Thursday, 19 March 2015

Milongas - segregation or inclusion?



I wrote this piece as context against my notes about traditional tango music and dancing in Berlin because opinion is only useful if you know where it is coming from. 

I like milongas which have the right physical conditions for dancing, which play good traditional music in cortinas and where people, especially those who are not good friends, when they are not chatting will observe the non-verbal behaviours for dancing found in traditional milongas that are to do with tact and courtesy, invitation and acceptance.

There is a new milonga I like at the university in St Andrews, Scotland, more of a practica, even though it is not at all traditional.  It is attended almost entirely by young and new dancers.  They have picked up on the idea of invitation by look. I go sometimes even though there are no tandas and up to half the music can be alternative.  I go because I like the atmosphere.

I am twenty years outside the "very young" bracket and I came to tango dancing not quite three years ago; so if I go alone to dance as the woman in a place where I am not known I do not want to to compete with a room of young girls. Many men will dance first with who they know and after that with the young - sometimes vice versa  This is not uncommon in tango as in life and young women who dance with experienced partners can pick up the dance quickly and become good dancers.  Similarly, I do not want to go to milongas known to be frequented primarily by couples who tend to go to dance together.

Milongas like these (and others 'specialist' milongas - those with alternative music or those regularly featuring live music) arise in places with an established, often sizeable community of dancers, or one with a strong and specific dancing culture. They cater for different tastes in music, dance, etiquette.    There is much to be said for this separation since reconciliation between people who like different kinds of music for dancing is unlikely.  It is about finding a milonga that suits you.

Sometimes hosts will deliberately set up 'beginner' milongas.  I like milongas with variety - a mix of ages and experience. I like a dance with a local feel, non-specialist, a milonga for everyone who likes traditional music, where there are people who arrive alone, people in couples, new dancers, experienced dancers and visitors. Milongas where experienced dancers dance with new dancers are healthy environments, but not necessarily common. The local milonga playing good music in tandas with cortinas, and the right physical conditions for dancing is also vanishingly rare.  

By "a milonga for everyone", I mean everyone who comes to feel the music, to dance, not to put into practice their latest move from class or to try and remember, while in someone's arms with sublime music playing, the latest message about technique. "Everyone" includes brand new dancers because there is no faster, better way to learn to dance than by dancing with people who can already dance.

I was looking for a tag or label for this post - an antonym for segregation. Roget's suggested connection. I looked for a synonym for inclusion.  I hadn't expected the dictionary definitions for inclusion to align themselves so explicitly with what I think dancing tango and the milongas are about:   "admittance, involvement, embodiment, encompassment, embrace....".

2 comments:

  1. I like what you're saying here, totally agree.

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  2. :) Thank Cara. That's nice to hear.

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