[Tango-L] Navigation (was: Using the social dance as THE model)

[RonTango]

----- Original Message ----
> From: Ming Mar <ming_mar at yahoo.com>

> 
> Mario writes:
> >In this video we see two very experienced and capable 
> >social dancers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbUai1Lv5-0

> I find it interesting that after he does 6-7-8 of  the 
> basic, the next step is a back step.  I also find it 
> interesting that he sometimes takes three back steps.  
> While some  people might dislike the back step, it is 
> evidently  authentic.
> 


This video provides a very good example of how experienced dancers navigate in 
the milongas of Buenos Aires. 

Almost every man who has any sense of navigation in the US proceeds around the 
floor walking facing forward in the direction of the ronda, using turns when 
forward progression is no longer feasible. This is how we have all been taught - 
walk forward and turn if you can't walk forward anymore.. I have never met an 
instructor who has taught otherwise for tango, although I have met a rare few 
who teach a different (perhaps optional) mode of progression for milonga.

In Buenos Aires milongas with experienced dancers (the Lo de Celia milonga shown 
in the video is a good example), the men start the dance facing the tables, with 
the woman with her back to the tables. The man typically starts the dance with a 
back step on the right foot that moves back towards the center of the floor 
(side left is another option). The second step is typically then side left, 
which progresses in the direction of the ronda, but not facing in that 
direction. The dance then progresses in the ronda to a large degree with side 
steps and forward steps towards the tables. The man brings his feet together 
(first right, then left) when near the tables and then starts the sequence again 
with the right foot backward towards the center. This creates a rectangular 
pattern, a 'basic' 1-2-3-4 (back right - side left - forward right - collect 
left to right) that is the backbone for navigation. This is sometimes (rarely) 
taught as a basic for milonga in the US. (I believe I have only encountered 3 
instructors who have done so, and 2 were Argentines.) The orientation (angles) 
of the rectangle (technically now a 'quadrilateral') can be modified somewhat 
(e.g., diagonal forward towards the tables). This basic rectangular navigational 
pattern is interspersed by turns; in this case Ruben uses mainly 
counterclockwise turning back ochos into a molinete to the right. Also note that 
the only cruzada from a walk (as opposed to the ocho cortado) that Ruben leads 
is in crossed feet, i.e., as a transition out of a back ochos sequence. One 
rarely sees the 'salida - cruzada' (1-2-3-4-5 of the "8-count basic") in the 
milongas of Buenos Aires. 

Despite this navigational strategy used by milongueros in Buenos Aires, 
virtually no one teaches this is the US and thus virtually no one dances this 
way in the US.

Ron