[Tango-L] TANGO 2000 ............For DUMMIES

[Jay Rabe]

I agree with:

> The people who cause trouble at milongas with tango nuevo
> stuff are often very skillful. 

> ... they are still causing trouble: by taking up more room than everybody
> else, by not advancing in the line of dance ... and by charging into any open space.

This last, charging into any open space, is particularly disruptive, as it requires everyone else to pay more attention to which way they're going to dart next, detracting from paying attention to the music and our partners.

Don't know what the solution is. Ultimately I suspect it will come down to the responsibility of the milonga host/organizer to enforce whatever codes they choose to have at their events. In the old days, so it's said, community norms of floorcraft were enforced by the community, by boxing out offenders, or by "talking" to them in the back alley when more polite methods didn't work.

And at it's most fundamental level, I think it amounts to a difference in personal values. A person who values an intimate connection, who values a calm and orderly LOD, will always be at odds with a dancer who values impressing his partner with his creativity and variety at the expense of an orderly LOD. And of course there must also be followers who prefer to be impressed with footwork than to be held in an intimate embrace. One way of doing things isn't "right" vs. "wrong," they're just different. The challenge is to find some way for the two very different ways of dancing to coexist.

J

P.S. Just coming down off the "festival high" from the Portland TangoFest, having been pleasantly surprised that floorcraft this year was noticably better than in years past. Attendance was down slightly, so perhaps the less-crowded floor contributed, but for whatever reason, it was nice.



 		 	   		  
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