Tango Life

I originally wrote this a couple of years ago and decided that it needed a refresh, based on a conversation with a newbie a couple of nights ago. New Dancers My new dancer said that two men from her class had gone to their first milonga recently and had been turned down by women because they had asked the ladies rather than using cabeceo. They were new and they were being brave at their first milonga, but they simply didn't know about it. Our local scene is not so large that we can afford to greet new dancers with disdain. More grace on the part of the ladies might have made these newbies feel more welcome and encourage them to come back! Some might say that it's their teachers' responsibility to ensure that they have all the tools necessary for the milonga. However, good manners cost nothing and a kind word could easily help ease new dancers into this new world. Lighting Lighting at milongas is THE critical element for cabeceo and whereas Argentine milongas have ...

Travelling as much as we do we tend to see patterns repeating themselves in various cities around the world. One of these is Planet Teacher, a place of rarefied atmosphere where reality takes on an altered perspective. Another is the Top Table phenomenon. These two patterns tend to go hand in hand. It's an understandable human behaviour, but while they are good for the egos of those at their centres they don't do much for the development of the local dance scenes. There's not a lot of dignity in them, either. It's a really big deal for a lot of people to be seen as teachers. I've actually greeted people at our practicas and had them tell me in their first breath that they are a teacher from another town. It sounds a bit sad and needy, but there you go. Some of these people lose perspective by knowing more than someone else. They seem to feel that they have achieved membership of an elite, and we see many of them in various cities lose interest in dancing...