Argentine Tango dancers like ballroom dancers progress counter-clockwise around the dance floor following the line of dance.  A part of learning to dance tango well is having good floor craft so as to avoid collisions with other couples on the dance floor.

It is beautiful to see tango partners lined up in sequence and rotating as one large circle dancing to the music.  At other times, the dance floor may seem more chaotic as in tango nuevo, but beauty can be seen in the randomness of quick movements made by the dancers.

It can be frustrating after the music has started for some time and dance partners are still standing and talking blocking the line of dance.  When this happens to me, I have no other choice than to pass the couple as best I can, usually passing to the inside of the dance lane.

Ideally, Argentine Tango dancers should stay in the line of dance without passing couples and only progress forward as space opens up.  Sometimes a couple may be dancing usually slow in comparison to other dancers, so it is best to pass that couple.

For beginning tango leaders, navigating on a crowded dance floor can be intimidating and challenging.  Most of time while learning tango in class there is plenty of room to navigate.  Learning to dance tango in a small space is a skill leaders have to learn. 

Being comfortable dancing tango in a 3×3 foot square is often mentioned as a goal for beginning and intermediate tango dancers.  Though I have never been to Argentina to dance, I have been told that at some crowded milongas, dancers may only move forward a few inches during the course of a song. 

Some tango movements such as the molinete do require a change of direction that goes against the line of dance.  One advantage of leading a molinete is the leader can survey the distance between the couple in front and behind and know how much space is available for dancing.

Just by realizing when the dance floor is over crowded, then the leader and follower can reduce collisions by restraining their movements to a smaller space and saving the larger figures and movements for another dance.  That is one of the beauties of tango, it can be danced almost anywhere in a large or small space.

No matter how careful the leader and follower may be while dancing tango there will be times when there are collisions between couples.  Most of all, when collisions happen and contact is made with another couple, express your genuine concern.  Hopefully, the couple that was hit will be gracious in forgiving and forgetting the offense in return. 

El cabeceo is the traditional technique of selecting a partner from a distance at milongas in Buenos Aires which can add excitement and intensity to the atmosphere of the dance. It is a non-verbal way of asking a lady to dance Argentine Tango with your eyes, head movement, and body posture. If a lady doesn’t wish to dance, she can look away and then no one else has to know that the man’s invitation was rejected.

Using the cabeceo during the interval between tandas takes on an added poignancy. If the partners know each other well it is a reassurance, if they do not know each other well or it is the first time then there is electricity in the mutual stares. It avoids the embarrassment for a leader of a face to face refusal after crossing the floor.

In some tango communities, the better lady dancers almost always insist upon being asked el cabeceo. They spend time and money to attend tango festivals and take classes with famous instructors. Often these ladies have been to Argentina to dance and they want to emulate the Argentinean style and customs of tango at home. Is there justification to encouraging this etiquette at our milongas and practicas or is it too much for casual American sensibilities?

At Argentine Tango dances a class system often develops among the leaders and followers. In other dances, ladies are often just happy to dance, but in tango it often happens that the more skilled ladies only want to dance with the best. They do not wish to dance with tango leaders beneath their skill level.

Wrongly, many ladies use the cabeceo as a ruse to repeatedly only accept dances from the best tango leaders in the room. They will quickly jump to their feet when an advanced tango leader looks their way and reject advances from less skilled leaders. They use the cabeceo as a shield against the less experienced leaders, so as to avoid making a commitment to dance the tanda.

El cabeceo is the traditional way one asks a lady to dance in Argentina, but it is often misused in American tango communities. This is unfortunate as Argentine Tango should be most of all about having fun and not taken so seriously. Followers should be a little more accommodating in their tango communities dancing with the less skilled leaders at weekly dances. Followers with an elitist attitude will not go unnoticed by the community and they will become less desirable as tango partners to both the advanced and less skilled leaders.