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Here is a post I came across from Sydney tango forum:

During the Milonga III class of the STS festival on Sunday, Javier Rodriguez, being obviously critical of Sydney (or maybe Australian) general floor craft & salon tango etiquette gave all present a serious dressing down, illustrated with his typically humorous impersonations. The gist of his message is as follows: On the dance floor, men (leaders) are actually all dancing together, even if they are at a distance from each other. They look out for each other, each man keeping his eye essentially only on the man in front of him so as to maintain that intervening space. They are a sort of team. In between the men, naturally, are the women/dance partners. Now a man is never permitted to touch another man, because in so doing, he gives the other the right to ‘touch’ him back, with maybe disastrous consequences. However, as we have evolved somewhat, knives and firearms are luckily no longer common on the dance floor. It is simply the rule: You do not touch another man/couple. Accidents/mistakes can happen. Never say sorry! Laugh at what has happened and make sure you do not repeat it. However, there is something which one must take on to the dance floor which can prevent such occurrences, and that is attitude. One must never be apologetic or explain it was your fault, as this mindset attracts just these encounters. If one enters the dance floor with assurance and poise, you will not collide or attract collisions. Part of this attitude is one’s confident stance and correct embrace. It acts as an energy field and as a protective defence mechanism, the man’s well-placed elbows also providing a strong physical barrier and deterrent. When the man (leader) is looking forward, it is his partner’s duty to watch what is happening behind them. She must have her head positioned so that she can see either side of the man’s. If the man is directing them backwards in such a way that they might collide with the couple behind, she should signal her partner with pressure of her hand on his back. If, however, they are stationary and the couple behind is advancing in such a way that a collision is likely, the women has the right to extend her hand to the rear to physically stop them making bodily contact. Couples must follow the line of dance around the outside of the floor. It is not permitted to overtake another couple on the inside. It happens now and again that one couple is slow or having problems with the dance and can hold up the line of dancers behind them. It is the responsibility of the leader of the slow couple to be sensitive to the situation and enter into the centre of the dance floor, thus providing a gap in the line of dance. The couple behind is now permitted to overtake the previous couple by continuing on the outside line of dance. However, it can happen that the slow couple’s leader is insensitive to the situation and does not make way for those behind. What is the leader of the couple behind to do, as he cannot touch him or tell him vocally to move out of the way? Javier’s suggestion is for him to click his fingers – rather like using your car horn in traffic! ——————————————————————————————- Hopefully these suggestions of Señor Rodriguez will have a positive effect on our floorcraft and make for a more pleasant atmosphere at our milongas where we find all too many couples, both advanced and inexperienced, being misdirected in all directions, and provoking contact and collisions that we could well do without.

As I always say, before you people criticize Javier and Andrea, take a lesson or two from them.

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Not get on it at all!!!

Seriously

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Floorcraft, such an issue in the milonga, especially when it gets crowded. It is never fun to be kicked and stepped on, or be on alert all the time. Sucks the joy of dancing.

My first BsAs milonga experience was at Nino Bien with Cherie y Ruben. I had never seen a floor so packed before. I did all right, however, after a few tandas. Navigation on a milonga floor is somewhat like driving: follow the car ahead of you, maintain the distance, if traffic is heavy then be patient; and avoid dangerous behaviors such as cutting lane left and right, over speeding (like 20 miles above speed limit) and tailgating.

I have danced in the milongas in Hong Kong, Roma, and Moscow as well as different festivals in the US since. From my observation, floorcraft has as much to do with skill as with attitude.

Good floorcraft skill is not very difficult to obtain. How hard it is to learn how to walk behind someone and avoid bumping into the others? The problem is that a lot of teachers teach how to dance, not how to dance social tango. Beginners do not have the proper introduction of floorcraft when they start learning.

The biggest problem, however, is the dancers’ attitude that contributes the messy dance floor. I’ve rarely seen the couple who is dancing for each other being the offender. If one is dancing for the partner, one is usually considerate enough to protect the other, not to do anything that spoils the joy of dancing. The biggest offenders are the ones who are dancing for themselves; sometimes the tango artists wanna be. They dance to show off.

At different festival milongas, I had seen quite a few “advanced” dancers performing all these fancy nuevo moves on the crowded floor, stopping the traffic and hogging three times more space than the others. They wanted to dance like Gustavo or Chicho, inspired by how they performed; while the real Gustavo or Chicho was dancing like the regular dancers on the milonga floor. It is not about open or close embrace, although it takes high skill to dance fluidly. It is about being considerate to the fellow dancers,  not to invade others’ space and to respect the line of dance. Even the biggest names in tango, nuevo or traditional, follow the line of dance and respect other space.

Who gives you right not to?

Here is a clip from Sunderland, March 2008. Old milongueros, famous tango teachers were dancing peacefully along with regular dancers. I missed the flowing piso.

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