How to leave the dance floor

I’ve written about this before in a previous post, and here are some examples of how to leave the dance floor (thanks to Jamie Lin and Thyne Kong from Hong Kong, who posed for this series of photos in my apartment).

There are men who like to make a quick get-away by returning to their table without guiding the woman to the edge of the dance floor where she entered it.  If he’s not returning to his table, he may stop to greet a woman who he wants to line up for the next tanda.  There is no courtesy in this behavior.  The tanda is over, and he’s done his job, or so he thinks.  Gentlemen complete this simple gesture during the cortina music.

This looks awkward, and it is.  When the man doesn’t release the woman from his embrace by lowering his arm, this is the result.  It forces her to either raise her left arm over his or leave it hanging behind as in the photo above.

If it was a first tanda, a man is trying to let the woman know he’d like to get to know her better and dance again.  Action speaks louder than words.

It’s like walking down the street with a friend in Buenos Aires.  This is appropriate and very common between regular dance partners and couples.

Handholding is a part of daily life in Buenos Aires where it’s normal to see parents holding their children’s hands while walking them to and from school.  When it comes to a man and a woman, this action speaks clearly — we are a couple.  A dance partner held my hand while we walked off the floor yesterday.  He was sending a nonverbal message — let’s get together.  If a woman isn’t comfortable walking off the floor this way, all she has to do is release her hand from his.

Although more common among couples, this double embrace is used by regular dance partners who have something to talk about while walking off the floor.  It also gives others something to talk about.

Oh well, what can I say?  It’s inappropriate for the milonga, but it happens when no one is watching.

This is how the milongueros viejos guide their partners to the edge of the floor at the end of a tanda.  They may give a gentle squeeze to her arm before releasing the hand.

And another is forearm contact around her waist.  The woman feels accompanied this way.  It completes the tanda.