Reasons to give up Tango

[itwillhappen]

But it is probably changing, but to what?

I don’t see Tango in general dying right now; the Tango boom ended already more than fifteen years ago.

However, I do see the segment based on selection via explicit códigos shrinking somewhat, so maybe the encuentro boom ends. And people tend to hold onto memories of unpleasant experiences and rejections for a long time - including those related to events.

We don't give up tango, but are limiting our travelling to events - basically only those where we value the organizers. Achieving a high standard of dancing through a selection process is becoming more difficult.

 

[Miradamiranda]

1983 - the regime falls. People wanted, amongst other things, to dance AT again. But there had been no real tradition of teaching AT as we know it now. So it had to be re-learned, including the teaching.

During that period formal AT teaching was kept alive in Colombia, in Medellin, especially. Something that is not being given enough credit, IMO.

 

[Brummbaer]

During that period formal AT teaching was kept alive in Colombia, in Medellin, especially. Something that is not being given enough credit, IMO.

Any references?

 

[opendoor]

..Colombia, in Medellin, especially. Something that is not being given enough credit, IMO.

Also in Chile as tango wasn't seen there as a political threat.

 

[Tangogal]

I haven’t read all the recent replies. Once again Tango in my city has fizzled to less than 20 active dancers. Of those 4 are teachers, 2 are beginners (started in January) and the two retired couples spend a lot of time travelling.

Of 8 beginners starting in November 2025 only one woman remains. Presumably the college students had exams and an increased workload after Christmas.

So, in my community, we have a recruitment problem, a short-term retention problem and a long-term retention problem!

There is an active and thriving Latin dance community which is driven by a particularly charismatic couple. They run classes in several styles, weekly club-style parties and monthly “festivals” (workshops and Saturday night party). They are constantly on social media! They post clips of themselves, their classes, their performances, birthday greetings to all their friends (assistants, greeters, students, guest teachers…). Tango is invisible by comparison.

 

[JournalInTime]

So, in my community, we have a recruitment problem, a short-term retention problem and a long-term retention problem!

So sorry to hear that.

They are constantly on social media! They post clips of themselves, their classes, their performances, birthday greetings to all their friends (assistants, greeters, students, guest teachers…). Tango is invisible by comparison.

Tango has accumulated a truly bizarre "mystique": Complete strangers show up to dance (often for one evening) anywhere in the world, at events they discover only after asking on some website and being told to go to another site where they finally get directions to One Weird Facebook Page (that lists the wrong information, because someone created a recurring event 5 years ago and never updated it), typically in some dodgy loft that doesn't have signs outside, starting late (21h, 22h, or even later), usually in dimly lit rooms with cliques huddled in corners, all with an ancient tradition of silent invitations and no talking while dancing, and a modern one of sour-faced looks if you take a photograph of so much as a potted plant.

I'm sure all of that plays some role in the invisibility. Just in the past two weeks, I danced with a lovely German tanguera and an equally lovely Scots tanguera. They showed up late because the event was poorly advertised, in an area where Uber cannot go due to a closed street, in a spot that looks like the side door to a bakery. I never did learn any names, because tango people for the most part prefer to be anonymous. And they didn't dance until I invited them, because the cliques were too busy ignoring visitors.

On my last visit to my hometown, I didn't even dance. I knew that there were events, but the dates on all the information were "2023," and this was in late 2025. Nobody responded to messages. I couldn't "fly blind" because they have a tradition of using whatever space they find at almost the last minute, and not sticking to a consistent day of the week or hour of the day. And this is in my city of origin, which I know well and where I have family and contacts!

If we want Latin-dance visibility, we could start with Latin-dance openness (that's a stereotype as well, but the relative visibility of the two dances is not debatable). That would mean starting events at hours that are friendly to people who work in morning (including travelers come for trade shows and conferences), posting event information everywhere online and at street level weeks in advance, updating that info before each and every evening, noting "You may be photographed" in that info, including the best of the resulting photos in the advertising, having a host at the door who asks names and introduces visitors to the regulars by name, keeping the lights up, and arranging seating to discourage clumping and to keep lines of sight open. Short-term, some of the current crowd would hate that, but the longer-term result would be better visibility and fewer recruitment and retention problems.

 

[Brummbaer]

we have a recruitment problem, a short-term retention problem and a long-term retention problem!

That experience isn't uncommon. Too often, in a metropolis, they relied on a steady stream of new recruits. Retention (always the easier option!) wasn't a consideration.

They are constantly on social media! They post clips of themselves, their classes, their performances, birthday greetings to all their friends (assistants, greeters, students, guest teachers…). Tango is invisible by comparison.

I'm not a fan of 'social media' for advertising events, but if that's where you can recruit...

I find that those AT teachers/schools who market themselves, do better (surprise, surprise). It looks interesting. There's more going on - not just some milonga. Students become involved. It also means changing and expanding how you market something.

We're going to a milonga in an interesting location nearby soon. I only discovered it whilst looking up some AT musicians to see if they were playing in my part of the country. I discovered they were playing at this milonga - but where were the details and who was organising it, and hosting it? Eventually tracked that down, to find them displaying some professional tango dancers I know. Spoke to them, but they knew nothing about it. They were performing elsewhere. Found the 'school' organising it - tickets not yet for sale, and still lots to organise. Found the host - tickets already on sale. To add to the confusion - it's in an expensive 'clean air zone' with little public transport infrastructure. Doesn't affect us since we have an EV, but it will impact other potential attendees. At least the venue is interesting!

Having criticised the many, I can understand the situation for some smaller 'schools'. They recruited students some years ago. They don't wish to expand. It's a work of love. Some are retirees, so may pack up entirely, without successors, in a few years. They've retained their core at milongas.

I knew that there were events, but the dates on all the information were "2023," and this was in late 2025. Nobody responded to messages.

Been there! Just a FB note for the weekday, and week in the month, for the milonga - and that from a few years ago. No response to messages. We did find that one! It was a rather good milonga! There was supposed to be one in some other location we were visiting, but there seemed to be a 'marathon' at the location on the same day. I did get a response from the milonga organiser bemoaning the marathon organisers. The 'marathon' was having a public 'milonga', which we attended. Some of the worst floorcraft and attitudes I've come across. The music was good.

But, back to the original point, many AT organisers only seem to be interested in 'preaching to the converted'.

 

[JournalInTime]

That experience isn't uncommon. Too often, in a metropolis, they relied on a steady stream of new recruits. Retention (always the easier option!) wasn't a consideration.

I've seen this living in a large city (4.4 million people in the metro area) with many tango schools (just in that area, at least 8 dedicated ones, plus several kind-of, sort-of ones; in the satellite communities, many more). For sure some schools work on retention, but most seem to live on a steady stream of Tango I-III (and sometimes Tango IV-VII) students who never seem to graduate to attending milongas.

I'm not a fan of 'social media' for advertising events, but if that's where you can recruit...

Like it or hate it, it's how things work in 2026 – especially in metropolises.

The schools where I live are mostly not situated where anybody would walk past and see advertising. Two are in core areas but upstairs above businesses that occupy the street front, one is behind one storefront among many in an area nobody visits at night because the stores are closed, one is in a loft far from the core, one is in a basement far from the core, two are in an area most people avoid for safety reasons, and one is on a quiet side street in a residential area known for one-way streets and impossible parking. None are in secure, busy parts of the city core, at street level, with premises that look like dance studios, near parking. And of them all, one or generously two have signage.

So, how will they attract people to start tango out of the blue? Word of mouth is worthless in a big city. As I said, there's little to no hope for foot traffic. I guess there's other physical advertising . . . but where? The city tears down posters and shop owners here rarely give permission to poster their premises. Television ads cost a fortune. Radio is basically dead and newspapers are deader than dead.

That leaves the Internet. And really, that means social media. Sure, you can have a website and rely on SEO to get hits if somebody types in "tango," but that isn't as good as seeing friends and acquaintances on your extended social-media network sharing and "liking" stuff. Viral social-media advertising is by far the most powerful kind for those who cannot afford TV ads (and often, even for those who can).

Just a FB note for the weekday, and week in the month, for the milonga - and that from a few years ago. No response to messages.

That underlines why even social media can fail: You do actually have to have someone wearing the "social media manager" hat, going online a few times a day to update event pages, drum up interest by sharing those pages to various groups and sites, post occasional non-event content like discussion topics and photos, check messages, etc. Which is all doable using a phone while waiting for coffee, so I'm not sure why people are so bad at it.

But, back to the original point, many AT organisers only seem to be interested in 'preaching to the converted'.

Yes, and for them, weird locations, word of mouth, and infrequent social media updates are fine . . . they're relying on people who already know how to dance Argentine tango knowing that they exist, and knowing where to go at what times. The problem is, as you suggest, when organizers decide that's "good enough." It might be "good enough" this week, this month, and even this year, but it won't remain "good enough" forever.

I can't decide whether the cause is cliquish indifference to bringing in more people, laziness, technological incompetence, or the misguided belief that when the master is ready, students shall appear. It can't really be difficulty . . . when I ran an event, I created new ads with new (usually bad, but new) art and photos for each week, put those on event pages for the week, shared those event pages on my main page and all the local tango groups, and mass-invited all followers of the main page to every event. When attendees took photos, I shared those as well. I also had loyalty cards. And this was despite having a full-time job. It took me, oh, about an hour a week.

That was in 2016-2017. With the AI tools we have in 2026, it'd be much easier.

 

[Brummbaer]

With the AI tools we have in 2026, it'd be much easier.

Unconvinced by AI - particularly given the AI slop all over FB. 'Tango influencers' using it are pretty bad, but the worst is political.

Best notifications I've seen are lamppost posters (small German town in pedestrian area) some years ago (!), and posters and cards at a public tango event (Germany/Netherlands).

Best I've seen in modern tech is a large WhatsApp group (so without the FB 'public') posting fun polls for who's coming, details of future lessons, who's teaching - including visiting Argentinians, video clips of past lessons, holidays, even key birthdays! Yes, that is to the 'converted' who have subscribed, but it works for retention.

We were just commenting today on one local village event which has large posters on fences outside the supermarket and on farm hedges compared with another comparable village event with the occasional small poster (which led to abysmally poor online information a few weeks ago). Marginally improved now, but I know which event sticks in my mind.

Other good options are where local teachers co-operate and a 'social media manager' posts that on the area's tango website.

 

[JournalInTime]

Unconvinced by AI - particularly given the AI slop all over FB.

I kind of hate AI, but I was talking strictly about required effort. Asking a LLM to do your homework for you has to be easier than doing it yourself.

Best notifications I've seen are lamppost posters (small German town in pedestrian area)

That stops working above the level of the sort of village that has one main street that you could walk in an afternoon. Here, you could walk just one of our main streets for an 8-hour workday and – accounting for fatigue, hunger, and the need to wait at intersections – you'd have to finish the project tomorrow. And we have lots of those streets, crisscrossing multiple arrondissements that are de facto cities of their own. So, you could spend all day putting up posters and reach <<1% of the potential market because the urban region is too vast and there's no area that could be said to be "where potential dancers hang out."

posters and cards at a public tango event (Germany/Netherlands).

This is back to "preaching to the converted." Nobody who isn't already a devoted tango dancer who goes to lots of events is ever going to see this stuff. Also – and this is crucial – posters and cards for the venue where you find them are redundant, because you're already there and will doubtless hear announcements about upcoming events, while posters and cards for other venues aren't going to happen because that's advertising for the competition.

Best I've seen in modern tech is a large WhatsApp group

I get the impression that WhatsApp is a thing in Europe. In Canada and the U.S.A., it lags behind. (I have the app, but I've never actually exchanged messages on it, and I receive only spam.) Messenger dominates here. Also, these are messaging apps, where you have to actively join a group. Social media like FB have passive event pages that anybody can stumble across or see shared on a friend's page, so they have more reach.

We were just commenting today on one local village event which has large posters on fences outside the supermarket and on farm hedges compared with another comparable village event with the occasional small poster (which led to abysmally poor online information a few weeks ago). Marginally improved now, but I know which event sticks in my mind.

This is simply not within my sphere of experience. For me, tango is a "city of hundreds of thousands to millions" thing, advertised mostly via social-media pages or groups with thousands to tens of thousands of followers or members. I'm not sure I've danced tango in a place with a population under 500,000, much less one with farm hedges! Even my hometown, which I consider small, is an amalgamation of 530,000 people whose main tango group has 500-something followers.

 

[Rabbit]

I kind of hate AI, but I was talking strictly about required effort. Asking a LLM to do your homework for you has to be easier than doing it yourself.

I hate social media, so I'd rather have the AI find out when the milongas are so I don't have to. We have a bunch of milongas that run on inconsistent schedules.

 

[Bailango]

I had to laugh, because you yourself have taken advantage of the snobbishness in this case, haven't you?

Indeed. In this case it is righteous snobishness

 

[Bailango]

Or don’t dance tango at all and gravitate to other dances. Of course, anecdotal, but from three or four recent conversations with people that have either danced a long time in Buenos Aires and left or learned in Buenos Aires and feel a lot of the disconnect between our local scene and what they experienced there.

Are they good dancers?

 

[Bailango]

In the US, I see that friction between younger folks with their more liberal attitudes kinda conflicting more with the more traditional roles in older social dances.

I really do not see tension between the generations based on liberal or non-liberal conflicts in the US social dance scenes.

 

[Bailango]

I know someone, a tango acquaintance, who hardly ever dances locally any longer. But he goes to Europe rather than B.A.

Perhaps the quality is better I suspect. Or easier to get quality dances at the European events.

I know enough followers who go regularly to BsAs and I have danced with a very very few non-instructor followers who are local to BsAs. Neither is a category that I get experience of a good or fulfilling dance.