Short changed

(Three track tandas VI)

Not being one who likes people I don't know or trust to know best for me I generally prefer to stay clear of places that play tango tandas in threes. It isn't just about the "less choice" that was the subject last time.

Harried

At the Edinburgh Festivalito that night, when Adrian Costa played tango tandas were in threes, every time the tanda finished I felt as though my partner and I had been drawn up short. I felt the missing track as a surprise each time and as the lack it was, like being repeatedly short-changed. I feel a bit harried, a bit rushed at such milongas, whereas I prefer them relaxing, which four track tandas, if they are good, tend to create. I suppose if you like being pulled up short in things before they complete, or don't notice then three tango tracks are for you. I find they tend to get played in beginner or milongas based on dance class ideas.  

Getting to know you

 Many feel four tracks is the amount of time you need to get to know some new partners well enough to start getting over things and to start dancing with them. In busy conditions especially, these things can take time.  You need time to find out who you are with, to get - literally - a feel for them, to establish security, to sense what is likely possible and what not, to start to form a connection, then to maybe try things and then to dance. Of course, it happens differently with different people.  With some people it takes seconds.  For me as a new dancer it took months to feel established with some guys.  But three tango tracks is usually just too short for things to...balance out.  Four tango tracks can be enough time for a nervous dancer to get past nerves, where three tracks isn't always enough. 

"Rightness"

The other reason, I like four tracks is because once you have danced well to four tracks there is a sense of rightness about it that three track tandas just don't have.

Quantity over quality

There is one advantage to three track tango tandas: people who tell you they like them because you can get round more people are performing a useful service. They are advertising that they choose quantity over quality.  In dance, as in life.