What makes you cringe in tango?

[Brummbaer]

Oh, residences are a whole other category!

No, not a 'residence'. Not even some art deco apartment. A more brutalist block of flats (maybe 7-10 storeys) built 1950-70 to house (cram-in) former residents of bomb-damaged 'slums'. The 'basement', unlike Europe (nuclear fallout shelters, storage space), is a largely unused space in the UK. I think there might have neen washing machines there for residents.

Hah! Could you even dance around all those columns?

"The Crypt". Uncertain if it's the same place, but a place of the same name the home of the start of social AT in London

IIRC there's a YT video dancing at "the Crypt"

And some in the Pavadita's Tango Archive

So, yes, it did work. I also recollect being at a milonga in an Irish pub where it was necessary to avoid the columns. Floorcraft training!

 

[JournalInTime]

No, not a 'residence'. Not even some art deco apartment. A more brutalist block of flats (maybe 7-10 storeys) built 1950-70 to house (cram-in) former residents of bomb-damaged 'slums'.

Aha, yes, that's a "needs explanation" thing for a Canadian! Here, "basement of a block of flats" would most often mean the basement of a duplex, triplex, or fourplex, accessible to the ground-floor flat(s). So, it would have the same footprint as the story of an ordinary residential house, or half of that if it's beneath a side-by-side duplex or fourplex. Shared basement (and attic) spaces aren't completely unknown here, but they're so rare as to be curiosities.

"The Crypt". Uncertain if it's the same place, but a place of the same name the home of the start of social AT in London

This is not the place I was thinking of. As a foreigner, this one came to mind:

So, yes, it did work. I also recollect being at a milonga in an Irish pub where it was necessary to avoid the columns. Floorcraft training!

Static obstacles aren't bad for floorcraft – it's the moving ones that cause issues. I was thinking more about lines of sight and nasty acoustics around stone columns.

 

[Bailango]

Do BR studios have fewer problems paying space than tango studios?

I don’t dance BR so why are you asking

Locally a lot of studios closed down including dedicated BR ones. There might be dedicated BR studios but I don’t know one. Of those who survived or downsized are all multi-use studios.

 

[opendoor]

I don’t dance BR so why are you asking

Because I wanted to know why BR Studios, unlike the tango providers, isn't suffering from high rents. BR Studios does, after all, have its own premises.

..There might be dedicated BR studios but I don’t know one..

Google says there are.

 

[Brummbaer]

Aha, yes, that's a "needs explanation" thing for a Canadian! Here, "basement of a block of flats" would most often mean the basement of a duplex, triplex, or fourplex, accessible to the ground-floor flat(s).

Seems to be like 'studio'!

This is the kind if thing I was writing about:

The large block at the end - but there could be several in an 'estate' - which might not be so great - providing places for drug dealers, or windswept, rubbish-strewn walkways (those mistakes have been demolished!). The terraced houses in the street could be expensive, or 'HMOs' (Houses of Multiple Occupation) - typically run-down housing (cold, damp, poor facilities) now used for housing refugees.

This is a European 'residence':

Actually the Residenz in Munich. A complex of buildings containing ten courtyards and displays 130 rooms. I think these bits date from the mid 19th century, but original parts from around the 15th century. You could compare Buckingham Palace in London

This was a British country 'residence':

although there are more modern ones!

As a foreigner, this one came to mind

Café in the Crypt, Trafalgar Square? Eaten there a few times! There's more space there than you might think! Must ask an acquaintance, who was involved in the early days, where the tango crypt was.

 

[Brummbaer]

Because I wanted to know why BR Studios, unlike the tango providers, isn't suffering from high rents. BR Studios does, after all, have its own premises

Numbers attending, business model (used as much as possible by different groups), fees. Tango might manage once per week, or worse - maybe 2-3 evenings/afternoons at best. Property prices are high to purchase. There isn't the income to justify it - and people are unwilling to pay more for 'unqualified' teachers who probably have/need other income streams.

 

[brujo]

This is not the place I was thinking of. As a foreigner, this one came to mind:

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I believe the full name for the Crypt hosting tango events is the Crypt on the Green, which is the one in St James Church. The photo there is the one for St. Martin in the Fields by Trafalgar Square by the National Gallery. They used to have amazing silent disco nights there.

 

[brujo]

Numbers attending, business model (used as much as possible by different groups), fees. Tango might manage once per week, or worse - maybe 2-3 evenings/afternoons at best. Property prices are high to purchase. There isn't the income to justify it - and people are unwilling to pay more for 'unqualified' teachers who probably have/need other income streams.

A lot of ballroom studios also have other nights. My town’s ballroom studio has a west coast swing night and hip hop night. The other studio does salsa and bachata. I believe it was explained to me that a lot of business for places like Arthur Murray is also dances for wedding packages, which tango simply doesn’t have. Ballroom also has a lot of non-adult population.

This happens the other way too, the tango specific studio rents out the nights where it is not in use for tango to swing dancing and fusion.

I think a lot of the studios in the US work as “all dances” studios catering to many styles. I know a ton of people that got introduced to tango because one place had a “all you can eat” monthly dance pass where they could take salsa, Cuban salsa, bachata, ballroom, swing and Argentine tango. Sadly when the tango teacher moved the classes stopped.

 

[Brummbaer]

is also dances for wedding packages, which tango simply doesn’t have.

Oh yes they do! I know of at least 3 teachers (with a small dance space at home, e.g. lounge, or hire a small venue as an extension of their regular hire) who provide 'wedding packages'. They tend to be better teachers who have a background with other dances, and also provide choreography (perhaps appropriate for that package).

 

[JournalInTime]

Oh yes they do! I know of at least 3 teachers (with a small dance space at home, e.g. lounge, or hire a small venue as an extension of their regular hire) who provide 'wedding packages'. They tend to be better teachers who have a background with other dances, and also provide choreography (perhaps appropriate for that package).

Yes. My coach has done a lot of that, as have (let me count) at least four other teachers I know. It's an almost everyday thing for non-tango dancers and even total non-dancers to hire a tango teacher for a crash course in tango basics and a choreography for a dance in front of guests at their reception. Some also pay a pair of teachers to dance as entertainment afterward. In fact, my coach did that just this autumn.

 

[brujo]

Oh yes they do! I know of at least 3 teachers (with a small dance space at home, e.g. lounge, or hire a small venue as an extension of their regular hire) who provide 'wedding packages'. They tend to be better teachers who have a background with other dances, and also provide choreography (perhaps appropriate for that package).

I am not sure how it is in tango but Arthur Murray’s wedding packages in the US are more of the predatory “oh, you need 80 private lessons before your wedding” type and they seem to aggressively sell their students on them. I’d be curious about the ratio of wedding vs non-wedding privates in tango compared to other dances.

 

[opendoor]

What reservations do you have about a real tango studio? After all, you're starting a new chapter of your life there and need to feel at home for at least two years.
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And my post isn't actually meant to be very ironic, although I learned tango at the other end of the ranking list for the most beautiful and prestigious studio (in my case it was just a cultural corner shop for immigrants in the station district).

And this tango studio earns half its income by renting it out for weddings, anniversaries, and corporate events. The salsa and swing instructors who once booked the space can no longer afford the rent.

 

[brujo]

I find such touches – tango signage, posters, decals, livery, paintings, sculpture, videos, clothing, shoes, instruments, etc. – wonderful.

The space is super fun. He’s got shoes on the walls and even a Pugliese altar. Gallery — Tango Berretín

 

[Brummbaer]

I am not sure how it is in tango but Arthur Murray’s wedding packages in the US are more of the predatory “oh, you need 80 private lessons before your wedding” type and they seem to aggressively sell their students on them. I’d be curious about the ratio of wedding vs non-wedding privates in tango compared to other dances.

The 'wedding dance' is another, regrettable, creeping americanisation in Europe - like school graduation 'proms'. Decades ago when we got married the aim was to get married as cheaply as possible. A 'dance' was not even considered. Minimise reception guests! That money went to pay for our home. I've known work colleagues who have 'eloped' over a weekend to come back married.

When our daughter got married over 10 years ago, she wanted a 'wedding dance'. They had become trendy! They did some choreography for a rhumba (not overly expensive). There was a disco afterwards.

Given cost-of-living and housing costs, why waste money on expensive receptions with dances?

But I can understand that marketing in the US.

All I can say about AT at weddings is that I once partnered a young lady in lessons who had carried with AT on after a wedding dance, and some older acquaintances, who were already learning AT, used a choreographed AT dance at their wedding. They're still dancing.

If you're young, then probably not overly difficult to put together something like you see on Strictly/DWTS. Of the few I've seen recently, their key phase was poses with a few choreographed elements.

 

[Tango Distance]

Wedding dances don't have to be expensive. I know a couple who learned their wedding dance from a YouTube video. It looked really good.