Have you ever experienced the longest milonga? Mine probably wasn’t the longest for reasons that you think.
I don’t talk very often about the music at milongas, but a DJ can really make your night or make your night really long. I recently had an experience at a Milonga where the cortinas were endless. Honestly, I’m not exaggerating. (A cortina is the music that separates the tandas at a milonga. The cortina is music that is different from tango and gives you time to exit the floor, wait for the next tanda, and to search for your next partner.)
I am not talking about cortinas where dancers are having such a great time that dancing a bit or even all the cortina is fun and makes sense in the flow of the evening.
For example – I remember very clearly at the ASU Festival during our gorgeous outside Milonga. Everyone was dancing, the energy was really high, and the cortina came on. It was perfect! It just clinched the mood – everyone started boogie-ing down! The DJ let the song play out and when it ended there was a resounding applause! Everyone was so happy! It was perfect!!!
Sometimes I have seen this with a salsa cortina or a swing cortina but it’s special, it’s because the DJ really gets the crowd. The DJ has been able to bring the crowd along to a mutual place of joy and excitement.
However
If a cortina or, in this case of my recent experience, ALL the cortinas are really long – about 3 minutes (or longer) it can actually bring the mood down. People get cranky. And on top of it at this milonga the cortina was the same song, or at least it seemed that way. I don’t remember feeling inspired to boogie to it!
The tanda would end, the cortina would start, people would stand around, sit, whatever, waiting exhaustively, until the next tanda! At this particular Milonga it seemed that it was a common regular occurrence by this DJ.
Many rolling their eyes or sighing impatiently waiting for the next tanda. I asked a few people – “Why does he do this?Doesn’t he know how people feel about it?!”
No one had an answer. I then asked, “Hasn’t anyone told him?”
And of course the answer was “No – it’s just his thing!” The saddest and most annoying part was that this person hails proudly from the tango Motherland, and thus another reason that dancers didn’t want to tell him anything!
The only reason to bring that up is because one person told me that was his excuse!
Nothing like experiencing a contrast to tell you what you do prefer and don’t!
Maybe there will be a new trend in DJ -ing, to make all the cortinas danceable (for some). Maybe we will keep exploring the boundaries of what has been the norm as we know it, but I don’t believe the cortina or the tandas are for the DJ, they are for the enjoyment of a community of dancers. I think some will argue with me about this and great!
Cortinas are long enough to clear a dance floor and to continue or switch a mood. If the milonga is packed, then the cortina takes a bit longer as it might take longer for dancers to clear the floor, but if you’re in a large room and there aren’t many dancers then a long cortina can seem like an eternity.
But as I said, experiencing it first hand gives clarity to why things work better a certain way!
Thoughts? Play full songs in cortinas or not????
Happy dancing!