Practilonga (or not)

Word "practilonga" (some spell it "practi-longa") is widely accepted term (at least in the USA) used to describe a social event where a group of people dance and practice dancing tango (and milonga and tango vals). It is a word resulting from melting two words together -- "milonga" and "practica" -- both commonly used in the tango world coming from Spanish.

The "rules" of behavior at a practilonga are not as strict as at a "milonga" (strictly dancing) where one of the most important no-nos is to do any sort of coaching on the floor, where music is usually played in "tandas" (sets of 3-4 like songs with a short 30-40 second interlude), the flow of dancing is observed closely, and there is generally much lesser level of extraneous noise (chat and such).

But, unlike in a "practica" where the atmosphere is sometimes quite chaotic and almost anything goes as long as it has something to do with tango, of course, in a practilonga, those who practice are expected to be a bit more cognizant of those who want to just dance and to respect their choice to do so by limiting their experimentation and noise levels. In turn, those who just dance are expected to be tolerant of those who practice.

So, practilonga works for both worlds - dance and practice - although with somewhat lessened impact. However, a practilonga is particularly useful for the beginners. So far so good.

Recently, a distinguished member of the Argentine ex patriot community in North Florida objected to the use of the term itself, calling it atrocious, and wished it had not been used. A whole slew of responses was generated, some seriously in support of the objection, some humorously offering alternatives. Here's a sampling of alternative terms: fauxlonga, quasilonga, milotango ....