Trini de Pittsburgh says: > a lot of people have been saying - that the dancing, specifically navigation, > has grown worse in BsAs over the past few years.
That is absolutely my observation. Or maybe my tolerance to bad navigation has decreased so I notice it more, but I really don't think that that explains more than a small part of the problem. This is highly correlated with: - The presence of Tango tourists (including long-time Tango dancers visiting Argentina): Not that Argentines have navigation genes that the rest of the world doesn't (Michael seems to think the opposite, in fact) but they are more used to crowded floor conditions and I don't care how many "Milonguero Style" festivals you've been to but you've got to learn navigation in the field (New York doesn't count). (I am sure I was somewhat of a nuisance on the dance floor the first time I came to Buenos Aires as well until I "got it" and it's the rare dancer that "gets it" in a week, as it's a whole skill set that must be learned, and sometimes unlearned ....) - The presence of Tango "hot-shots" (Argentines and otherwise). They use their "skill" to intimidate and shove their way through the crowd and take up more space than they should, by doing inappropriately big or high-velocity turns or steps. - The Tango nuevo set. There is a small Argentine following of nuevo, but it's largely a Tango tourist phenomenon in Buenos Aires. To be clear: There are a few very good and very social dancers who dance nuevo and milonguero well and keep them apart or fuse them very judiciously (and know when there is the appropriate space for each style), but there are any number for whom a colgado or a linear boleo is "just another figure they learned (from a real Argentina maestro to boot)" to be done at equal frequency with any other figure regardless of how crowded the floor may be. Shahrukh _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l