It's
something new in London, a milonga you get invited to on
personal recommendation, not one you can turn up at and get into so
long as you pay the entrance, a milonga that's not advertised, that focuses on respect and
courtesy, on following more or less the codigos. & the result is
that you can dance for four hours without anyone blundering into you,
without having to work
your way
round a lesson in the line of dance ahead of you, without incessant
chattering from the couple behind you, without having to take evasive
action from violent dancing. Since everyone is dancing, there's little chatter to drown out the music. In other words, it's a real pleasure,
with a good DJ and excellent music, too. Yes, you might encounter all
those problems during an evening at most
London milongas, so
you could say the invitation list is an act of desperation, an
extreme measure, perhaps, in defense of the great pleasure of social
tango. Teachers
have failed to insist on basic good manners on the dance floor, and
this seems to be the answer. A wake-up call, in a way.
It's
not been going long, but I'd say it's a great success. Enough people
turn up to make it a very enjoyable afternoon, and the dance is
almost entirely close embrace salon. And since it's in the afternoon,
there's no attempt to create a reddish
gloom in which dancers are half asleep: tango feels relaxed and alert
in daylight. I don't know how close the organisers are to covering their costs: it's difficult. But I hope it continues and thrives, because it's a
sign that there's a substantial number of people in London who want
to enjoy their dance and music without disturbance.
Is that snobbish?
