We are only, of course, talking about those who never were much interested in dance class. I meet them often: people who just pop in to see what is going on in a milonga or people I chat to in life who are generally interested in dance. The 'viable' ones then are these, or people, like ‘Anonymous’; who commented on Choice, who try classes, find something wrong there, and start questioning it - safely anonymously. :)
Of these, there are those who want to dance the traditional man's role and those who want to dance as the woman and more often than not, at least at the moment, those align with biology. Many women learn easily just by dancing with experienced partners - it is so commonly said, outside of dance class as to be uncontroversial. I see and experience it for myself when I go to the milonga and watch new women dancing with experienced guys and when I dance with them myself.
What about the men? There is so much to learn just from being in the milonga - how people dance, how invitation happens. By just turning up at the milonga one has already done the most important thing: going to the natural environment. Class is not the natural environment for social dancing. In the milonga there are all the choices mentioned before; there is also a ronda, there are people watching, there are tandas and cortinas. These things all make all the difference to how people partner and dance. There are worse ways to learn than hanging out in a milonga and chatting to people over a drink. It is comparatively cheap, too. £3, wonderfully, in one of our local milongas, compared to £15 for a workshop, say.
Most of all, along with all one sees, one absorbs the music, naturally, effortlessly so that when one comes to dance that piece, body and mind already know it. There is that sense, of a sudden, when you want to dance a great piece, of being impelled to stand and dance. It is like electricity, fire, energy, it is a power that comes directly from the music and fills you. You can’t force that. You have to wait for it and it comes from knowing the music. People who talk about good dancers being able to dance any piece is rubbish. Perhaps, but how well? You dance well the music you know and love. Anything else is likely to be acrobatics, fakery or mechanics.
‘HB’, commenting on ‘Choice’, said he had thought milongas were not places to teach and learn. They are not places to teach but there is so much to learn there. But learning in, say, the milonga a beginner may not dance the first time and some people are not prepared for that slower, more relaxed way of learning. It is like learning a language. You listen first, for quite a long time. Then, slowly, you learn to talk. It’s a different pace to class, an entirely different rhythm.
My advice to new guys is to come to the milonga or a practica, watch, listen, talk to people; decide for themselves and through observation and talking to girls which guys dance well and make these guys their model, realising that different women like different things. Those guys may show a beginner what they do in a practica or outside the milonga. Despite the odd, scary one or two who think beginners have to earn the right to talk to or dance with experienced dancers there is generally a lot of goodwill towards beginners even if it isn’t immediately apparent. You may have to look for it and be careful where you look. It is just a question though of striking up conversation and seeing what happens. It amazes me how little people exercise their own judgement, that they don’t ask each other much how to do things, that they don’t, much, figure something out together or approach someone who knows and to ask. Why doesn’t that happen more often?
I was talking recently for the first time to a very experienced guy who I have seen for years in the milonga but we have never danced or even really chatted. We had a great conversation about the history of tango, milonga culture, all sort of things, during which I asked him how another guy, who was dancing, one of the best local dancers, did his ochos with seemingly no movement in the chest. He said: “Don't ask me, ask him”. That was enough for me to approach the other guy too who I don't really know and he offered to show me some time. There is a lot of good spirit and kindness in the milongas. A lot of stuff happens if you hang out there, watch, ask questions and make it known what you are looking for.
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