[Tango-L] IV Campeonato Metropolitano de Tango and Campeonato Mundial

[Janis Kenyon]

In two days, the finals of the city championships in milonga and tango will
be held at La Rural, followed by a week of qualifying, semi-final and final
rounds for the world championships in tango salon and tango for stage.
After four years, there are still many improvements to be made in
these competitions.

The tango salon and milonga championships need at least two age divisions.
This is something competitors have wanted since the first city competition
was held in March 2002 (none was held in 2003, so this is the fourth year).
Every dance competition in the world has age divisions so that young dancers
aren't competing with seniors.  The city finals have 20-year-olds competing
with 70-year-olds.  The qualifying rounds could be arranged to allow for
18-49 and 50-80 year divisions competing separately.

The city championships are comprised mainly of social dancers in the
milongas.  Stage professionals and teachers don't need to compete with them.
The campeonato metropolitano should be limited to amateur dancers rather
than professionals who are looking for a title to boost their resumes.

The rules stipulate the judging criteria, but somehow it is always
overlooked.  Those who can't find the beat of the music shouldn't be
qualified, much less move on to the semifinal or final rounds of
competition.  In the world competition for tango salon, there is a two-bar
rule which permits dancing in place for no more than two measures of music.
Last year's finalists stopped for as many as eight measures, but the judges
didn't seem to notice.

The music needs to be strict tempo for dancing.  All the music chosen for
the salon divisions should be recordings of danceable orchestras played in
the milongas.  Dancers will dance their best to music they know and which
inspires them.  There is no need to use music from new orchestra recordings
which are unfamiliar to competitors.  Any milonguero could select better
music than what has been used in the past.

The judges should be seated separately during the evaluation so that there
can be no discussion among them about dancers or scores.  Tabulation of
scores should be done by an independent person, and the complete scores of
all judges for all competitors should be available after the competition.
Until now, competitors have been allowed access only to their scores and no
others.  An independent accountant should be appointed to oversee the
tabulation of scores.

Judges should excuse themselves from judging a competitor who has been their
student or dance partner at any time.  The judging needs to be fair rather
than biased as in the past.

The competition needs a judging panel of experienced salon dancers.
Previous panels have been mostly teachers and stage performers rather than
regular social dancers.  Judges need to have experience in what they are
evaluating.  Those who never set foot in a milonga aren't qualified to judge
the salon competitions.  The judges need to be good examples of tango de
salon and milonga.

There have been four years of world tango competitions, and the winners are
always Argentines.  It has been alleged that the judges are instructed to
score Argentine couples to win in first place.  Competitors come from all
over the world with high hopes and have no idea that it's all arranged.  The
judging needs to be fair and impartial in the world competition if it is to
continue to attract foreign participants.