Music and flow
Not so long ago, someone on a Tango DJ mailing list commented that bad music and bad arrangement of music could lead to chaos on the floor.
My initial reaction to this was: surely any chaos on the dance floor was more to do with the collective technical abilities of the daners? However, things started to make more sense as I started to recall a few instances where the inability to connect with the music meant things just “weren’t right” for the whole night. By way of an illustration, I attended a milonga a couple of months ago where no tandas** were used. Granted that there was a “legitimate” explanation for this particular community to dispense with tandas, I discovered that it was very difficult to relax and dance into a comfortable rhythm. Another example, perhaps less extreme, has already been described in vortex of hell before.
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Tone of the milonga
Over at Tango Chamuyo, Janis reflects on her stay in Buenos Aires upon the tenth anniversary since her arrival.
While most are subjective opinions and perhaps more particular to Buenos Aires, there is one thing I can personally relate to, when she said:
“The organizer sets the tone of each milonga.”
Over the years, apart from Singapore, I have been fortunate to be able to dance a little in Kuala Lumpur, Taipei, Tokyo, Montreal and Melbourne (note that Berlin is absent from this list since I was too fresh to be able to make good observations 
). While the quality of music is important for me, I think the enthusiasm as well as the level of hospitality (or indifference) displayed by the milonga organiser can often compensate for deficiencies in other areas (such as small venues, lack of dancers, etc.) and set the mood for the milonga. In fact, I was reminded of this again when a friend related her experiences at a recent milonga where people stuck to their small groups and reluctant to start dancing until the wee hours, while the organiser was totally oblivious nor cared, but that is another story for future…
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Politics in Tango?
Had an interesting conversation after the milonga the other day. Eventually the topic of conversation turned to politics in tango.
I have to admit, despite having come across the phrase “tango politics” in various blogs and conversations in the past, I am still not entirely sure about its precise meaning? Very often “tango politics” seems to be used to describe situations where various groups/schools exist in the same “community” and they don’t see eye to eye. However, even in such cases, I think it is usually an overkill to use the term “politics” because this type of group dynamics is part of human nature, no? After all, isn’t that why people have close friends, acquaintances, “hi-bye” friends, etc.? It is normal to have likes and dislikes and people are free to choose who they want or don’t want to work with, as far as I am concerned.
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New and old
Something for the history buffs and something for people who are just looking for action. Over to the right, I have included compiled two lists: a list of the previous touring Tango teachers who had taught in Singapore and an up-to-date list of milongas in Singapore.
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