Spot Dancing in Tango

Progressive dances, such as foxtrot and waltz, are danced on the large dance floor of the ballroom. Such a large floor is divided into two sections: the outer travelling lanes for progressive dancing, and the inner or center floor for spot dancing. Dancing progressive dances needs to follow certain rules, including traveling counterclockwise around the dance floor, not moving against traffic, maintaining the flow, avoiding spot dancing that could hold up traffic, avoiding frequent lane changes, moving to the center if you like to do spot dancing or practice new steps, not traveling through the center, keeping a proper distance from the couple dancing in front of you, adapting patterns to what the traffic permits, not focusing on completing a pattern if a collision can result, and not forcing your way to overtake, etc.

Spot dances, such as disco and salsa, are danced in a fixed area. Such dances can be danced on a small floor like that in a restaurant or bar. Dancing spot dances on a small dance floor follows different rules, including dancing on your own spot or slot, using minimum space, not drifting around the dance floor, using compact dance hold or embrace, using small steps, avoiding dangerous movements, respecting the dance spaces of others, and not pushing or elbowing your way around, etc.

Now, is tango a progressive dance or spot dance? What floor size is best for tango dancing? Which set of rules apply when it is danced on a small and crowded dance floor? There are no easy answers to these questions because tango, a progressive dance in general, can be danced in a compact way on a small dance floor. The following is an example.

People do not dance foxtrot and waltz on a coffee table. But tango, an intimate dance danced in close embrace, does not require a large floor. That is why milongas are often held in restaurants and bars. On the plus side, small dance floors are easy to find, affordable, and convenient for cabeceo. On the downside, the small dance floor cannot accommodate many people and tends to be congested. In El Beso, the famous bar in downtown Buenos Aires, for example, there are often more than a hundred people dancing tango on a floor the size of a large family room in an American home. People jammed together using any space available to dance in very tight steps. Obviously, in a crowded venue like that you have to follow rules different from that in a spacious ballroom where lanes are divided, free travel is possible, and open embrace and fancy steps are allowed. We dance tango in various venues. Some are large, others are small. Some are sparsely populated; others are tightly packed. Even a large dance floor can become crowded from time to time. Therefore, one must dance in accordance with the changing situation. Sticking to the way that no longer fits, such as using open embrace, wide steps and dangerous footwork on a crowded dance floor, is a recipe for disaster. Such senseless behaviors are a major cause of accidents in our milongas. (See Milonga Codes.)

This happens partly because most students in the US are not taught to dance tango on a coffee table. They are only taught to dance tango on a spacious dance floor. But that is not how tango is dance in Buenos Aires where dance floors are usually packed. Now, with the popularity of tango in the US, our milongas also become crowded, making it necessary for us to adapt to a more compact way of dancing. Dancing tango as a spot dance requires different techniques, including using close embrace, dancing in small steps, focusing on synchronization rather than fancy performance, a much better command on dissociation, and the knack in floor crafting, etc. It also requires the dancers to focus more on music and feelings rather than movements and impression. Without these abilities, one's tango education is incomplete and inadequate.