Elbow-whacking automata

Mechanical Pinocchio

That's enough of the Flash Harry(et) posts.  I am waiting for a few things to fall into place before getting back to the main thread.   So, by way of an interlude:

2014

A: PS - What do you think of this?

B: A show better than most shows. 

But if they dance like that in the milonga... :(

Actually I should say a show less bad than most shows.

I would not want to dance with her. Too much "playing with herself". Or near "him". Too much aggression in that stuck-out elbow.

Some three years ago the topic of 'aggressive elbows' was discussed in an online forum and re-surfaced recently.    Curiously,  some of those condemning it are some of the offenders.  One hopes this is guilt and the awakening of self-knowledge though, recall, many can change their minds on a topic and yet maintain that they have always held they have actually come to.  Being so rare, hearing someone admit to a change of heart is a marvel, one of the great pleasures of existence.  I have the sense, sometimes, of a gate opening, or of recognition, because it means it is a person with whom one might be friends.

At that time, internet forums had, for the most part, passed me by.  I was curious.  But it is surely late now to say that the kind of chat one finds on the internet, even the middle-class internet of British dancers discussing Argentine tango - actually, the internet of mainly middle-class southerners discussing Argentine tango  - is a bit like stumbling into one of the noisiest, most random rondas one could find.  

I mentioned that it was useful to see elbow-whackers at play because it was an expression of character and it helps one know before meeting them, whether one wants to know them better - or indeed at all.  To this, there was - at least - scepticism.  How could something as insignificant as an arm posture have "any reflection on them as people"?  But it says a lot about them.  There are at least two types of dancer who use the aggressive elbow:

Type A: "I am special.  I deserve lots of space because of my 'level'. I have earned it.  Let me be seen.  Give way you minions!"

These might be happier with a career in performance rather than in the social ronda.  Or in some job with status, power and control of others.  Since they are usually past the age for performance or lack the ability, or, more likely, they already have some more important job, they express their dynamic dance style for the 'benefit' of social dancers.  

There was a pleasant chap in this forum with the admirable quality of assuming the best in people. He thought that the stuck out elbow was not hostile because no-one deliberately danced aggressively.  If you have ever experienced the shock of a malevolent couple using the woman's heels or their combined elbows as a weapon, you will know this not to be the case.  Fortunately, encountering this evil on the dance floor is rare.  I have only experienced it, to my knowledge, once.  I heard that the protagonists are now in Antwerp, centre of the unhappy diamond industry, and also of exploitation, money, status and power.  The destination is fitting.  It was also where I had some of the most depressing practica, milonga, and tourism experiences of my travels.

Many though do perceive the stuck-out elbow as aggressive.  I notice the culprits tend to be teachers in places like London.  Such was the case reported here.  On that occasion, it was a teacher, one of the main organisers and DJs in central London.  He was dancing at the time, appropriately, with an oblivious ice queen of a teacher from the north.  They were one of the most arrogantly dancing couples I have ever seen - worse in fact than most real performers who, especially among the Argentinians, can be pleasant people.

Some of the offenders, interestingly, are DJs. That is unlikely to be a coincidence.  In Europe the DJ is often put on the stage, exalted.  DJ blurbs differentiate them from others, advertising their specialness.  DJs are applauded in Europe.  That doesn't happen in a traditional Buenos Aires milonga.  The DJ is important.  People know his or her name but, in a hidden booth or behind a curtain, they are rarely seen.  There, the DJ is at the service of the dancers.  He is not an ego, a 'personality' but a facilitator, like spoons. No surprise then when DJs in the UK and mainland Europe stick their elbows out.  It goes together with believing yourself to be a big shot.

No matter who they are, I think of Type A's as elbow-whacking automata because they don't tend to give a shit about anyone else. 

Type B elbow-whacker is the one who is silently conveying:  "Get back and give me some room, you arse."  This type sticks out the elbow in response to a, usually repetitive, dangerous, infringement of their probably compressed dancing space. The message is sent to the automaton, a tailgater or to some random, passing weaver.

Melanistic jaguar

I would like to call type B the panther because while I don't condone this behaviour and occasionally, in defence, have done it myself, I have a soft spot for the ordinarily discreet dancer, especially those bullied by automata. 'Panther' is perhaps optimistic but let us at least hope that they are quiet, that they move well, taking up little space. Besides, it is the quiet ones I notice who can really go for the jugular.

Most of us could do with less lurching, with being rather more panther-like in our movements, more silk-like in our dancing. I was fortunate to meet some rare exceptions recently from the Paris queer tango scene, currently at my number one spot of where to go looking for good dancing; there or at the other queer tango watering holes in Europe where those dancers congregate. The people I danced with moved so smoothly it was hard to imagine it bettered.  During seven milongas I recall not one of the eighty or so attendees standing out as being an elbow-whacker.  Many people knew one another.  

No matter who does, unfortunately, stick out their elbow, that ugly protuberance is a statement to those watching or dancing nearby.   The focus is lost from the partner.  Once that happens you are not dancing entirely with and for the partner and with a courteous, but much less focused awareness of the people around.  

So what to do? If the panther reacts with a warning elbow to the random weaver that can be enough to get them to bugger off. But I am unconvinced the weaver even consciously notices and the dance, at least for that track, is often already screwed.  The focus on the partner has gone and the weaver will likely have been being irritating well before the elbow warning. But, if the automaton is dancing next to the panther, the elbow warning is pointless.  The former never changes. The only thing the panther can do without dancing with that loss of focus is to stop dancing or circle elsewhere in the ronda.   Once the focus is gone though, the interruption is so disturbing it is difficult to regain it.  Experience says that even if you manage to regain some composure and focus, the tanda is ruined.  To constantly invade a couple's privacy in that way is much graver to my mind than accidentally bumping into them and raising a quick apologetic hand.  

With luck, automaton and panther are unlikely to meet often. It is fair to say that the automaton will probably not notice the panther. Once set, he just keeps going, whirling obliviously in his little kingdom.  This sort of dancer tends to be wrapped up in how they look to themselves or to others who only exist as a sort of mirror. The panther will be at pains to stay out of automata milongas, for obvious reasons.