Tango as a 'third place'

[Bailango]

Yes, exactly! There are two basic approaches to being an organizer in AT:

1. Want to deem yourself a community-builder? Then you must do work that never ends, and that pays off mostly in appreciation. You might gain a little importance or money from it, but that's just a pleasant side effect – you cannot make it your end goal without becoming the second sort of organizer.

I am not clear what do you include in above. Esp since your emphasis is deemed community-builder. Do you mean to say such organizers are community builders even though they themselves don’t see it as their role?

There are people who organize tango events out of passion or labor of love. Profit or making money is not the motive. But they certainly want to create an experience. Be it promoting live tango music, practicas, milongas, etc. Some will offer free events and others will price where you know it will barely cover their cost. Rarely do I find they are interested in community building.

p.s - I read your following post about organizing practica with your ex. That is the type of organizer I am referring to.

 

[Bailango]

whose organizers think they "own" that evening (a very anti-community behavior, in my opinion).

I would hardly give two hoots to such organizers. In my experience these kind of organizers are toxic personalities themselves and will often use hard edge tactics agains “perceived” competition/opponent. I emphasize “perceived” because the others don’t view the toxic organizer with the same lens. These toxic organizers will also visit other milongas (or social dancing events), put on a smile, and publicly promote their event. They tend to use the public goodwill of the community to their own advantage. The worse part is most of their students are ignorant about the behavior.

 

[Bailango]

Like everything we discuss here, it'll depend on the face of tango in your area.

The main venue for large modern tango orquestas here is (or was . . . the studio owner just passed away) an absolutely massive dancehall located in a sprawling shopping mall. Just 1/3 of the danceable area is larger than the next-largest milonga here, and when it's all opened up, it can hold hundreds of dancers dancing at the same time, plus more people seated and at the bars. They host country dance, Latin dance, line dance, swing dance, and non-style-specific parties that attract hordes of people all week – so they are very much "on the radar" – and they cross-advertise all of their events. Whenever they host live tango music, there's a significant number of non-tango people sitting around, having a drink, treating it as a show rather than as a dance party, and the organizers of the tango side of their programme definitely recruit students thanks to this.

Our arts district regularly has traveling tango shows, sometimes even in its headlining venues. We have two tours coming up this spring alone. These are always done with a nod to the local teaching and performing community – typically, it'll be made very clear where you can learn tango locally if you like what you see. One teaching couple in particular picks up a lot of students that way. (My own coach was associated with such a show for years, and when they came here, it certainly helped fill her calendar with private lessons.)

A very popular televised local dance competition has had tango dancers make it to the final rounds on several occasions. Thanks to that fame, two of the dancers ended up with a lot of students afterward. One in particular is teaching show tango almost full-time thanks to that – and like 'em or hate 'em, his dancers do come to milongas.

Honestly, next to all of the above, the Tango BA qualifiers were not particularly well attended, though it was still the case that most of the spectators weren't dancers, and that some decided to learn.

To estimate numbers: The show bar brings in hundreds at a time and thousands over the year. The touring shows are comparable in influence. The TV show reaches millions. The qualifiers attract only tens.

So, I think the commercial, showy, non-community-building side of tango very definitely brings in the general public where I live. I acknowledge, though, that these experiences are local and not universal! It might be a peculiarity of my region that there are huge show venues with mainstream advertising, bolstered by network television.

You are lucky that your city still has type of places you described. Gentrification can destroy these type of places. It is big cities lack foresight to invest and promote arts and culture. They do have budgets but these budgets are used for different annual arts/culture events. Almost no budget is allocated to create affordable physical places for arts and culture. I wish that when new development (condos or offices) are built by razing existing structure, there should be stipulation that x square feet of space in the building be reserved for arts/cultural activities at very reasonable price.

 

[Brummbaer]

...community builders...

You can recruit or retain AT dancers. A lot of emphasis from some 'organisers' seems to go on recruiting 'fresh meat'. You can usually identify them by their lack of strategy in teaching AT - basically expanding the vocabulary without the techniques. This seems to apply particularly to the visiting/touring Argentinians, who are just interested in minimal outlay, and minimising their own costs, whilst 'teaching' until their visa expires (if they had one), and they return 'home'. Some stay (or, I should say in today's worldwide immigration climate, have stayed), and some foster a community - who return for events.

There are, of course, variants, and milongas differ from the 'dance school' teaching.

Maintaining and fostering a community is, overall, a better long-term strategy. Some aspects of that 'community' qualify as a third-place.

 

[Brummbaer]

Almost no budget is allocated to create affordable physical places for arts and culture. I wish that when new development (condos or offices) are built by razing existing structure, there should be stipulation that x square feet of space in the building be reserved for arts/cultural activities at very reasonable price.

That's a continuing criticism of any new build. In the UK we have/had village halls, but some have become expensive to hire post-Covid. New supermarkets sometimes provide a 'community space' available for cheap hire. Ditto some churches - others very expensive. We don't really have many shopping centres or food courts which do that - although they exist in other countries. Again, post-Covid, a major shopping mall didn't continue with a community dance initiative.

A frequent, justified, criticism is that new housing estates get built without any community spaces. But what is that? Arts projects are frequently a financial disaster - but sometimes successful. Just seen that with an arts project setup to promote visitors to an area (the authorities are re-thinking - again!). Whilst the trendy arts project still continues, spaces for retail aren't taken up, a few cafés/restaurants remain, but lots of empty units. Interesting that absolutely nowhere to sit and admire the view!

Maybe, in today's culture, that space is the gym? Or some running group (if you have better weather)? Dance is frequently some 'young' community movement group rather than any partner dance - which is one issue for AT.

 

[brujo]

Gentrification can destroy these type of places. It is big cities lack foresight to invest and promote arts and culture. They do have budgets but these budgets are used for different annual arts/culture events.

It also depends on what the community is able to know and provide. We had a few university professors do a bachata trip to the Dominican Republic and loved it so much they immediately wanted to invite the teachers to the US. Because they were professors they were able to find arts funding in a nearby city that paid for a hefty chunk of a Dominican bachata weekender and made it happen. It’s amazing that they did it and the community spaces were able to benefit from the event, but I don’t think most organizers would have known about this type of funds.

 

[brujo]

I looked up the fund and they give you money and free use of the city pavilion. Looks like a great program Downtown Program Fund Grant | Eugene, OR Website

 

[Mr. Moustachio]

I might take the risk of proposing something the one evening I think it could work

I encourage you to do this. Especially if you can point out how your offering is different from the other guy's (ex: price, music). If the people from your old practica are still dancing, maybe they can form the core of your new practica.

 

[Bailango]

I looked up the fund and they give you money and free use of the city pavilion. Looks like a great program Downtown Program Fund Grant | Eugene, OR Website

There are grants and use of public places too. A few salsa and tango organizers use them during summer to organize free socials in outdoor spaces. Most of the grants are used by larger arts foundations to organize big weekend festivals through out the spring and summer.

What I am referring to is support for permanent multi-use (strictly for arts and culture) spaces that are affordable and easily accessible. Either free or highly subsidized by the city. When rent was affordable, there were many such private studios and art galleries. They were very affordable to rent for a few hours. A lot of them have been replaced by swanky condos (appartment complexes) or commercial centers.