Re: [TANGO-L] Tango , Milonga, Acting

[Petra Starmans <petra.starmans @befree.ch>]

Hello Astrid
Hello Mel
Hello List

As I wrote my own first mail rather quick, some of the wording must have come out uncareful, and there we have the worms spreading.... Sorry for that!

>      Astrid wrote:
>      > In my experience, the embrace for milonga is usually closer than the one
>      > required for tango, and the two dancers dance as "one body". That is, IMO,
>      > one reason why it exposes who really knows how to dance tango, and is not
>      > just "acting" on the floor. 

Mel wrote
>      Maybe in time you will start to feel the rhythms better, start to move to them more naturally. 
>      Start to dance.
>      Or maybe acting is more your thing.

As I used the word 'acting' I was by no means suggesting 'to be an actor/actress". I do not care about pretending any feelings or drama, you got me really wrong there, might be because I do not use the English language in a correct way.
I meant 'being a more active participant', to be more 'initiating' in the sense of attributing to  the pulse, speed and the energy and that especially in the sense of how Mel has very well put it:
>      I agree, I tend to lead milonga much more positively (dare I say with a stronger embrace!) than I do Tango. No, I don't mean a weak / negative embrace for Tango !!. 
>      For me the Tango lead is a much finer thing whether close, open, or shifting between the two. 
>      I actually find it more challenging, to try to lead with more subtlety, less physically (unless I'm going for more dynamic). I don't want to be pushing her around and I don't want her using me for balance either !    (but of course we are all human).

As a follower I also have a more positive, dynamic, more physical 'stride'  and a different compactness in milonga and more continuously so than in valse or tango where dynamic is much more wavy, coming and going and sometimes calming down to the subtlest of silences.. 

>      But I was interested in your comment about "acting on the dance floor", and have noticed how it seems to take longer for (a lot of) people to warm to Milonga (and also Tango Vals !).
>      These two dances require that you really do respect the rhythm (so does Tango of course). 
>      It's weird to see people dance some figure that just does not fit the rhythm of the music at all.
>      This is glaringly obvious in Milonga and Vals, maybe you can bluff easier in Tango if you don't walk too much and use enough dramatic pauses ???

Now you do not know me and that is fine if you suggest I might be one of the  'faking', rhythmless dancers pretending away you see in your mind's eye. Ask the men who dance with me since I started 10 years ago.. And the tangueros and tangueras who tell me after a milonga 'it was great to watch you two doing milonga..'. Sometimes I suggest a little more care in the observations, I do not want to be forced to write my own praise on this list...

I agree with Astrid that in milonga there is even more acting as one body, but it is a body with 4 legs and I can traspie and decorate with the two of those who are (originally ;-) mine. And to have a tanguero lead well and still react to my play, by picking up on it, or only by sensing his smile, that for me is the most sexy part.. 

So to be precise: I love milonga, I love valse and tango I love most. 

Have nice dances and leave the axes (not the axis) at home..

Petra






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