I did NOT say I was a examiner for the IDTA ( I am a Dual Fellow BR Latin/ Amer./ Smooth and Rhythm) My reference m was to the NADTA ( In the States ).

sorry for the confusion .

Serendipidy,
Thank you so very much for the information.
Regards,
ML

Capy56. Again I would strongly recommend Steven' s instruction on the Tango. For instance explaining what will happen if in a Promenade the toes are pointing straight down the floor instead of across. And also the lady turning the toe inwards on the first step of the Link.And the feeling of actually going back down the LOD on the second step. Its all there and easy to understand.. Good Luck.

Me again-- Just realised something you mentioned in your post-- You are now " down under " ?

is joyce hayward still alive - any information please

Passed away in 1998

I also danced at the Palaise in the late 50s, I remember the Ladies all sitting together at one end and the men at the other end . It was so embarrassing to cross the floor to ask a Lady for a dance and be turned down. I was just learning to dance. I went to a dance school in Hendon London, the dance variation I learnt are the same as today.

This is really off topic, but given that this discussion has been about tango, I thought that I'd mention that the 'walk of shame' (returning to your seat, having been refused a dance) would never happen when dancing Argentine Tango organised in the traditional way.

There, the cabeceo is used: making eye contact across the room, acknowledged with a little nod or gesture, so that the agreement to dance has been reached before the man goes over to the woman to escort her to the floor. If eye contact is not made, or if having met someone's glance, you then deliberately look away, you have turned down that would-be partner, but no one else will have seen, and no embarrassment results.

It's a very civilised way to arrange things, and is gender-neutral, in that a woman can be actively seeking eye contact with a man, just as easily as the other way around.

Here in the UK, social dancing in Ballroom & Latin American styles has become unsocial dancing, unfortunately. I've lost count of the number of people that tell me that their parents met at a dance - but these days, if you don't go with a partner, you will rarely get to dance all night, and partner rotation is almost unknown. It is the main reason why I rarely bother to dance in those styles, any more. When I'm at a Milonga, I can dance with twenty partners, if I stay long enough. From what I gather (but have no experience of it), things are different in the 'States, at least at studio 'parties'?

Telemark, you should really re-post this with a different Subject line , something like
dance customs? I found it so interesting I may want to post it on my web site
( http://sites.google.com/site/mjtnemeth/ ) with permission of course.
As you say some customs have fell in to dis use (unsocial).

Im sure there are customs particular for tango that others know. I know that that to
say "thank you" after a single dance would signal to the partner you didn't want to
dance the rest of set. Or that the embrace should be invited.

You're welcome to repost my comments if you wish.

The 'Thank you' convention is rather silly, not in the sense that there shouldn't be a recognised way to end a dance if you feel uncomfortable continuing, but to choose to 'thank' your partner does seem a strange choice of words.

As for the embrace, the convention is that the follower chooses how close she wants to be to the leader. The most traditional embrace, which really is rather more of a hug than it is a 'hold' is very close, with body contact at the upper chest and with the arms rather loosely around each other and with the elbows close to the body and down. Not every follower is comfortable with this degree of physical contact, and sometimes a more open embrace (very like that adopted for Latin American dancing) is chosen instead. The convention is that the leader invites to follower take an embrace, and she determines how close it will be. Not respecting her freedom in this regard is one of the most common reasons to say 'thank you' and leave.