Re: [TANGO-L] style appropriate to circumstance [was Changing the embrace]

[Ron Weigel <tango.society@GMAIL.COM>]

On 4/14/06, Marisa Holmes <mariholmes@yahoo.com> wrote:
> --- Ruddy Zelaya <ruddy@MILONGAS.COM> wrote:
> > ... I find it utterly silly to dance in
> > a half-empty salon with thousands of
> > square feet at my disposal as if I was in a crowded
> > milonga del centro with 300 other
> > people and the only thing one can do is the ocho
> > cortado.
>
> Oh, bless you!  Say it again!  Say it every week!  And
> I will add the chorus:  "If YOU want to dance that
> way, at least don't block the ronda on purpose."
>
> Sick to death of being forced to putter by the
> self-appointed guardians of the true style,
> Marisa

It looks like the 'noodling milongueros' are under attack again.

Good dancers of any style know how to use the space available to them.
If there is space open in front of you in the line of dance, you move
forward. As someone who now dances only milonguero style (by choice,
after having spent many years dancing 'salon style, open embrace'), I
also find dancers blocking the movement of the line of dance in front
of me frustrating. However, in my experience, these are most likely to
be dancers of the 'salon style, open embrace' doing sandwiches and
lustradas or perhaps the latest molinete that requires 3 or 4 complete
turns of the woman around the man before moving on. (Perhaps they just
forgot how to end the thing.) Of course, good dancers of the 'salon
style, open embrace' also know when to move on and when to stay.

On 4/14/06, WHITE 95 R <white95r@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Marissa,
>
> Those self appointed masters of the true style are just totally unskilled
> dancers who cannot dance much at all. There is no "true style" that requires
> totall immobility ;-). Remember, it's much easier to declare one's plodding
> to be the "truth and the light" that to actually learn to dance, LOL.. Some
> times I think that's why some people insist in makiing the dance floor as
> small and crowded as possible. Then they have an excuse for not moving at
> all.
>
> Manuel

There's a lot of mobility in the milonguero style - lots of rock
steps, rhythm changes, change of direection. It just takes place by
moving within a small space.

There's something nice about a crowded floor, if it is orderly. A
group of good milonguero style dancers can move along the line of
dance as a unit. It is beautiful to watch this harmony (or better yet,
to participate in it).

I find a crowded floor brings out creativity. With the open floor,
selection of movements can like the excecution of a predetermined
'figure'. On a crowded floor, the leader needs to make decisions about
sequences in just about every step. It is exciting when you have
reached the level where you can do that.

On the other hand, a crowded floor can be a niggtmare when dancing
with other dancers who need their space, because they don't know how
to fit their learned patterns to the available space. These are
usually the kind of people who complain about crowded floors.

Ron