[TANGO-L] Reluctance to dance milonga.

[Rick McGarrey <RICKMCG @FLASH.NET>]

Tanguera Alegra writes:

'I'd be interested in the reasons you never dance
(milonga), and also the perspective from other leaders
who feel the same way.'

Astrid writes:

'I know that their reason for this is a very simple
one: they can't.'

Yikes!  In the post that started all this it seems
like I only said one correct thing: I said I will
probably regret this post.  And now it looks like the
thread has evolved to the point where I have been
publicly outed as not knowing how to dance milonga.
Actually, I danced it for about three years.  Maybe
not that well, but I was enjoying myself-  until one
day someone suggested I try stepping in a different
way.  I tried it for awhile and didn't like it, but
then when I went back to the old way, I was no longer
comfortable with that either.  So now when my partner
tries to get me to dance milonga, I say I can't
because xxxx screwed it up for me.  Also, I find that
if you dance all of the valses and most of the tangos,
milonga is a good time to rest.

I think in BsAs most people dance milonga, and many
think of it as a bit of a 'lighter' dance than tango
or vals.  At the milongas where the best dancers go
they play about twice as many vals as milonga tandas.
The floor gets very crowded for the vals tandas, and
usually less crowded for the milonga tandas, so I
think it's fair to say milonga is third in popularity
behind tango and vals.  There are some milongueros who
specialize in milonga.  Guys like Cacho, Dany, El
Chino, and El Gallego (my favorite) take milonga to a
high level, and I would rather sit and watch them than
dance myself.  A few people don't dance milonga at
all.  I've never seen Tete dance milonga.  He says, 'I
like milonga, but I just don't dance it much.'