Hi all,
We just finished up some workshops with Daniel Trenner and navigation was one
of the issues we covered. He got into it a little bit last year, but this year
he was more specific. It made me think that the dance-only-in-your-lane was an
artificial construct that relies too much on people obeying the rules (which
assumes that everyone knows and follows the rules). Rather the real problem is
the leaders not paying attention to what's happening on the dance floor.
Daniel describes navigating the floor as being like a chess game, with the men
trying to find the space on the floor. However, key to this is the men
watching and signaling each other. For example, if you and another car are at
an intersection, you and the other driver might interact with each other to
figure out who goes first. The other driver might signal for you to go first.
(BTW, it is a common thing here to for a driver going straight to let a driver
make a left turn first at an intersection). At a milonga, the same thing
applies. A man might signal to another "go ahead and take that space".
If you watch demos of Tete & Silvia dancing with other couples, what invariably
happens is that Tete and the other male dancers start playing each other,
switching partners, etc. I'm sure the switching of partners is all just part
of the demo, but Tete, Oscar Casas, and Maxi Gluzman are all quite comfortable
with this type of interaction. Daniel relates stories of playing this game
with other men while in BsAs. But it's not something he finds when he dances
at he festivals (not surprising given the dance-only-in-your-lane rules).
To me, this makes sense. It also give more meaning to the phrase that you're
dancing with everyone else in the room.
Comments? Perhaps those currently in BsAs can give this aspect of navigation a
try at the milongas?
Trini de Pittsburgh
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