Tips of dancing in a crowded milonga - Emily

I wish all of you enjoyed Milonga del Corazon at Xperience last saturday. I always recalled New York New York in Taiwan and even El Beso in Buenos Aires when I danced in Xperience for its cosy space. Dancing in an atmospheric bar or restaurant is always nice - but one problem may occur in this occasion. The dance floor, like that of Xperience, may not be as big as those of a dance studio or a dance hall, and people have to squeeze themselves on a crowded dance floor. This may end up leaders have less intention to invite ladies for a dance since the floor seems not to have enough room. But I think all of us, including leaders and followers, can make an effort to make a small and crowded dance floor a heaven to enjoy the music and dance with your partner. Being a dj, who always have a full observance of the dance floor’s traffic, I would like to share some tips of dancing in a crowded dance floor that I got from crowded floors in BsAs and my tango teachers. These are not golden rules of no reasons - all are originated from our considerations to other dancers on the same floor and our care to your partners.

General Etiquette
1. Line of Dance
Line of dance is always one of the key factors defining a good and a bad milonga. While Nino Bien and Salon Canning getting the fame of the most popular and crowded milongas in BsAs, they also become notorious for bad traffic and bumpings. One reason, that many people believe, is that more and more tourists, who usually have less awareness to the importance of traditional dance etiquette in milongas of BsAs, are attracted to these popular milongas, making the dance floors lacking good discipline. Milongas of good traffic in most of the time, like El Beso, are always my favourite. As you can observe from the video showing a regular milonga at El Beso, there are actually roughly two lines of dance - one is around the boundary of the dance floor, and one in the inner circle. Thanks to the interior design of El Beso, having huge column in the middle of dance floor, dancers who favour fancy steps can hardly enjoy themselves in the middle, making the dance floor one of the best in BsAs. Dancers should keep moving in a dance floor at the exterior circles, maintaining a smooth traffic. The middle of the dance floor should be remained to beginners who have less experience of following the line of dance or those stubborn dancers who are obsessed with fancy steps.

2. Type of Embrace
Credits should also give to the milongueros in El Beso who prefer close embrace, which allows more rooms to dance in a smaller dance floor. If the floor is already quite crowded, it is absolutely unwise to show off the steps of nuevo style which demands open embrace and bigger space. Even you really make sure your steps cause no disturbances to other dancers, your steps may scare other dancers who want to squeeze in away.

3. Steps
It is always wise for leaders to avoid big steps or any steps that may let the ladies kicking people around you both, like gancho and high boleos. I am sure most ladies would enjoy more with the leaders’ smaller steps of good musicality, then the heels of her elegant Comme il faut being forced to kick the chair leg behind her! Leaders should also avoid back steps unless you make sure no one is behind you, since back steps would interrupt the smoothness of the line of dance. I think leaders should take more responsibility on this since the ladies have less control about the steps while they may have their eyes closed in the embrace. Turning on the same space and doing hero in close embrace would also help yourself getting away from a traffic jam.

4. Embellishment
Ladies can try to keep their embellishment smaller to avoid kicking your leg to the people at your back. I make this fault sometimes too… = (

5. Cortina
Cortina is a good chance to reshuffle the traffic of the dance floor. It is always good to leave the dance floor when cortina is played. Invite your favourite partner once again later, chance is there!