The local tango community vs. other dance communities

[blue]

For those of you who dance more than one dance (which most people seem to do here). If you compare your local AT community to the local swing, lindy, salsa or other community - in what they do they differ? I find that my local tango community is a lot harder socially, for beginners, half-beginners and people simply are new in the community and do not know anyone, than the local lindy community. I wonder if this is something typical for the dance, or if it just is a local thing.

The tango people are so serious, and avoid bad dances at all cost - especially as you dance the entire tanda with the same partner. In most other social dances, the local standard here is you usually do two songs with the same partner - and that you can endure with almost anyone. A tanda of four songs is... a lot more. When people smile politely in the middle of a tanda and just has to leave the dance floor for one reason or another, you know you are not good enough... but in a way I understand these people who do it. Four songs is a lot, when it is just not working.

The concept of "asking someome to dance with the eyes", with the implication that you do not look straight at people if you do not want to dance with them (but have to learn how to look at people if you want to) also makes it harder. You will find similar patterns of behaviour in all dance scenes, some of it you pick ut by instinct because it is quite natural to avoid people you do not want to dance with and smile to people you like - but in my local AT scene it is alot more than that, customs adopted from South America that do not come naturally for us up here in the North. It has to be learned, and before you do that it is hard. I am not sure I like the system much, anyhow. I always liked straightness in people... and I hate playing games. I plainly suck at it.

A third factor that I can imagine has some influence is that the gender balance in my AT scene is pretty bad, while in my lindy scene there are almost as many men as women which certainly makes things easier for everyone. I see no people dancing the other role socially in my lindy scene though, while I do see a small number of people doing it in the tango scene, mostly women but also some men. I can imagine the gender balance having some influence here, too.

What does a similar comparison look where you live and dance?

[Zaratustra shaking it]

When I first started dancing tango I thought the same about the "hardness", but that was because of the place I was going to learn.
Some time later I went to other places that had a lot wormer enviroment, the people were nicer and there was an open group of people who went dancing to milongas together and where very nice people (most of them).
I think it doesnt depends on the type of dance you do but the places where you go to learn them.

[Sagitta]

Local tango community I find is very friendly. Welcoming... Maybe more so then salsa etc.

[bonz]

Good topic Blue. I dance both ballroom and AT. The local ballroom people are not in a tight clique like the local AT society. AT has a bunch of rules and I think that makes the milonga a more intimate atmosphere then your regulare ballroom dance party.

The more experienced ballroom dancers seem to be much more willing to dance with beginners. The young and skilled AT dancers seem to be very narcissistic and are quite unwilling to dance with beginners. They are often times rude.

The local older and highly skilled AT dancers are the opposite, they are quite willing to dance with beginners and are quite forgiving of the many errors. They are extremely friendly.

[ssjss]

There's other dance communities? You can look at the Tango community like a family. You have the children, parents, and grandparents.

The children are new to everything. They need alot of time and support to grow into adults. The parents are well on thier way to become adults and are focused on there goals. They also would perfer to be around other adults. Grandparents been there and enjoy the energy the children have. They also enjoy helping them grow, plus they truly have more to teach than the parents, by the way are still tring to learn.

[bonz]

SSJSS, You are right and I was too harsh. Actually there are just a couple of young bandits. Several of the young people are fantastic and I really appreciate being around them. Their talent is amazing. Some of them even step up and organize events.

[DancePoet]

The local AT community is very friendly to new dancers.

It is unfortunate if there are other AT communities who don't cater to newer dancers. Seems to me that a community closed off to newer dancers is not a healthy situation.

The concept of dancing a whole tanda (three songs in a row) with another dancer can work well if both partners are really interested in finding a way to dance together. I realize in some situations we can be successful in making the connection and in others we can't, yet it seems to me to come down to both people in the dance being focused on finding the connection if possible.

I'm a relative newcomer to AT, yet if I'm on the beat of the music with my partner then making a connection becomes easier. Also, I find that if I enjoy the song that is playing, this also can help make the connection easier, yet if my partner doesn't like the song that is playing then I suspect my liking of the song might not matter anyway.

Whether it is ballroom or argentine tango, sometimes I feel as if it is all in one's attitude anyway. If a person projects positiveness, confidence, and a belief in one's self, then dancing can be a fun experience. It is only natural that we will run into people with poor attitudes regarding their dancing which means we will have dances of lesser quality in whatever dance communities that we join.

[tangoaddict]

I do not do any other dancing so can't really compare different groups, but there is only one small tango community where I live and to be completely honest, they are not the most welcoming. And it appears that they'd rather hold back the beginners than encourage them to dance and improve. It is very much a small clique (and quite frankly, they don't seem all that good anyway).

I plan on doing some travelling to other groups around the country and hope they are more friendly and encouraging - they certainly organise many more events that seem to be well attended.