"With many more women than men, he can dance with who he wants."
Ahh, let's raise a toast to the good life. This makes me think of taking early retirement and moving to BA. :). Sounds like tango heaven for this mid-life male dancer in NYC, where the number of skilled leaders outnumbers the skilled followers. Not just my opinion, enough local teachers have concurred with me on this. Debby, Is your statement really true, or just a perception? I have often found that people have skewed perceptions when it comes to these matters. Entonces, I do a simple empirical count when deciding whether to pay an entrada if I go to a social milonga without my usual practice partner. Many times I've walked into a milonga after work, count 8 or 10 extra men sitting around, and do a rebote out the door before you can say "arrependita." And yet, when talking to a woman about the very same milonga, the woman will complain that it was "all women." I've also observed that as time passes in a milonga, the ratio of men to women becomes ridiculously high, even if it were evenly balanced at the beginning of the milonga. Perhaps women want to get home earlier. The men then develop a sixth sense about it, realize there are more men not dancing than women, and will say anything to their follower to keep her from rotating. Unfortunately, NYC does not have the wonderful custom of BA of clearing the floor between tandas. Indeed, some milongas dont even employ a cortina. Here's a suggestion for all US milonga hosts: 1. Have enough lighting to make cabaceo possible. 2. Play a cortina between tandas long enough for the dance floor to clear. 3. Do not start the next tanda before the floor clears. 4. Announce this policy in advance. Martin _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l