To gently rock

I didn't intend to write more about Normarin1's videos but then I watched this one and I wanted to link to it so I can find it again. It reminds me so much of the tango of Buenos Aires. A young couple appears between 00:10 and 00:16 and I notice how he seems to gently rock with her, little movements of the torso. They are followed by an older couple, with a turn that floats, effortless and gentle as if they are suspended in mid-air; turns like this struck me immediately I first walked into a milonga in Buenos Aires. Very few London dancers, probably very few non-Argentine dancers move like that; we look stiffer, less alive in the torso, even less gentle. These videos are full of details like these: here a precise, elegant stepping, there a laid-back move to the beat, or just an amazing, whole-hearted embrace.

It also occurs to me that it just doesn't concern these dancers whether they are dancing in broad daylight, under fluorescent or mercury vapour lamps, or in the darkest milonga: they are dancing! -- and that's what matters. I've heard European milongas described as 'playing at tango'; a bit harsh, perhaps, but after sitting at milongas like these in Norma's videos it's not hard to see the reason for the description. Perhaps the dancing in her milongas isn't always technically flawless, but it's always for real, it always has real heart: tango isn't something they play with. It's 'about' human contact, there's a passion for it, it's a necessity. The dance and the music are still new to us: we love it but it's not our family background, not our history, not yet.

One other thing: I hate photographers at milongas! Photographers and people filming. It seems completely contrary to the private experience of the dance. But it's fairly obvious from Normarin1's videos that she's among friends who welcome her filming. & if her camera makes anyone uncomfortable, she's quick to turn away from faces to another couple, or the floor. I don't think her videos mean that anyone and everyone can turn up and start filming. In any case, it's been done for us! Thanks again!