Why should I continue going to class?

You've been dancing tango for 6 months, a year, 3 years, 10 years, 20 years+... You've learned all you feel you need to know to cope with the social milonga.

Why bother going to class?

I understand that for many, once a certain level has been achieved in Tango, essentially a level that will get you the number of dances you want in the places you like to go, that is all that is needed.

I also understand that when people attend their first tango class and struggle for an amount of time taking on new information amongst other people they don't know, and then dipping their toes into the social arena, is already them seriously stepping out their comfort zone.

Why put yourself through more pain, if you've come this far and found your tribe?

Finding your way along the tango road...

One essential part of keeping a tango community going, is bringing in new dancers, and this is one of the hardest things to do, as the drop off rate is huge. Less that 10% of people who try the dance - stick at it.

And those of us who have been dancing a while - know why.

It is a slow road, and it's a daunting prospect for newbies faced with the mountain of time it will take for them to become at least a little proficient. There is, of course, also the fact that many who start, are more than a little uncomfortable with the idea of hugging a stranger.

Anyway I digress..

Let say we have a student, who has decided for whatever reason, to stick at Tango. They have attended classes regularly, they go to practicas when they can and have started to go to Milongas. They look at the regular dancers, and think - I'd love to be able to dance like them. So they go back to class and learn and attend practicas and attend more Milongas, they then look at the regular dancers and start to think, I think I'm fitting in..

This is the crucial moment!

When a dancer gets to the point when they can get around the floor, without crashing about, and keeping their partner relatively happy, this is when stagnation can begin.

When we meet a newish leader or a follower in a Milonga and we want them to continue, yes we should encourage them, yes we should dance with them, yes we can suggest other places for them to go,

but NO - we should not butter them up, and tell them how wonderful they are, with the purpose of ensuring

a promise of many dances in the future.

I see experienced leaders gush over younger followers who can barely put one foot in front of another, and I see experienced followers massage the ego of newish leaders, leading them to believe that they are more able than they really are. This is when the rot sets in.

If an experienced dancer is buttering up a newish dancer with the purpose of investing in them for future dances, you are maybe unwittingly (or maybe knowingly) creating dancers who become deluded about their own abilities, sowing the seed for them believing they don't need to learn anymore. Many of the experienced dancers who do this, don't learn any more, and their dance is stagnant.

Stagnation

Ok - apologies in advance..

There is a lot of stagnation within the social dance.

As a dual role dancer I have experienced this with both leaders and followers. As a follower, it's a rare when I can't predict what and how the leader is going lead something, and this has nothing to do with being sensitive or 'not anticipating'. This has everything to do with many leaders dancing the same set of movements in exactly the same way to every track. They maybe 'improvising' on a basic level, in that they have to alter their course according to the space allowed, and to a certain extent to what the follower is able to do. But they are rarely REALLY listening to the music.

With followers, if I lead something that is not one of the following, rebound, ocho cortado, basic giro, ochos, cross, and so on; and I can feel followers tense up, as what I'm doing is not something they're used to.

And they will never get used to it, because they're dancing with the same leaders every week, who are doing the same things in the same way every week, cementing a certain way of dancing.

Tango is not just a walking cuddle, tango is not just a dynamic giro, tango is not just a rebound and an ocho cortado lead to the basic rhythm. Tango is all of these things and much more.

I see the tango school of cuddle shufflers plant their tango flag in one place, in opposition to the dynamic whirling dervishes who claim their territory in another... this is so binary.

There is a third way..

To be able to dance with anyone, a dancer needs to be able to be sensitive enough to lead and read softness in the dance, and they need to be able to engage the body in readiness for more dynamism, and then all the variation in-between, and this doesn't need physical strength, it's all in the technique, being grounded, using the floor, making sure you are on your own axis.

I feel that a lot of dancers decisions about how they dance are made based on what they find the easiest for them, and to a large extent I can't disagree. But from personal experience, I can say - I am able to do things now in the dance that 5 years ago (for example) I thought were beyond my capabilities, and my body is pretty broken - trapped nerves, leg discrepancy, over stretched back tendons etc etc. We all have physical constraints, but this should not completely define our dance.

I am not saying that a dancer who has low energy, and/or physical constraints should be ramping up their giros, or adding jumps into milonga traspié. They work within their range - what they can do is to genuinely respond to the music, rather than 'being familiar with it'. So their reaction to what is being played, is completely instinctive, no set patterns, no automatic ocho cortado with a single and double time combination.

Yes, start an opening into a cross, but don't do the cross, or vary the movement with different qualities of step, start an opening into an ocho cortado but change the timing, pause when the phrase suggests, not when you have completed your sequence. And complete each movement - *zero position - meaning not cutting past this point. The moment we ignore the 'zero position' we are falling into each step, it maybe tiny, but we are still committed to the next step, whereas, if we allow our bodies to settle at 'zero position' with our axis over one leg, we can change direction at a moment's notice.

Those with high energy, it's all very well you whizzing around, demonstrating how able you are at whizzing around, and I know it feels nice.. but I'm going to put it plainly - It's a bit boring, constantly whizzing around at the same tempo all the time. You could put any old track on - and do that. Where is the subtlety and response to the music, all you're doing is listening to the beat - what happened to the melody? The same applies to you with 'zero position'. Also, try doing these 'dynamic' movements at ultra slow speed, and you might soon discover that you have poor balance, and no ability to really control the movement. There is also the fact, that it's unlikely you're considering anyone else in the *ronda - how to make enemies quickly!

I think, for me at least, if every regular social dancer were to focus on improving their collection of step, truly arrive at zero position and learn to pause musically, it would somewhat transform the social scene.

I think I'll conclude for now, or I'll go on for ever.

Taking classes opens doors for your dance, whether a recent beginner or a long experienced dancer. You can break apart old habits, change up your dance, surprise your partner (in a good way) with something different.

Feel more confident in dancing all the dances we have - Tango, Vals & milonga. And you can respond accordingly to the tempo of each individual track, and express the feeling of the track.

Dancing exclusively in Milongas won't necessarily help you with these skills, classes and practicas can.

Before you know it, you maybe creating a poetry of dance to Pugliese.

*Zero position - this is when you have your feet side by side, heels touching one another. We pass through this position from one step to another. However, zero position means more than just touching the heels together, it means allowing the weight of the free leg to rest on the floor (so no hoiking the hip up, or bending the knee) while the standing leg has the weight of the body on it.

*Ronda - this is the flow of all the dancers on the dance floor around the room. Now, I'm not going to get heavily into floor craft, as we all know - many people have strong opinions about this. What I will say, is that

When in a room full of crowded people, one needs to consider the physical presence of others, especially when moving, or unnecessary collisions happens. Ronda - means round, and it signifies the circular movement of all dancers anticlockwise around the floor. We keep moving in this direction, don't reverse.

We have between 1 - 4 lanes depending on how busy the milonga is, when you pick a lane - stick to it - don't swap. Also to help with maintaining the direction of dance, leaders can find it easier to face towards to outside of the room when opening a movement (to the side in particular), it prevents the movement intruding into the next inner lane.