When my father taught me how to drive (I took driver´s education for the 10% insurance discount), he taught me more than how to make the car go and stop. He taught me NAVIGATION! I remember going to a deserted shopping on an early Sunday morning to learn parking and stopping distances.
Much the same happened when I learned tango, except it wasn´t from my father nor in a shopping center. Joe always told me about small spaces on the dance floor in BA and to be ready for anything. (In reflection, that was an understatement.) My final exam to come here was a 2005 Denver Tango Festival. Could I maneuver through the MERC? I managed quite well because everybody followed the line of dance. In fact, there were 2 lines of dance; one around the perimeter and another one inside that one. Both lanes moved independently but they MOVED and there was room for everybody. It was a sight to behold!! Down here, in the home of tango, it´s terrible. There´s a perimeter and then there´s the inside, I call the VORTEX, where powerful forces pull dancers all over the floor. People dance clockwise and diagonally across the vortex. The Argentines could find the line of dance if you gave them a map, compass, radar, and GPS!! I have a theory on the cause. I already wrote they love to talk when the music begins. I timed how long it takes for the line to move. It usually take a full MINUTE. Some begin to move at :15, :30, :45 and a few need the whole minute. A musical selection lasts about 3 minutes so 1/3 of the music is wasted on chatter. In the States, Americans are off to the races when the music begins. It´s rare you see a couple talking instead of dancing. And if the dance was exquisite, the couple will silently embrace between the musical selections. Couples don´t do that down here, but that´s another dispatch. Argentines don´t have a monopoly on poor navigation. It´s also in the States, but I don´t think it´s as bad. Nevertheless, I think teachers and milonga promoters should teach navigation instead of figures that can´t be danced in small spaces. But of course, ´Moving with the traffic' will never draw attention like "Colgadas-the missing ingredient from your dance." Alan Forde of the Atlanta Tango Festival said more than once "You´re not just dancing with your partner. You´re dancing with everybody in the line of dance.¨" Gricel has a rectangular floor. Tables face the front wall, seating 6. The tables are so close to each other, you can have trouble moving away from your table to dance. Your legs can get caught up in the chairs legs. (Mine did.) Dancers in the vortex were going clockwise and counter clockwise. Then tried to change direction at the end of the floor. BUT there were people behind them so the end just got jammed, like people getting on a bus but nobody wants to move to the back. Another problem is Argentine leaders can´t do spot turns to lead molinetes.The man moves over to the next lane and the woman slams into anybody who in the way. For me, I can´t tell is the man is going to try to return to his spot in front of me. I hope the Argentines drive better on one-way streets than they navigate on the dance floor. I´m probably finished for the night. I danced at Arranque and I want to take a walking tour of Recoleta tomorrow. I´ll try to send a milonga review before I leave. Just listing names of milongas really doesn´t help anybody. To paraphrase Garrison Keillor of A Prairie Home Companion That´s the news from Buenos Aires Where all the women dance in close embrace All the men need navigation lessons All the children speak Spanish Michael Ditkoff Washington, DC -- I'd rather be dancing Argentine Tango _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l