Re: [TANGO-L] Elusive Nuevo style

[Tom Stermitz <stermitz @TANGO.ORG>]

On Jan 12, 2005, at 11:37 AM, Derik Rawson wrote:

> Dear Oleh:
> You are right about choosing your own personal style
> to dance tango.  There are no rules in tango. I would
> point out however that most dancers will always try to
> use up the available dance floor space when they can.
> ...Personally I like to see dancers use up the space they
> are given.  Seeing a couple in close embrace in one
> corner of a huge empty room does not do it for me.
> ...
> Derik

This is a very North-American sensibility. Maybe it is particularly
cultural for the Western US where we have big open spaces and suburbs
stretching one or two hours from the city. Maybe it has something to do
with modern alienation and the TV culture of isolation.

Even the way the observation was framed is interesting. Derik speaks of
using up empty space of the open floor instead of seeing the social
dance space defined by the PERIMETER of the dance floor delimited by
tables or walls.

It is common enough.

You put 30 average tango dancers into a medium room (or 100 into a big
room), and notice that they have all spread out as far from each other
as possible. Each leader seeks enough space to complete their 8 or 16
count sequences rarely interacting with the other dancers.

To me, this isn't a milonga; it is a practice.

You don't get the electric, high-energy feel of a "real" milonga until
the density on the floor arrives to a certain point. It has to do with
rhythm, intuitive decision making, feeling the people around you,
reacting to changing floor situations.

If beginners are accustomed to navigation and improvisation in a more
crowded space from the very start, then they are less likely to become
wooden, analytical dancers.

One of the best ways to teach rhythm is to work with a tighter crowd,
let's say 40 or 80 students in a group constrained by chairs or tables.
Even the most rhythmically challenged beginning guy starts to get
double-time rhythms by picking them up from everyone around them.

Even bigger, flowing movements of nuevo are more spontaneous and
creative when the dancers have learned to interact with others on the
floor. They become capable of adjusting their pivots, rebounds, ideas
to changing situations which teaches them to become more intuitive. The
best of these dancers can handle very crowded situations.

Yes, I know many leaders who are really bugged by having other dancers
get in the way of their ideas.


Tom Stermitz
http://www.tango.org