Why some women are not asked to dance

JournalInTime said:
Ultimately, I think the minute a barman, dance DJ, dancer hired to make the floor look busy and dance with everyone, etc. goes from "servant at a party" to "artist" in their head, all is lost. All those people do basically the same job as the sound tech, lighting tech, hosts/hostesses, wait staff, etc.: Make the party work. It's the same formula at a milonga as it is at a nightclub, just different music and different dance moves.
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We don't have that kind of professionalism here. Every beginner DJ is taught that he has to bring some money with him and most likely won't see it again. And hundreds of hours of unpaid time, after that usually miles away from even the minimum wage.

So the reward is the main recognition and sometimes the endeavor goes in the wrong direction. Some probably want to teach - just don't go or listen. Others are artists, who are good or bad.

On topic: I also know a woman who was not asked to dance and therefore became an excellent DJane.
 
itwillhappen said:
So the reward is the main recognition and sometimes the endeavor goes in the wrong direction. Some probably want to teach - just don't go or listen. Others are artists, who are good or bad.
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I view it as a community service mainly. As you correctly said, tango DJing makes zero sense if viewed as a professional activity.

On topic: I also know a woman who was not asked to dance and therefore became an excellent DJane.
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One local organizer/DJ said he started so that more women would dance with him too...
 
Rabbit said:
I view it as a community service mainly. As you correctly said, tango DJing makes zero sense if viewed as a professional activity.
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That's true. However, "being a professional" isn't the same thing as "earning your living at a professional activity." The former is about skilled and ethical practices; the latter is about business sense. The two are often directly opposed.

I've often said that I worked as a barman at the milonga. I was serious about not pouring drinks too weak or too stiff, learning recipes and common variations, and remembering client preferences . . . and also about all the "hidden" stuff like shopping within the organizer's budget, managing inventory, showing up early to cut fruit, washing glassware, keeping surfaces clean, and never scooping ice with glass. Plus being polite about cutting off drunks and not letting trouble start. I even checked the event's liquor permit every time. That's being a professional.

I was also paid less than minimum wage, and the tango crowd doesn't tip well. There were even times where I subsidized the bar stock because the studio was short on funds . . . and when the gamble didn't pay off, I lost money. However, my motivations there weren't "make money," but: (1) make contacts in the tango community, to jump-start my acceptance into it, (2) merit the studio owner's favor for free tango classes, and (3) improve my bartending skills as a backup plan, should my day job fail. So I wasn't earning a living at a professional activity.

I think DJs should be capable of doing the same: Hone real, generalized DJ skills, even if using them for tango isn't a money-earning proposition.
 
David_D said:
(Off-topic) DJ stands for Disc Jockey. There's no need to gender it. It doesn't stand for Disc Jeremy.
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(Off-topic) It's like John Doe and Jane Doe. English doesn't usually have gendered grammar, but other languages sometimes borrow English nouns and re-apply them. Of course you could go the whole hog and go non-binary, and I've never figured out why the Rechtschreibungsreform didn't address some of that. It can get complicated, like do you order 2 Cappuccini or 2 Cappuccinos. Do you still have actresses or just actors?
 
Brummbaer said:
(Off-topic) It's like John Doe and Jane Doe. English doesn't usually have gendered grammar, but other languages sometimes borrow English nouns and re-apply them. Of course you could go the whole hog and go non-binary, and I've never figured out why the Rechtschreibungsreform didn't address some of that. It can get complicated, like do you order 2 Cappuccini or 2 Cappuccinos. Do you still have actresses or just actors?
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Just actors now
 
Brummbaer said:
In the UK the majority seem to go for 3T-c-3T-c-3V-c-3T-c-3T-c-3M-c... I've come across the 4T here amongst traditionalists, but mainly the 4T option in EU countries.
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I've danced to 3T so far only in the virtual Magic Roundabout Milonga, a Britisch-German joint venture, as far as DJing is concerned. And it worked quite well, I think I'll give it a try the first milongas after the pandemic, whe we'll all be not so well trained.
But I did not dance with more partners - there was exactly one and I danced 100% with her. ;)
 
David_D said:
I'm glad to read that. A lot of people take offense over a creation of a secondary term for them, because it implies that, e.g., people think that real DJs are guys.
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As Brummbear alluded to, I believe "DJane" is actually a German invention. as far as I know, all nouns describing occupations are distinguished by gender in German
 
However, it is usually too much work and too expensive to develop into DJing just because you are not asked to dance.
Most of the female DJs I know developed the skill basically to run their own milonga.
 
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