Fear of the milonga – the dance

In recent weeks, there has been much talk on Tango-L list about dancing the milonga. A number of ‘leaders’ have expressed their reservations for not dancing the milonga*. The reasons cited range from complaining about the lack of emotions/feeling in the nature of milonga music itself, unable to connect with the partner due to the speed of music, difficulty to relate to emotionally, etc.

I must confess, I used to share some of these fears, in the past and perhaps even now too!? Personally, it is more of a (simple) case of unable to coordinate well with the music.

Well, instead of avoiding the problem, as of late I have decided to confront it head-on and put in as much milonga-time as possible. In fact, since I had this realisation, after a few attempts, I am finding that if I just stick to a simple and regular rhythm (and steps), it’s actually not as far as I thought!

For me, I believe the difficulty lies in the danger of getting swept up by the excitement of the music. As a result, I was trying to move faster and do more, than necessary, but always feeling rushed into my actions. However, once I got back to simple basics, and not trying to do too much (at this stage at least), things became manageable all of a sudden. The fancy stuff can come later… 🙂

*Milonga, as opposed to a dance party, in this context means a particular variation of Argentine Tango which is more upbeat, lively and has strong roots with African music.