About The Dance
Many people have questions about the nature of the social dance. In order to place things in perspective, we have reprinted excerpts from an article from the January 2001 issue of Tango Noticias. We hope it will be of some help.
What's a Cortina?
Asking For and Accepting a Dance the
Argentine Way
reprinted with permission
Milongas v.Practicas
The term “Milonga” has 2 meanings. First: it is a name for
a social dance party. Second: it is a specific type of music,
a close relative and predecessor to the tango known by its
steady rhythm.
The term ‘practica’ signifies exactly what it sounds like—a
practice session. This is a time when people have the opportunity
to work on steps they have learned in classes and
workshops. Often there is a teacher or other students around
to answer questions about a particular step. During a practica,
it is perfectly acceptable to stop on the floor and talk
through a step. This should never be done during a milonga,
where the purpose is just to dance and have a good time.
What's a tanda?
A tanda is a group of songs in one particular style usually
performed by one orchestra. It allows the dancers to get into
the feeling of the music with their partner for more than one
dance. Traditionally, people will dance the entire tanda with
the same partner. In Buenos Aires, if someone does not complete
the tanda with the same person it is considered an insult.
In Buenos Aires, a cortina is always a short piece of non-tango,
or even non-danceable, music played to signal the
end of a tanda. This music acts as the cue for escorting the
woman back to her seat.
At the milongas in Buenos Aires, often not a word is spoken in
asking someone for a dance. A man will look around the room
and try to make eye contact with a woman. Also, a woman can
initiate the eye contact as well. If she does not want to dance
with him, she will avert her gaze. If, however, she wants to
dance with him, she will make eye contact; he will then slightly
nod his head in the direction of the dance floor. If she has
decided to dance with him she will nod yes. Only at this point
would a man go to a woman’s table and escort her to the floor.
This set of conventions serves a myriad of purposes. First: it
prevents women from feeling obligated to dance with just any
man who comes to her table and asks her to dance. Second:
men are kept from looking foolish by going to a table and being
refused a dance. Third, if for any reason something comes up,
or anyone changes his or her mind, no one else need ever know.
Line of Dance
Dancers at a milonga should respect the line of dance —
counter-clockwise around the room. When someone wants
to do fancy figures they need to move to the center of the
floor, execute their move, and then blend back into the line
of dance. Cutting across the middle of the dance floor is
impolite and can be dangerous.
Also, a person never wants to stop for long periods in the line
of dance unless, of course, there is an extremely long pause in
the music! Steps should generally contribute to progressing
forward. Traditionally, it was bad form to pass another dancer
on the floor when all were moving in the line of dance.
Normally — No. The dance floor can be a crowded
place. Steps like these were designed for performances, not
a social floor. It is very easy to kick someone else on the
floor when doing such moves. If a boleo is led, it should
be done with the woman’s toe staying very low to the
ground for safety.
The Music is Playing.Why aren t People
Dancing?
In the old days, single people came escorted to milongas.
Between the songs proved to be the only time that couples
had to talk to each other without anyone listening. Often
one would talk to one’s partner through the entire introduction
of a song, often lasting as much as 30 seconds! At
one time, it was like magic to watch the entire floor begin
to dance at the same time as the musical introduction completed!
Talking and Teaching on the Dance Floor
Tango is an intimate, personal, and improvised dance. A
person’s focus should only be on your partner and the
music. Unlike other forms of social dance, any step can be
changed at any time. Obviously, this is also why no one
should be teaching on a social dance floor, since this can be
extremely distracting and dangerous to the other dancers.