How To Succeed At Festivals As A Beginner

Use The Cabaceo - You Can't Go Wrong Cabaceo protects dancers from the awkwardness of turning people down, and from the pain of a flat-out refusal to your face. In a mixed-level situation, smoothing interactions with cabaceo becomes even more important, and beginners should default to using the cabaceo with more advanced dancers. It's a courtesy that you're extending to them, which allows them to decline a dance with you graciously.

It's true that not all communities or people use cabaceo all the time, but as a beginner at a festival, you can't go wrong with cabaceo; asking directly can be perceived as rude, and cause others to write you off. If you're from a community that doesn't use cabaceo much, it might be your first time using cabaceo. If that's the case, talk to your teachers and senior dancers about how it works before you go. If you look around you at a festival and see a lot of people asking verbally, ask someone - hey, is it common to use cabaceo here? Do you prefer to use cabaceo? And they will tell you.

When don't you use cabaceo? 1. When you are inviting a regular partner whom you usually invite verbally, 2. When you are inviting someone who has expressed a preference to be invited verbally, 3. When you are inviting a beginner whom you suspect has never before used the cabaceo, or isn't comfortable using it yet. Go With A Partner If you go with a friend, you can share expenses, experiences, and dances. It's good to go with someone you know you can dance well with and dance several tandas at the start of milongas with them. This gives other dancers a chance to watch how you dance for a bit, and think about if you're someone they would like to try to dance with later.

It's not only about dance technique, either, they're also reading your vibe - are they having fun, and enjoying themselves? How does their partner look - happy, relaxed? Enjoying the tanda? Experienced dancers use this same practice, but as a new face on the scene it's even more important to be seen on the dance floor.

In some situations, if you don't get a chance to be assessed early in the night, it's hard to break in later, because as the floor gets more and more crowded, people take fewer chances with new dancers - leaders choose partners they already know they can navigate and dance safely with, while followers may be wary of an unknown lead if quarters are very tight, and getting stepped on or kicked is a concern.

Talk With The Organizer Try to find a time, such as early on the first festival day, to have a quick chat with the organizer about what to expect at the festival. You can explain that it's your first festival and that you're a beginner, and they may be able to point out which classes being offered are suitable for beginners, and which milongas will be the best to navigate.

Talk to them about any concerns you have, such as using cabaceo and abiding by codigos, and at the very least they should be able to tell you what is standard for the local community, from which there are usually lots of dancers in attendance. Depending on the organizer, they may also be able to introduce you to other first-timers, or dancers at a similar level to yours. Organizers are busy with a million things, but it's their job to ensure things go smoothly, and taking a little time to explain which codigos are good to follow, and what expectations for floorcraft are, is time well spent if it makes a smoother experience for everyone.

Volunteer Most festivals solicit help from volunteers, who give their time in exchange for free entrance and classes. This is also a way to get familiar with members of the tango community, not to mention that negative tango snobs don't mess with the organizer's inner circle. Other attendees will know who you are, and appreciate your help. You'll become known as a “new dancer,” but also someone who is passionate and motivated enough to jump right into the scene.

Go To Afternoon Sessions Many festivals and most marathons have afternoon milongas that are more relaxed and less crowded than the evening dances. People are usually much more open to dance with new people at these, because they're less concerned about who's watching, while leaders need to concentrate less on navigation. Some use the afternoon as a warm up, to try out new partners, as an impromptu practica, or to chat with friends, so it's an ideal place for new dancers to both dance and socialize.

Talk with people Tango attracts a lot of introverts, and I think it's fair to say that for many dancers, small talk isn't our strong suit. However, people like dancing with people they feel comfortable with, and you'll also dance better with someone you can feel relaxed with. It usually will come up in conversation that you're a beginner, and if someone invites you to dance anyways, a lot of the pressure is off, you can relax, and you'll have a better dance as a result.

An invitation to dance (often verbal) can naturally flow from a conversation, but it's important that you don't turn chatting up into a tactic for extending invitations. If you make someone feel pressured to dance with you, they may end up ignoring you in an attempt to avoid the awkwardness of a flat refusal. If you're talking with someone you'd like to dance with, especially if they're more advanced, you might mention that you saw them on the floor and really liked their dancing - and leave it up to them to make the next move. They might watch for you on the floor, at a lesson, or even circle back to you for a dance later.

Take lessons Most festivals (though not usually marathons) feature guest instructors, who teach group classes and are available for privates. Many of the world's top tango dancers live off the festival circuit, and a lesson with one can be revelation, as they bring a level of insight into technique and musicality that may not be readily available in your home community. Don't think because you're a beginner, it's too soon to take a private - actually, the opposite. Top teachers love teaching foundational technique, and can help you fix major issues in your dance before you've solidified them with years of dancing. The quality of instruction does vary, so before you go, it pays to ask people in your community for teacher recommendations from the festival roster.

Also important to know is that many dancers use group classes as a way to connect with other attendees, and try out new dancers - if you have a good connection in class, you'll look for each other later that night at the milonga.

Dance safely If you are a beginner leader, it is very likely that navigation takes up a lot of your concentration, so go to the milonga at the beginning of the night, when there are fewer people and the floor is more open, making navigation way easier. This is the opportunity to dance before it gets too crowded to navigate safely.

Festival rondas are often less organized, as people come from different communities that have more or less space for dancing, and are used to a certain amount of space and speed of flow. If you are used to lots of space, it might be a new experience to dance on the crowded floors you encounter at some festivals - the rule here is to dance safely: 1. Stay in your lane, and don't pass other dancers, 2. Don't lead ganchos or boleos, 3. Protect your partner from hazards, such as leaders who are bumping into people or leading wild boleos.

If you are a beginner follower and the floor is very crowded, you should decline dances with leaders who don't respect the flow of the ronda, or are leading very big, show-offy moves. If you allow yourself to be led into wild ganchos and boleos in a crowded situation, it signals that either you don't know better, or are not concerned about the safety of other dancers. If you are in a crowded milonga and are led a boleo, you can choose not to accept it - as in, you don't do the move. Refusing to execute such moves may annoy your partner, but more experienced dancers at the milonga will take note and be appreciative.

Stay safe Beginner dancers are susceptible to being targeted by predators, who engage in creepy and even illegal behavior. Examples range from hitting on partners and monopolizing them, to out-right molestation, such as rubbing their crotch on you - and in extreme cases, assault. The swing community was devastated a few years ago when a very well-known and respected teacher was found to have assaulted multiple women at festivals. The swing scene has taken steps to spread awareness of these dangers, and have specifically named the predator and banned them from teaching at festivals.

It's common to have at least one predator in a community, and some communities make these people known and ban them from events, but you don't know who's at this festival. Since most festivals have fewer beginners, festivals aren't the prime hunting ground for predators, but the local creep might still show up to try their luck. You can ask a festival organizer, “are there any dancers here I should avoid?”, and they'll point out any known bad actors to you.

When dancing, pay close attention to any “creepy vibes” you get off a dancer, and break the tanda and walk away if you begin to feel uncomfortable with something your partner says or does. Be particularly alert if someone tries to teach you on the dance floor - this is a blatant violation of a fairly strict tango codigo that prohibits teaching at the milonga. Predators do this as a grooming technique to see how compliant or inexperienced you are, taking advantage of the fact that beginners are unfamiliar with tango norms to do things that experienced dancers would never permit.

Don't Drink The Koolaid Of Tango Snobbery It's true, there are a lot of people in the tango community who look down on beginners, treat them with rudeness, ignore them, or even try to discourage them from attending events. Don't mistakenly think that rude behavior is acceptable, and “just part of tango.” In some communities it's more common, and in some communities it's not tolerated, but it's always inexcusable.

There's a distinction between cliquishness, when someone dances only with those within their group, and elitism, where self-proclaimed “advanced” dancers feel justified to treat beginner dancers rudely, or make them feel that they don't belong. Know that in many cases, cliquishness is a mechanism that protects popular dancers from the exhausting pressure of declining or avoiding invitations from demanding dancers. Although a beginner, if you establish early that you use cabaceo, respect their decision to dance or not dance with you, and are friendly and pleasant as a person, many dancers are only too happy to help you understand how to navigate tango culture.

Remember that elitism and rude behavior comes back to bite people later, when a beginner they snubbed blossoms into an excellent dancer they want to dance with.

Enjoy Yourself! Going to a festival as a beginner can be a humbling experience, but it can also be a great one. It's important to go with the flow and enjoy what's accessible. It might be that there are entire milongas at which you don't dance a single tanda. Accept this possibility and prepare for it. There are places where only the very top-level leaders survive, places where skewed leader-follower ratios mean that many advanced followers are sitting, and places where the highest-level dancers are just chilling. Relaxing and talking with others can lead to an invitation later from someone you met who turned out to be an amazing dancer, or lead to a friendship with someone you end up dancing with at multiple festivals.

Give Back You may be a beginner, but you are not the only beginner there, and all the courtesies and generosity that are being extended to you, you can also extend to others. If you see that someone isn't dancing, and the conditions are good for you to provide a safe and pleasant dance, invite them. Community organizers are usually aware who is generous and does their part to make sure everyone gets a chance to dance, and who is greedy and spends all their time chasing dancers above their level. They view generous behavior as investing in the community, and you'll be paid back for it at some point. And when you're the advanced dancer at the festival, remember all the times people went out of their way to show you the ropes and make you feel welcome, and then pay it forward.