Recent news
It’s been a long while since I last updated here – just shy of one month to the year, as a matter of fact. I suppose as we get older priorities shift, and I simply didn’t have much to say about tango for some time. However, I am still dancing, although less as an organiser for the past year. Nowadays I am dancing a little less (more selective on which events to go to), DJing even less now that I am now longer organising the weekly milonga. I must admit, it’s somewhat liberating to not having Fridays blocked off for the foreseeable future, as has been the case for the past 5-plus years. 🙂
Here’s a gem I saw recently. It’s not super flashy and while I don’t usually follow Gaston closely I enjoyed the freedom, playfulness and the inter-play between partners here.
I have also just started on the following two books, focusing on the music portion.
- Tango: let’s dance to the music by Joaquin Amenabar
- Caminar Abrazados by Melina Sedo and Detlef Engel
Both books come with a DVD (music samples/demos) – which I think is an excellent idea for Tango books because Tango is a dance that needs visual as well as intellectual “explanation”. My only gripe with Amenabar’s book, apart from not shipping to Singapore directly and unavailable in Buenos Aires apparently, is that the exercise audio clips were not provided separately; this meant the book may need to be read alongside a DVD player AND TV! As a side note, I am looking forward to further books/DVDs from Melina and Detlef. While I
I haven’t gone far yet, my first impressions (concerning discussions on music, dancing to music) are that they are consistent with the what I had learnt from Hsu-tze Lee, which goes to show how lucky we were to have her visit our community almost 10 years ago!
Misbehaving at milongas
I have been hosting weekly milongas almost continuously for the last 3-4 years (and on-and-off since about 10 years ago).
Recently there have been some blog posts about how to handle inappropriate behaviours on the dance floor.
Much of the time, my approach has leaned towards one of minimal interference. Only in extreme (and rare) cases have I needed to talk to the offenders. I take the attitude that no one is intentionally out to injure or bump into other people and my experience has shown that people are generally receptive. The way I see it is that some misbehaviours can happen simply through ignorance, e.g. not tail-gating people, not over-zealous in changing lanes, etc., perhaps lack of physical control, i.e. taking inappropriately large steps every time someone launches into a sequence, unnecessarily large embellishments, etc., or even through disorientation when there is too much space.
From my experience, more often than not, a quiet word is enough to ensure cooperation. Other slightly more subtle means can include having some leaders being in the peripheral vision of the offender or simply manipulate the size of the dance floor – not too small to create unnecessary stress and not too big for someone to take a devil-may-care attitude and encourage reckless behaviours. Ultimately I do believe that when people turn up to milongas they are there to have a good time. As long as they are not put on the defensive, most reasonable people can see the sense once pointed out.
Anti-competition
Speaking from personal experience, as organisers, probably one of the most stressful aspect is to effectively reach out to your target audience.
All too often I see one or two long-time community stalwarts falling into the trap of putting down the competition. Perhaps this was seen as an easy short-cut or simply a sign of lack of confidence!? For crying out loud, why not for once advertise your imperfections so people can admire your honesty and genuine attempts to upgrade facilities, e.g. my sound system is archaic and will cut out from time to time, or that there are tiny holes on the dance floor – as in the traditions of some of the most well-known milongas in Buenos Aires!
Improving one’s musicality
Here are some thoughts from early last year – finally seeing the light of day!! 😉
During a workshop, someone in all seriousness asked, “We can do all these exercises while you are here. How does one improve one’s musicality when you are not around?”
The teacher’s suggestion was (paraphrasing) “Spend more time listening to music, and watching videos on Youtube for examples of people dancing to different types of music. But watch less of the figures.”
I think this is very sound advice. The desire/need to improve musicality is a serious problem for many smallish communities outside of Buenos Aires. I mean, it is one thing to lament the lack of “musicality” – however you may choose to define it – of the gringos, European, Asian or otherwise, it’s another to offer concrete advice on how to head in the right direction.
Personally, I have found the oft-quoted routine advice of “listening to more music” to be lacking. After all, many of us lack the language or cultural context to connect well with music written and played more than half a century ago, no? In order to elicit an emotional response, you’d need to have some feelings towards a particular piece of music and, well, some prejudices about the style of dancing!?
On the other hand, watching ordinary people (middle-aged couples, not teachers or even well-known milongueros) dance in the milongas during my trip to Buenos Aires was really inspirational. Seeing the joy on people’s faces, the engagement and commitment to each other on the dance floor, and also the passion to the music they were dancing, it was not difficult to “feel” different parts of the music after a while. Naturally, being already familiar with most of tracks helped too. However, while seeing happy faces often meant good connections, it did not always imply good technique and, for me, it didn’t matter…