It sometimes happens on a not-too-crowded floor that the dancing is more perilous than on a crowded floor, and Carablanca was a bit like that last night. I give myself marks for not bumping anyone: it shouldn't ever happen, but what can you do when you lead a simple ocho cortado and bump the leader of the couple behind, who has his back to you? It just shouldn't happen. You're taught never to drive close to the car in front for good reason. Tangoandchaos has some excellent new pages on floorcraft, complete with diagrams: they explain general principles, and also show how the crowded floorspace in Buenos Aires is used. As I noticed when I was there, the 'lanes' aren't strictly observed: if a space opens up to the leader's left, he'll use it, then filter back into the line of dance. What it doesn't explain is how a practised dancer like “Tete” can, like a quantum particle, appear in different places apparently without passing through the space between them.
& there was a demonstration by Pablo Pugliese and Noel Strazza which, like most demonstrations, left me cold. No, not cold, just vaguely bored. A demonstration of... how not to dance? Ok, it had entertainment value as a stage act, but was it anything more? I can be/have been very moved watching older dancers dancing calmly, slowly, savouring every note of the music, responding with their whole bodies to the rise and fall of every phrase, dancing as part of the music, as if they found their whole life experience in the songs they danced to, with intimacy and complete attention to each other, and with consideration to other dancers dancing the same dance... That's tango.
I danced with a partner who said she's 'just a beginner'. I think she said that because she'd been persuaded by teachers like Pablo into thinking that tango = acrobatic display, that you aren't dancing tango well if you're not dancing wild kicks and dramatic turns. I enjoy dancing with partners who say they are 'just beginners' because I can lead simply, and check how clear my leading is, and because... well, because I enjoy dancing. So long as the lead/follow connection works well, it's good tango: for a few moments the separation between two people just dissolves in the music. That's tango, to me.
&, for the first time, someone came up to me and asked if I was tangocommuter. There has to be a first time.
14 comments:
Hi There,
Was going to go to Carablanca myself last night and went to Negracha literally at the last minute as I had to make a decision about which bridge to go over from south of the river. Carablanca has a reputation for being bumpy from when it was at The Welsh.
Negracha was no different. After an absence of a few months, I found myself there 2 weeks in a row. It was packed as Alexndra and Stefano were teaching the class. About floorcraft and ettiquette apparently. No one listened.
Will catch Pablo dancing tonight at Corrientes. It isn't as kicky there. :-)
Hi Arlene: I don't usually have any problem with Carablanca. Usually there's enough space for everyone. If a floor is really crowded, like tango al fresco, there's no problem either. The problem is the in-between, where people think they have space and suddenly discover they don't.
Testify, brother, testify.
I can be/have been very moved watching older dancers dancing calmly, slowly, savouring every note of the music, responding with their whole bodies to the rise and fall of every phrase, dancing as part of the music, as if they found their whole life experience in the songs they danced to, with intimacy and complete attention to each other, and with consideration to other dancers dancing the same dance... That's tango.
Yeah, I think the general consensus reaction from last Friday's much-hyped night is a big fat "Meh".
I'm assured that Carablanca is usually better than that, so I may return, but otherwise I simply wouldn't bother. The floor was dodgy, the music was uninspiring and the class and demonstration were, yup, "meh"-y...
People were nice though :)
Floors. I must say I've never had any problems with the Carablanca floor, although partners complain about it and I have to steer them through the thoughtfully-provided areas of talc, but I still miss the Welsh Centre floor, definitely my favourite in London.
I don't know why there's a problem with the Carablanca floor. It was re-sanded and finished a few months back; don't know what it was finished with, tho'. But floors do change with temperature and weather. Warm moist air after a cold spell can make a good floor so sticky you can hardly turn at all.
I'm ambivalent about talc - the problem is that it makes floors uneven in speed, so unpredictable and therefore potentially dangerous. The (much) better solution is to check and test the floor in the first place - and get the venue organiser to understand what to do and what not to do with a floor to make it good for dancing.
Hey Tango Communter,
The Welsh Centre has been reopened for a couple of months now - any thoughts on the venue?
@ DB above, yes, of course talc should be just for emergency use, as floors vary with atmospheric conditions. If talc is needed all the time something's wrong with the floor. I must try to find how the floor was finished after being sanded last autumn.
As to the Welsh Centre, yes, I saw there's tango again there on Friday nights. I remember the floor there as excellent and reliable: hard and very smooth, a good coating of something environmentally very unfriendly, I assume. I had some great dances there. But getting to the Welsh Centre is another matter, and the real problem is the neighbours, who see to it that permits for dancing end at 11pm. Worse, the ventilation in the roof can't be opened, thanks to the same neighbours, so the milonga had to close down in summer. It just got too hot in there. But good luck to the new management.
"@ DB above, yes, of course talc should be just for emergency use", - weirdly, Negracha has started putting out a tray of talc downstairs, which is absolutely unnecessary, as that's such a fast floor already.
Mind you, this is Negracha, they do strange things all the time...
Your partner can help you avoid collisions by watching traffic and giving you a signal with her left hand not to step backward.
Mr. and Mrs. Tangoandchaos themselves were present at Lo de Celia on Wednesday evening. They may explain general principles and write about how to use the floor when crowded, but they don't do as they say.
Thanks, Jantango. Yes, it's always good to get that slight pressure on the back, and know that your partner is still conscious! But I'm also pleased when a partner dances with her eyes closed too...
You can see Mr. and Mrs. Tangoandchaos on YouTube by searching for milonguerotangotan who filmed their dancing in Lo de Celia.
www.youtube.com/milonguerotangofan is the correct url.
Many thanks, Janis, for that incredibly rare footage of the Maestros... and of all the other Maestros in the background, too. But I'm very grateful to him for the (equally rare) footage of all the maestros he's put onto tangoandchaos, which makes it possible for many of us in London to keep an eye on good tango.
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