The beauty of simplicity

In my ever changing perspective of what tango is, I have come to appreciate the simplest things in the dance. Not long ago, I used to pursue intricate step patterns and liked seeing well performed ganchos, boleos, colgadas, etc. While these are nice, not only are they usually impractical on the social dance floor, they are also in my opinion just superficial parts of what the dance is. Using simple forward, back, and side steps, there is such a vast range of emotions to be expressed through the connection with the partner, the floor and the music, that the complex leg wrap and figure sequences I sometimes observe on the dance floor seem superfluous. Of course, the mood and the music might call for these fancy figures, and that's fine as long as it respects the other dancers' space. But the reason why I like the title of the blog - 'Milonga para tres' - other than the fact that it's three people blogging, is that for me it takes three to tango: the two partners, and the music, not the two partners and a bunch of memorized, choreographed sequences. As a guideline: keep it simple. Simple does not mean easy. Simple is beautiful.