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

[Alexis Cousein]

Jack Dylan wrote:
>> From: Alexis Cousein <al at sgi.com>
>>
>> Thank you for putting everyone in the same bag again. So, nuevo dancers are
>> all poor navigators and/or intrude on everyone's space again today?
>>
> 
> Please don't put words in my mouth because I definitely didn't say that. 
> I really don't care how good the Nuevo dancers are, or how good their 
> navigation is or whether or not they intrude into anyone's physical space. 
> 
> As I thought I said; the disturbance I most object to is mental, not physical.

Ah - so the mere presence of nuevo dancers makes you incorrectly generalise and
*fear* that they may be inconsiderate, and that's enough to make any individual
nuevo dancing couple a real threat, regardless of whether they are actually
inconsiderate?

[I'm nor putting words in your mouth, I'm genuinely asking if that's what you meant.]

That's called building a Feindbild. It's been used to rationalise a lot of things,
and I won't invoke Godwin's law to end this thread though it's an easy exercise
to the reader ;).

All styles of tango spawn their own flavours of inconsiderate dancers - the
problem is in the attitude of the dancers, not the style. While nuevo seems
to spawn a type of inconsiderate behaviour that I would nickname "the whirlwind",
traditionalists mired in dogma they don't understand seem to be able to spawn
their own inconsiderate phenotypes; the one I encounter most often is called
"the windscreen wiper".

It's a couple never stepping back (that you should not step back *against
the line of dance* is a given, but that's not the same thing), but their
insistence on facing always the same way leads them to swerve from
side to middle and back constantly (given that's the only nonlinear movement
they allow themselves). Not a problem in itself, but sometimes these are a
lot slower than the ronda; as their side to side motions make them
impossible to overtake, it leads to global caravanning on the dance
floor.

That's *also* inconsiderate, but they usually have a deeply rooted
conviction that they're doing it "right" (they're not; respecting the
ronda also means moving at the speed set by it) and that as a result
everyone else has a duty to make the ronda move at the speed
*they* desire to dance, while whirlwinds may often offer apologies
if they become aware that they are resented.

> 
> All we're asking is that you respect the spirit, tradition, codes and character 
> of the milonga you're attending. Is that really too much to ask?
> 
No, it's not. But as far as I'm concerned, it's the organiser who decides what
the rules are.

But that also means that when I am at a milonga where the rules
aren't set by staunch traditionalists, I *will* share the floor with anyone
who is considerate, be they nuevo dancers or not. I'll only fear those who
I've seen to misbehave (and will actively try to navigate away from them so
that I don't have to fear them, which is, of course, harder if there are
a lot of them).

And it also means that if someone is behaving like an ass, the fact that
he professes to "respect the spirit, tradition, codes and character"
is no excuse. If you're not being considerate (which means to be
abiding by a lot of subtle unspoken rules), then you aren't respecting
the codes, not even if you're desperately clinging to a small
set of beliefs about them and thus think you're "right".