Tango in Torquay - Rock Bottoms, 11-14 January 2013

If you go for a Rock Bottoms weekender the name tells you what you will get - fun! (Although it could mean you will hit rock bottom at some stage). Hev and Andy and the crew work really hard at creating the atmosphere for the weekend, so you get fancy dress, a Bottom Warmer intro, Jack and Jill competition (i.e. dance with a stranger), a themed evening, a dinner table to sit at and meet people, pyjamas at breakfast on Sunday and cream cakes at midnight (that was best and I took part in that!). They normally do jive and lindy hop, so does all this gel with tango?

In my opinion NO!

Positive points: the workshops. I did mostly Jenny and Ricardo’s workshops (www.rumbosdetango.com) who, I think, are the best couple teaching tango that I have encountered. I was impressed by Rene and Hiba (www.tango-fever.com) and did a couple of their workshops. Generally there were too many people in the workshops so it was difficult for the teachers to get round everyone. The workshops were first class.

I did have some lovely dances. I danced a lot with Regina, who travelled with me, and Sharon in particular, also with Hazel, Anne, Alison and several other beautiful dancers who I will remember but not by name. Friday’s milonga and the tea dance were the best for me.

Negative points: the milongas. The standard of dancing was not great but that is fine as everyone has to start somewhere and so to provide a non-threatening situation in which to dance tango, is a credit. So why not set it up as a proper milonga, with tandas and cortinas. The music was random with classic tango, Nuevo and some stuff that was almost undanceable! If all of this is organised into tandas then you can plan and dance, or not dance, as the case may be. Tandas also encourage a change of partners and get more people on the floor. And most important it prepares people for dancing in situations more conventional to tango. There are fun exercises to teach floor craft (designating certain couples to dance and get in the way) and lane discipline, which are essential on a crowded floor.
Rock Bottoms have a successful formula which attracts people and many were booking for next year. Regina I were not in that queue.