Sandhill Crane says:
"From a North American perspective, even if a woman arriveswith a
man, she can still decide for herself who she wantsto dance with." "To assume
that a woman who arrives with a manis off-limits to everyone else, is similar
to assuming thatshe is his property, something very out of date, from aNorth
American perspective, as I was saying.
Sandhill Crane, to clarify this point so that there is not doubt whatsoever
about it, from an Argentine perspective, a woman is not the property of any man
and there is not any anachronism in our customs.
It is very simple : The lady arrives to the milonga alone or in company of
other ladies and then she dances with whom she wishes.
When she arrives to the milonga with a man, this means that "SHE WISHES" to
dance only with him, otherwise she would come alone or aat the very least would
seat alone.
Now that we know that foreign women wish to dance with other men despite of the
fact that they come with company, we respect their culture and ask them to
dance, no problem whatsoever. But we would not offend the members of an
Argentine couple by asking her to dance when she came or sits with a male
companion.
Certain misunderstandings may occur from time to time:
It happened to me some time ago, that I arrived to a new milonga, saw a lady
sitting by herself and stared at her to invite her to dance. I should have
waited for a period to know the dynamics of that milonga.
She motioned for me to come to her table and she said " My male friend just
went to the restroom, I cannot dance with you today but I will be glad to dance
with you any day I come alone".
Summary: Customs are different in different cultures. There is a reason for
everything. You may think that somebody's codes are old fashioned other may
think that you behave in an immoral, improper or unethical way.
Best regards, Sergio
_______________________________________________
Tango-L mailing list
[email protected]
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
