Interview of three Taxi Dancers in Buenos Aires

[Maria Jose]

I've had some experience using taxi dancers in Buenos Aires. It's not something I would have sought out myself, but it was included in the trip that I booked: the package included semi-private lessons where taxi dancers were our lesson partners, and on the evenings in which we went to milongas as a group, taxi dancers were also hired for a couple of hours.

I've got to say, it was really cool. It felt like we got to see the Buenos Aires tango scene from backstage. The taxi dancers were all very professional and super nice people. Many of them perform, DJ, teach, some have day jobs not related to tango too.

Yes, this is in fact how I met dancers as well, although at the time they felt more like teachers/tour guides. I l live in Buenos Aires but I was accompanying a group of tourists for my job. The dancers were extremely friendly, outgoing, patient -some of the tourists had only ever seen Tango, never danced- and really made the difference in the dynamic of the evening. Without them, for some, the milonga would have been a night of sitting shily in the corner.

Also like you said, and just as important, they do help to see the "backstage" of the tango scene. I feel like the conversations in the milongas are just as interesting as the dance. Everybody seems to have so many anecdotes and memories.

Taxi dancers also exist in ballroom. Apparently, it's also very common in China or Hong Kong.

I hadn't thought about this! I would like to learn more about taxi dancers from other genres.

 

[DanceMentor]

On this topic, if I were to go to Buenos Aires, would it be easy for me to find a female taxi dancer? Any idea what the rates would be like?

 

[Miradamiranda]

A well-to-do female friend of mine in her late 60’s and who is at most a mediocre dancer has told me she discretely had paid for a guy’s marathon pass and his flight but not his hotel costs (she and I were sharing hotel). She got into the event and she got a good handful of tandas over the 4-day event, but not so many that it looked like a taxi dancer situation, and I never even saw them talk. Not officially a taxi dancer, but it was a win-win situation. They repeated the situation the following year.

 

[Bailango]

I hadn't thought about this! I would like to learn more about taxi dancers from other genres.

Cruise operators use to hire taxi dancers. A lot of ladies on the cruise liked to dance. Men not so much. It was one of the ways for dance instructors to make good money. Cruises also featured dance lessons.

From what I am told by the old pros, taxi dancing was common in the ballroom world. The dance studios would hire them. Taxi dancing I think originated in the ballroom world when it was popular. Dancehalls used to be a destination for socializing and going out. I view pro-am has more formalized version of taxi dancing for competitions.

 

[Bailango]

On this topic, if I were to go to Buenos Aires, would it be easy for me to find a female taxi dancer? Any idea what the rates would be like?

I don’t know the rates. I don’t see any reasons why you won’t be able to.

In your home community in SoCal too you can pay fees to a female instructor to dance with you at milongas. The payment amount depends on the arrangement. Which could be either number of hours or number of tandas agreed to. It is not too different from engaging an instructor for privates.

 

[itwillhappen]

A well-to-do female friend of mine in her late 60’s and who is at most a mediocre dancer has told me she discretely had paid for a guy’s marathon pass and his flight but not his hotel costs (she and I were sharing hotel). She got into the event and she got a good handful of tandas over the 4-day event, but not so many that it looked like a taxi dancer situation, and I never even saw them talk. Not officially a taxi dancer, but it was a win-win situation. They repeated the situation the following year.

I think if you're spending a few thousand dollars on an explicit tango vacation, then it can be quite reasonable to secure it with a few hundred euros for taxi dancers. However, those around you will perceive that you directly compensate for your lack of attractiveness as a dance partner with your money.

Balancing financial performance when attending a festival together may be easier for the ego to handle. And at an encuentro you can imagine even better that you don't need a dance partner but just compensate the gender imbalance.

 

[pianistamediano]

After reading all the posts here and some articles online discussing taxi dancing, it seems like hiring a taxi dancer carries the negative implication that one isn't a desirable enough dancer to obtain enough dances, and therefore has to buy the attention of a good dancer.

 

[Miradamiranda]

A male friend of mine who travels yearly with a group to BsAs told me that this year he had hired a female taxi dancer for about 5 tandas, since the women in his group were happy with their arrangements of getting paid for floor time. He said it worked out great.

In my previous life as a salsa dancer preferring NY style first, then LA style, and last Cuban style, I’d occasionally travel to Cuba for work not related to dancing at all. My friends thought I’d be dancing all the time and that the work aspect of the trip was secondary - an excuse to bypass embargo rules. But no, I didn’t like dancing there at all. But, a few times I hired a few really good local male dancers just to dance with me non stop for the duration of the private lesson. It was much more interesting for me than at events. So, it was for the dancing itself, not just mostly to be seen on the dance floor to get further dances, like it’s the case in BsAs with taxi dancers. Still, it’s also not THAT different.

 

[Bailango]

I think if you're spending a few thousand dollars on an explicit tango vacation, then it can be quite reasonable to secure it with a few hundred euros for taxi dancers. However, those around you will perceive that you directly compensate for your lack of attractiveness as a dance partner with your money.

Sometimes your posts puzzle me because they indulge too much into “lookism”. There has been constant trend in your posts where you emphasize the attractiveness level of a woman. Particularly physical attractiveness attributes. There is no denying that when it comes to choosing a dating or romantic interest it is of prime importance. In dancing it sounds rather coarse. We don’t choose friends based on how attractive they look. I have spoken to many dancers both men and women. Once you have been bitten by the dance bug, attractiveness level of partner as a criteria for dancing doesn’t register in top of the mind. Unless you are looking for something beyond dance floor. On the dance floor it is all about skills, compatibility, connections, chemistry etc. Empirically I have seen no evidence nor heard any claim that physical attraction enhances dance chemistry or connection. Yes we all know of some older men asking younger followers but I doubt that has a lot to do with them finding particular younger followers attractive. Part of rationale may be self-validation that they are still relevant or younger woman can still like them. Other part is younger people are generally better dancers skill wise. I people avoiding younger man and woman once it is known they lack skills. In dancing many men and women have told me that they might find a dance partner attractive whom otherwise in a broad daylight they wouldn’t give time of the day. Finding someone attractive for dancing has nothing to do with wanting anything to do with them off the dance floor. That attractiveness is due to mix of their dance personality and skills.

If a man or woman with poorer skills pays someone to partner them for dancing, I view that more as compensating for their lack of skills. The lack of skills is what gets them less dances. Or if in a follower heavy then compensating for the odds stacked against her. At least she is getting assured dance time in exchange with a man of her choice. I don’t see that in any way as compensating for lack of attractiveness unless your insinuation is that an attractive lady with poor dancing skills won’t find a need to hire a taxi dancer.

 

[itwillhappen]

Sorry @Bailango, but I'm using the term "attractiveness as a dance partner" here as a generic term for the sum of all qualities that lead to attracting regular dance partners at a milonga.
From your point of view, you try to further divide it into “physical attraction” and “attractive for dancing”.
What do you think would be a more suitable generic term?

 

[Bailango]

After reading all the posts here and some articles online discussing taxi dancing, it seems like hiring a taxi dancer carries the negative implication that one isn't a desirable enough dancer to obtain enough dances, and therefore has to buy the attention of a good dancer.

I disagree. May be there is a bit of a slant due to the discussion in a few posts.

I know a man who after five years of dancing was dissatisfied. So he paid a female instructor to dance with him a set number of tandas at milongas regularly. The guy was middle age and the instructor too was middle age. If you can’t find a compatible partner to practice or dance at milonga, how can you improve? Or if you think dancing with a better follower will improve your dancing. How is that different than paying an instructor for one hour private. That guy also took privates from the same instructor btw.

In our community there are a few younger guys in mid-twenties who act as hired partners. They are good dancers and attend college. Colleges are super expensive in the USA. So this acts like supplementary income stream. We can tell when they are dancing as hired partners and when they aren’t. One lady who appears fair bit older, may be late 50s or there abouts used to dance with one at almost every milonga for a year. I had danced with her before. She must have picked up tango only a year or two prior. Since I hadn’t seen her before. Then I started her always with the same guy whom and she spent most of the time dancing with him. After year or year and half it stopped. A few months back she asked me for a dance. Her progress was remarkable. She was definitely grounded, balanced, responsive. None of which was present in her dancing when I had danced with her before she hired partner. Apparently she could afford it and it paid off for her.

I learnt very late, almost a decade later that it was a common practice to hire instructors for set number of tandas. Before becoming aware of it, I would wondered why a good dancer would be dancing repeat tandas with someone that was surely way below their skill level. It never dawned on me that it was pre-arranged.

In my books if you can afford it, hiring a good dancer partner is good way to become better dancer. May be also a good way to get more dances.

 

[Bailango]

A male friend of mine who travels yearly with a group to BsAs told me that this year he had hired a female taxi dancer for about 5 tandas, since the women in his group were happy with their arrangements of getting paid for floor time. He said it worked out great.

In my previous life as a salsa dancer preferring NY style first, then LA style, and last Cuban style, I’d occasionally travel to Cuba for work not related to dancing at all. My friends thought I’d be dancing all the time and that the work aspect of the trip was secondary - an excuse to bypass embargo rules. But no, I didn’t like dancing there at all. But, a few times I hired a few really good local male dancers just to dance with me non stop for the duration of the private lesson. It was much more interesting for me than at events. So, it was for the dancing itself, not just mostly to be seen on the dance floor to get further dances, like it’s the case in BsAs with taxi dancers. Still, it’s also not THAT different.

Indeed. Salseras have told me that in Cuba they often get approached by guys offering to be taxi dancers. Economic conditions in Cuba also play a big part in local dancers targeting salsa tourists. It is out of scope but I am sure you know why and how tourists in general get targeted there.

 

[Miradamiranda]

Indeed. Salseras have told me that in Cuba they often get approached by guys offering to be taxi dancers. Economic conditions in Cuba also play a big part in local dancers targeting salsa tourists. It is out of scope but I am sure you know why and how tourists in general get targeted there.

Yeah all they wanted was a suger mommy.

I used to go before tourism opened up somewhat and then shut down again. It changed a lot during that time.

 

[Mr. Moustachio]

Taxi dancers also exist in ballroom. Apparently, it's also very common in China or Hong Kong.

it seems like hiring a taxi dancer carries the negative implication that one isn't a desirable enough dancer to obtain enough dances,

Apparently, in Hong Kong, it's a form of conspicuous consumption. It tells people (the ones who regularly attend an event and therefore know who's who) that she's rich enough to hire a dance champion. Sort of like driving around in a Mercedes-Benz.

 

[Dancing Gorilla]

Apparently, in Hong Kong, it's a form of conspicuous consumption. It tells people (the ones who regularly attend an event and therefore know who's who) that she's rich enough to hire a dance champion. Sort of like driving around in a Mercedes-Benz.

In US probably cheaper to hire taxi dancer than a teacher at a dance studio for those social dancing