[Tango-L] milonga revisited

[Trini y Sean (PATangoS)]

--- On Tue, 8/17/10, Huck Kennedy <tempehuck at gmail.com> wrote:

>      The six-count basic milonga step for the leader was back right,
> side left, right forward cross, left forward, right side, and close.
> There was wiggle room to pivot around in there a bit, but the sequence
> both started and ended with the leader facing SE.
> 
>      A four-count basic milonga step for the leader was back right,
> side left, right forward cross, and close, again, starting and ending
> facing SE.

This has been my understanding for years, but also with a two-count basic, which is just a step and close.  Essentially, the 6-count basic is the 4-count basic with the 2-count basic added on.  None of these figures seemed to have names.  They were just described as counts to me.

However, recently, some have been describing the baldosa as the basic step, even having it mentioned as such in Wikipedia.  I think they are referring to a step in which the man faces down the line of dance and does the following:

- back step with right
- side step with left
- forward outside step with right
- forward inline step with left
- side step with right
- close with left and switch weight.

The back step and side step are sometimes left out.  Although I would view this as a common step and basic to the dance, I would not refer to it as "the basic step" for milonga.  The latter is how more people are referring it this figure.  This is essentially the same as the 6-count step, but for whatever reason, it's being taught as going down the line of dance.

The issue for me is that by ignoring the orientation (as described by Huck), the milonga I see in many places today looks too much like tango.  With the correct orientation, then it's much easier to get into many steps that are really only done in milonga (basically, grapevine variations).  I love those steps, but I just don't see it as much as I used to.

>From my experience, it seems to be Americans using this terminology, not the Argentines.  Unfortunately, I've noticed that what I've seen more and more of is teachers at festivals who are more credentialed as friends of the organizers than credentials as teachers.  While I can appreciate the whole networking aspect and think it's fine to a degree, I have to wonder if organizers have lost sight of how to best serve their audience.

Trini de Pittsburgh