Stephen Brown wrote: Some of the djs in the United States have begun reducing the length of tandas to three songs to promote/enable more rotation between partners. I'm interested in opinions about the desirablity of such an approach.
------ Sean again, I have an opinion about this approach... I have to agree with Keith on this one. 3 Songs is rarely enough to achieve that sublime 4th dance that keeps me coming back. And when you do hit it at song 3, who in their right mind would give it up? My personal response to a milonga with 3 song tandas is to dance two tandas with each follower. While the cortina followed by a change in the orchestra is very disruptive, it is still easier to get that great dance by the 5th or 6th song, rather than to start over from scratch. Of course, that means that I dance with even fewer followers than if the tandas were more traditional. And if the DJ breaks from the T-T-V-T-T-M format, it gets even worse. I will sit out the 3rd tango tanda, expecting vals or milonga to follow. I would rather sit out than risk offending a woman by dancing only one tanda with her on a night that I dance two with everyone else. Understandably, there is a lot of pressure on tango organizers to sacrifice the best aspects of tango for the sake of "community building". [Note that there is no need to build a community in Bs. As., so they in particular won't understand these compromises.] If you are in a small community, then by all means, spend your first 5 or 10 years helping to build your community. We have all been there. But eventually, you will have paid your dues and are at risk of community-building-burnout. Then you have to take care of yourself. If you feel cheated by 3 song tandas, make the best of it, and dance two tandas with the same partner. Think of it as a bit of civil disobedience, a non-confrontational way to make your point. When enough people feel as I do, (10% is probably enough) the community builders will give up this particular form of coercion, just to save their community. Until then, accept the realities of the moment, but dont let people use you. Sean PATangoS - Pittsburgh Argentine Tango Society Our Mission: To make Argentine Tango Pittsburghs most popular social dance! http://patangos.home.comcast.net/ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l