Has Buenos Aires lost its tango soul?

[Brummbaer]

Followers don't get any better just because a leader practices his latest "moves" (?!) on them; they improve when he dances with them smoothly and musically.

They have to aspire to more - and take action. But sometimes those skills are in short supply in a locality. Some don't have the opportunity to travel either. You also come across some who were, once, 'advanced', but circumstances limit what they can do. And some are just content.

 

[opendoor]

They have to aspire to more..

I think so too. These days you can learn through the internet. That wasn't the case when I started. There was very little video material, and that was was on VHS tapes.
And if you can't really learn tango properly where you are, you just have to switch style and dance. Perhaps the level is higher in ballroom, salsa, folk, forró or swing. Good music is everywhere. Close embrace and sensual dancing is widespread. And also ballroom does not categorically forbid improvisation. We must not dance tango.

 

[Brummbaer]

These days you can learn through the internet.

Most, like AT, are partner dances. There's a limited amount you can achieve without another co-operative body. OK, you can still achieve something. However it is limited without another person, and the skills to correct what you observe. And, socially, some AT scenes work really hard to discourage people. Maybe when we have VR with tactile feedback?

That situation, particularly the social scene, and the effort to resolve it, discourages many. You can do something IF you're prepared to commit yourself and resources, but that's either unaffordable or too far for many.

 

[opendoor]

..OK, you can still achieve something..

You're condemning these people.
But I wanted to encourage and show them: "you're not trapped in your mediocre scene just because you don't have money."
Of course, it takes at least two people and the unyielding will to realize the images in your head. The passion, of course, has to be ignited by an external spark. But once that passion is there, it can sustain itself and soon these people will mentally leave their scene behind.

The first generation of european tango dancers is still alive; you can ask them. One of them happened to bring back five minutes of casually filmed Super-8 footage from Paris and showed it to his circle of friends in the kitchen of his old apartment. They carried the table out and began to implement what they had seen. That's how the "kitchen circle" was born, the nucleus of three tango studios in my city that were successful for many years.

 

[Brummbaer]

You're condemning these people.
But I wanted to encourage and show them: "you're not trapped in your mediocre scene just because you don't have money."

On the contrary. I'm not condemning them. Merely pointing out the social reasons in today's society.

Those have changed in many places as BsAs, and 'professional' teachers, taxi-dancers, and the whole tourist industry, have sought to monetise the attraction of the dance. The social scene has also changed. We've discussed '3rd places', and AT, elsewhere. We also deprecate, to some extent, the non-professional AT enthusiast within a locality in preference to the 'professional' (but some 'professionals' also create and use that social scene since it's also to their advantage). Nothing wrong with reaching that plateau and remaining 'good enough' within your social sphere. It's when you step outside - say to visit BsAs for dance. Possibly sn expensive awakening, or disappointment, which can be mitigated by more local travel and teaching IF your objective is to enjoy and improve your dancing. But there can be other objectives for visiting South America, including BsAs.

 

[itwillhappen]

The first generation of european tango dancers is still alive; you can ask them. One of them happened to bring back five minutes of casually filmed Super-8 footage from Paris and showed it to his circle of friends in the kitchen of his old apartment. They carried the table out and began to implement what they had seen. That's how the "kitchen circle" was born, the nucleus of three tango studios in my city that were successful for many years.

So you mean that the initial commercial tango structures in Hamburg emerged from watching videos of the first commercial tango shows (Tango Argentino, Tango Fever, Tango Tango)? That makes sense; after the revival, tango was an Argentine export, and conversely, the tango infrastructure in Buenos Aires got from scratch rebuilt to cater to tourists and their money.

In this ecosystem, more or less unpaid volunteers play a role in keeping peripheral costs low enough to make the leisure activity attractive to a sufficient number of customers. Tango instructors have stayed at our home, and I’ve driven future world champions around in my car.

Milonga organizers and DJs should be viewed separately; in Europe, it is generally difficult to make money from either.

 

[itwillhappen]

Most, like AT, are partner dances. There's a limited amount you can achieve without another co-operative body. OK, you can still achieve something. However it is limited without another person, and the skills to correct what you observe. And, socially, some AT scenes work really hard to discourage people. Maybe when we have VR with tactile feedback?

I believe that failing to find (suitable) dance partners constitutes a form of rejection and humiliation that makes the activity thoroughly unappealing. If someone persists in investing resources despite this, one might well ask what alternatives their life otherwise offers.

 

[Brummbaer]

I believe that failing to find (suitable) dance partners constitutes a form of rejection and humiliation that makes the activity thoroughly unappealing.

And there you have the complaint from many followers.

So they find alternative strategies. From verbal requests for the brave, through strategies to be invited, to learning to lead. Amongst the 'strategies' is hiring a taxi-dancer.

You might also ask what's wrong with the other half of the partnership, which usually seems ok in other dances.

From some reports BsAs seems, for some, to have found how to utilise those strategies for their business.

 

[ArbeeNYC]

I believe that failing to find (suitable) dance partners constitutes a form of rejection and humiliation that makes the activity thoroughly unappealing. If someone persists in investing resources despite this, one might well ask what alternatives their life otherwise offers.

One of the reason people leave tango apparently.