Learning to dance in small spaces

Dancing in small spaces can be a blissful or frustrating experience, depending on what kind of skills the dancer developed during his learning process. Skills to navigate the complex world of crowded dance floors are often regarded as a sign of experience and high status among social tangeros.

In this article I will give you a list of some of the benefits you can have from learning how to dance on crowded dance floors. I believe that these are the most important ones, but other dancers can list more. If you have one, I would be happy to read them in the comments.

Back in 1857 the French poet Charles Baudelaire published his celebrated book “Les Fleurs du mal” (English: “The Flowers of Evil.”) It was my favorite reading during my early high school years. Among the poems was one that I can now use to illustrate the effect tango styles have on the overall dancing experience – the “Albatross.”

I found this video on Youtube for those of you who prefer not to read, but to hear it.

Birds that look so elegant in the air, “these kings of the azure” – when grounded on the ship floor, look funny, “clumsy and shameful.” What made the bird fly elegantly in the sky (its vast wings), made it clumsy on the ground.

The metaphor for me is obvious – what made you look elegant and attractive in the free space of practicas (or stage) can make you clumsy in small spaces. The technique used for open space is a burden for dancing on crowded dance floor. Big steps, “sliding” moves, legs in the air, open embrace… can all benefit when you are “in the air,” but can be big obstacles when you are “grounded” in crowded milongas.

[Tweet “Tango is at home at milongas, not on the stage”]

This is why I consider learning to dance in crowded dance floors as one of the most important skills a dancer should learn.

So, what are the benefits of learning how to dance in small space? Here is my list:

1. It prepares us for the real thing

Without learning floorcraft, any other skills you learn are useless. You can learn the most complicated and the most attractive moves, but if you can’t use them because you don’t have enough space – your efforts are in vain.

Compare yourself to an albatross – your repertoire will be limited and you will look clumsy and funny.

2. It gives the dancer a context

What you learn in classes is not an abstract skill that hangs out in the air. Thinking in context gives you a perspective. Many students come to classes and acquire knowledge, but most of the beginners don’t really have a picture why they need it.

Knowing the context can be a real game changer for many dancers – it gives them a purpose and inspires them to put more effort in learning.

3. It transforms the dancing style

Despite the latest tendency of dancers, teachers and performers to enrich tango with innovation and creativity, traditional tango in its core has evolved – it is not a result of intelligent design.

“Social tango was shaped by the environment of the milonga, and you can’t separate them. Social tango and the milonga are meaningless without each other.” – Rick McGarry (Tango and Chaos in Buenos Aires)

This means that the way you dance depends on where you dance and vice versa, where you dance will influence the way you dance. If your dancing style was developed in practicas, where you could dance without interruptions from other dancers, then you will have trouble dancing in milongas – just because your dancing has not evolved for that environment.

4. It reshapes our mindset

Milonguero mindset is more about the connection and people we dance to than the movement and music that inspires us. Social tango is social – which means we should give priority to people and how we relate to them. Of course technical skills, repertoire and musicality are important, but they should not be the priority. They are not the goal by themselves – they are just tools to help us build a better experience.

Dancing without the disruptions that are connected to crowded milongas shapes a different mindset. When you have limitless space you tend to focus more on the physical mindset and neglect the subtle elements that are more meditative and partner oriented.

Did you like this article? Do you have experience that you would like to share? Just add it in the comments or send me a message: I would love to hear from you.

And please, don’t forget to share this with your community. I’ve put a lot of effort to help dancers find their tango perfection – my way is creating this content. You can help me in this by sharing it and helping me spread the word. Thank you for that!