Tango obsession/addiction

[Miradamiranda]

Setting and vibe are important for sure. I have very fond memories of an event we had going for a couple of years. A side room of a restaurant that was mostly known for its desserts. On a Main Street with a window to the sidewalk where people were strolling by after dinner or before other nightlife. A tiny side room, normally used for private parties. We made a casual arrangement with the restaurant to use it on Wednesdays. We’d pay a symbolic cover charge to our group, and from that money we’d raffle a couple of desserts or a glass of wine and whoever had birthday would get a free cake. A few regulars took turns in DJing at a very basic level, often just a preset playlist. Sound wasn’t great but the room was small and we’d be there for chatting as much as for dancing anyhow. I’d gather if 8-9 couples would be dancing simultaneously it would be very tight. Everyone would dance with everyone. Nothing snooty about it. I had already had my Wednesday nights reserved for salsa since years, so I’d drop by there on my way to the salsa club two blocks away in the beginning. This was during a transition time for me when I did both salsa and tango. Then when tango had completely stolen my heart, I’d drop by at salsa on my way home from tango. Maybe. The predictability of having a drop-in place where one could grab a bight (oh their crab cakes…!) and a glass of wine after work with a friendly familiar crowd was for many the highlight of the week. I made lasting friendships in that environment, people I miss dearly. I wasn’t very advanced as a tango dancer yet but it didn’t matter. I gained a lot of experience dancing with partners of very different levels.

 

[JournalInTime]

I knew of one location in London which once had AT, but had swing last time I was there. It's actually a restaurant, club and hotel in a former grand financial institution. People were happily sat around watching swing dancers. Even the occasional diner participating with family..

We have a few places with other sorts of dance here. There's a bar I walk past that always has Latin music playing and people dancing, especially out on the terrasse in summer – and yes, even during nominal 9-to-5 work hours. Also in summer, there are buskers who play every sort of non-tango music all day and all night, and passersby with drinks and snacks who sit and watch, and sometimes dance; one guy puts down a bunch of cardboard so people can dance without stumbling over our famously bad sidewalks. Argentine tango is conspicuously absent.

That social aspect really is required, but the issue seems to be the places that are affordable that can't be more profitable with their key nighttime economy selling point. I suspect they wouldn't find an evening of social AT too attractive as a business prospect.

Part of it is linked to "What businesses have a logical link to AT?", I think.

Latin dance is easy! Any place that sells tacos or bargain-basement tropical drinks mixed from well liquor trades on a Latin soundtrack. Ditto swing, which is inextricably linked to 1950s "greaser" culture here, so all you need is a greasy spoon or diner selling Coke and burgers. Ordinary people who don't dance like this stuff, so the proprietors aren't relying on aficionados. Also, the merchandise is cheap and accessible!

Tango . . . Its natural links are to Argentine restaurants, I guess. We have those. They are costly, sit-down places that serve steak and Malbec. You can't just walk in – you have to reserve. As Argentine culture is an aficionado culture here, these places trade on sales margin, not volume, relying on the scarce few fans of everything Argentine to pay premium prices. Dancing wouldn't really work at these establishments (it was tried and it failed), because dance, and music loud enough to dance to, would clash with the "classy" or "formal" image.

Too bad. I think a low-rent asado-and-empanadas diner that serves no-nonsense street food could work, but for some reason we don't have anything like that here. If we did, the owner could play Argentine music – including tango – and leave a clear corner where people aren't discouraged from dancing.

 

[Rabbit]

Tango . . . Its natural links are to Argentine restaurants, I guess. We have those. They are costly, sit-down places that serve steak and Malbec. You can't just walk in – you have to reserve.

There is a chain of upmarket steak houses here that sometimes has performances, but really a performance in such a context is mostly background decoration. There are smaller more informal places but they generally don't have space to dance

I can see something like an artsy cafe after hours making a good dance venue

I would like to add dance performances to concerts of tango music aimed at non-dancer audiences though - some people might be interested in taking up the dance or not but I think it is worth it to keep awareness of the dance as a living art form to people who are actually paying some attention.

 

[JournalInTime]

I can see something like an artsy cafe after hours making a good dance venue

Cool idea. We have a few places that lean this way, but AT isn't on their radar.

I would like to add dance performances to concerts of tango music aimed at non-dancer audiences though - some people might be interested in taking up the dance or not but I think it is worth it to keep awareness of the dance as a living art form to people who are actually paying some attention.

We get a fair few AT music recitals/concerts with dancers . . . one just came through town, and another is coming soon. Sometimes the focus is on the music and sometimes it's on the dance. In my view, what's missing is the potential for audience participation. Rock concerts can have mosh pits, so why can't tango music performances have places to dance?

Seeing ordinary people get up and dance actual, improvised AT to the music would probably inspire some interest in learning the dance. Personally, I find it excruciating to sit through a performance of tango music rather than dance to it, to such a degree that I avoid such events unless one of the musicians is a personal friend. (This is not specific to tango for me – I have a lifelong history of avoiding danceable music in places where I cannot dance.) I can tell you without hesitation that most of my tango friends share my difficulty.

It'd be wonderful if there were AT concerts in large, mainstream venues with space for audience members to dance in view of the non-dancing public. We have a "jazz" festival here with something like 350 shows, 2/3 of them free, that are mostly not jazz, but hip-hop, pop, rock, techno, and even electronica DJ sets, plus a whole lot of Latin and Afro-Caribbean music. Most of the shows are in locations where spectators can dance. So, why are there zero tango orquestas in all that mess?

Way back, there was one jazz fest where a local tango quintet played a free outdoor show on a large plaza. They put down dance mats and made sure the entire tango community knew about the show. We went and danced. People thronged to watch, and video made it onto television. It clearly works, but organizers seem to overlook it.

 

[Brummbaer]

I can see something like an artsy cafe after hours making a good dance venue

The Clore Ballroom at the Southbank Centre in London used to have a Boxing Day AT bash as part of the late Tony Walker's Tango on the Thames. Included some 'teaching' for newcomers as well. I think that disappeared pre-Covid to be taken over by Queer Tango, but haven't been in London at relevant times to check. That was always well attended and great fun.

Tango on the Thames used to include a milonga in a FWW frigate moored on the Embankment. Up on the deck in rare fine weather! The frigate has now been scrapped and I don't think Tango on the Thames made it back after Covid? I guess the best al fresco offering is Spitalfields Market during the summer (if it doesn't rain now that the covering has gone). Sadly not scheduled to be in London on any event days.

I've looked at arts centres further north - the occasional dance show of stage tango - poorly promoted. Some others just don't have sufficient dancers in the vicinity to make it viable (and some floors are non-slip for safety), or maybe there's no incentive.

 

[pianistamediano]

I guess the best al fresco offering is Spitalfields Market during the summer (if it doesn't rain now that the covering has gone). Sadly not scheduled to be in London on any event days.

Best also because you can actually see (almost — Not sure about LTA, or TATS) every London tango subcommunity present there. Even if they still mostly dance within their own circles, it gives me hope that people will mix and mingle more in the years to come.

 

[ArbeeNYC]

Maybe tango recruiting efforts should attempt to address the social and connection aspects more than the sexy flashy wow aspects.

I think they do for the most part, at least locally. I think instructors and the community try to bring those aspects forward.

 

[ArbeeNYC]

I agree. Half of American adults are single. That's a huge market. Imagine a poster. It's a picture of a local milonga. The caption is "Hold me in your arms." I think it would draw attention.

If only it were that easy!

 

[ArbeeNYC]

This is why I'm not fond of excessively conservative views of AT culture, which attempt to impose too many codes and too much structure on the interpersonal aspects of the dance.

I see this nowhere, however. The scene is very loose and hardly conservative. The cabeceo, if you know how to use it, is not restrictive or conservative in itself. It's simply another tool in your toolbox. And a useful one.

 

[ArbeeNYC]

I think tango suffers from not welcoming newcomers socially. The problem isn't the dance but the dance culture.

Often true, but it depends on the newcomers, the milonga, the local scene, the instructor, etc. Young beginner dancers today have a much, much easier time than I ever did starting out. Sure, people drop out, but that's because improving requires time and (some) money and a personal investment (physical and emotional).

 

[ArbeeNYC]

Tango . . . Its natural links are to Argentine restaurants, I guess. We have those. They are costly, sit-down places that serve steak and Malbec. You can't just walk in – you have to reserve.

We had a nice little milonga at an ARgentine restaurant in Brooklyn. Friendly place, small, casual, not fine dining but decent food and wine. Once a week, a local organizer arranged a milonga. Sometimes there was a guitarist or singer, otherwise she acted as DJ. Small dance floor, maybe 15 x 15 feet, a bar with stools, a few tables. It was very relaxed. A lot of the attendees came for supper and drinks and maybe danced a bit. I usually had a drink. Unfortunately, the restaurant burned down last year. But I think it reopened in a new location. So, it can be done, just depends on the specifics of the location.

 

[TTanguero]

I have a lifelong history of avoiding danceable music in places where I cannot dance.) I can tell you without hesitation that most of my tango friends share my difficulty.

Totally. I went to a Romantica Milonguera concert on my first night in BsAs last time, because (a) I adore the orchestra and (b) it was on the same street as my apartment, just a few blocks away, so it would have been rude not to. But it was held in a milonga venue, and it was physically painful not to be able to dance to it.

I'm actually doing the same thing tomorrow in London, but I've been told we will be able to dance in the second half of the evening, albeit on a stone floor.

 

[Rabbit]

Seeing ordinary people get up and dance actual, improvised AT to the music would probably inspire some interest in learning the dance.

A few years ago I was at a concert where there was a little bit of dance space in front of the stage and one of the musicians invited me to dance with her in the middle of the set. Some of the audience thought it was a planned part of the performance (it wasn't.)

I actually offered to do a dance performance for some musician friends next time they're playing a tango recital, we'll see how it turns out.

 

[Rabbit]

We had a nice little milonga at an ARgentine restaurant in Brooklyn. Friendly place, small, casual, not fine dining but decent food and wine. Once a week, a local organizer arranged a milonga. Sometimes there was a guitarist or singer, otherwise she acted as DJ. Small dance floor, maybe 15 x 15 feet, a bar with stools, a few tables. It was very relaxed.

Sounds very much in the Buenos Aires spirit tbh, I visited some of these types of milonga when I was there. great experience.

 

[opendoor]

..I think tango suffers from not welcoming newcomers socially. The problem isn't the dance but the dance culture..

That's interesting, but it doesn't correspond to my perception at all. Our scenes here welcome everyone, are warm-hearted and not (anymore) cliquish at all. But they are also equally frozen in the desolation of the same old GA music, the ronda that advances millimeter by millimeter and the aging population. The pandemic has homogenized the tango.

Playfulness, fun and speed can be found in the salsa crowd and the lindy hoppers. These scenes have seen an enormous increase in popularity.

And salsa is not exactly known as a warm-hearted scene! Newcomers are not given a warm welcome there, the newcomer has to fight for his place. Just like it used to be in tango. (Lindy hop is an exception, as this scene really stands out for its openness and welcoming culture.)