[TANGO-L] An environment for success

[Dan Boccia <redfox @ALASKA.NET>]

Consider this scenario:

You know you're nearing the address because you can hear tango music
coming from a nearby window.  You enter the door, climb the stairs, and
walk into the room.  Someone takes your money, and you proceed in the
only direction possible, right toward the dance floor.  A throng of
people mills about, and you have difficulty getting past them to find a
table while at the same time trying to avoid the dancers on the floor.
You escape into a corner, looking about, and find a comfortable place to
settle into, but you have to walk across the dance floor again to get
there.  Once seated, you breathe a sigh of relief, having stressed
yourself a bit trying to avoid dancers and get oriented all in a rush.
After you get your shoes on, the cortina comes on and you get up to see
who is there.  The first song of the next tanda is one you love, and you
find a partner and you're off dancing.  Right away, you're bumped into
by someone else trying to get somewhere within the milonga, and you wish
the pedestrians would get off the dance floor.  Then two couples enter
right in front of you, and the whole group gets jammed up because of the
throng of people just inside the front door.  Eventually you (or your
partner) navigate around the throng of people and relax into the dance
for a few steps, then the song ends.  The next song goes nicely as la
ronda seems to be going fairly smoothly, until you get in front of the
speaker, which is blaring in your ear and you wince with the sonic pain.
Once safely past the speaker, in the opposite corner near the bar,
another group spills out onto the dance floor and you get bumped into by
someone backing away from the bar with a drink in their hand.  By the
time the tanda is over, you hope that you dance better next time or
somehow find some flow because you feel a bit rough.  The cortina comes
on, and as you try to make your way off the floor, you get jammed up
because there's nowhere to easily exit the floor and many of the dancers
do not appear to be leaving the floor anyway.  You get caught still on
the floor when the next tanda starts, and nervously dart off the floor,
only to find yourself between 2 tables with nowhere to go.

Sound familiar, in whole or in part, to anyone??

I've been thinking about all of this lately ever since someone asked me
about how best to set up a dance floor a couple months ago (and I just
finished up with my recommendations).  After focusing on navigation and
floorcraft in classes, picking a good DJ, and finding a location, when
things don't go smoothly it can be frustrating.  We need to go a bit
further, and realize that the host's role in a good milonga is VERY
important.  A few suggestions, maybe others have more to add:

1.                   The dance floor is a sacred location.  There should
only be dancing occurring on the floor - no pedestrians whatsoever.
2.                   To help avoid pedestrians on the dance floor,
ensure that there is a clear path or paths to enter, pay, and take a
seat to change shoes, socialize, and otherwise enter into the milonga in
a relaxed and gradual manner.
3.                   Make sure that there is room OFF the dance floor to
go socialize with people, go to the bar, bathroom, and otherwise
congregate and socialize.
4.                   The best setup is to have a path BEHIND the tables
to move about the milonga, and be sure that no chairs are on the dance
floor.  Sometimes a blank wall with no tables is OK in a smaller space.
It is also nice to have a large area where there is no dancing to
socialize, talk, perhaps eat a snack, etc.
5.                   Be sure that the horn (tweeter) of ALL speakers is
at least 48" above ear level, which amounts to something like 9 feet off
the dance floor.  This puts the high notes (the ones that hurt) above
the head-level of the crowd, where it doesn't blast peoples' ears and
gives much better coverage of the room.  In larger rooms, putting 2
speakers in front and 2 in back is a good idea, or if all the speakers
are in front, put the horns 10' off the dance floor or higher so they
can cover the entire room.  If you're renting a hall with speakers, or
renting speakers from a separate source, give them these specs and hold
them to it.
6.                   Realize that as hosts or organizers, we have a duty
to ensure a safe and enjoyable experience for the guests.  That means
that they can travel about the room safely, dance without worrying about
anything other than other dancers, and hear the music clearly but
without discomfort.

A final thing - if you normally line the tables up against a wall to
make the dance floor bigger, think again - moving the tables in to
create a walkway behind the tables actually results in a better dance
experience because there is no longer a need to travel about the room by
crossing the dance floor.

Dan