatibility in 
the use and sharing of the space, but even if just out of a "survival 
instinct," would it not be better to try to isolate the way everyone 
else is feeling the music or the dance from your own tango enjoyment?

Shahrukh