[Tango-L] Taxi Dancers

[Melina Sedo]

Hello everybody,

In my opinion there are serveral kinds of taxi dancers and each one may 
be an addition to a Milonga, if you do not take it too seriously and 
don't make a fuss about it. It's just a part of the game.


A The hidden taxi dancer
A lot of men will dance with women who are not their first choice for 
the "common good". Most organisers even invite them to do so. If I see 
a woman sitting around at our Milongas I will ask one of the men I know 
to dance with her, if they do not notice themselves. This woman may not 
have been his dream-partner but it does not hurt him either to dance 
with her, it may even be very nice. And if he behaves polite and nicely 
and does not give the impression of doing it out of "charity",  she 
will be happy to dance, other dancers may notice her and the general 
atmosphere will improve as nobody's sitting around with a sad face.
In my opinion all organisers of Milongas should see to that the women 
get to dance, may she be a beginner, a stranger or a 
good-dancing-attractive-female whom nobody dares to invite. A lot of 
Milongas wither and die because of the women staying away out of 
frustration, which results in the men not coming again, because there 
are not enough women. A vicious circle...

B The fun taxi dancer
Taxi dancers may be part of a special Milonga. We once organised a 
Milonga in the 20's style with serveral attractions including taxi 
dancers. We invited 5 good dancers from all over Germany, who would be 
able to play this role for a night and they got the hotel for free as a 
"pay". The women bought tickets for 1 Euro, which were worth 3 dances. 
(The money was donnated for charity.) Everybody had a lot of fun: It 
was one of the rare Milongas, where men and women were almost in equal 
numbers, women could invite men feely without feeling bad and the 
taxi-dancers loved playing their role as "Tango-Gigolos". I've never 
seen so many happy women at a Milonga before or after...
... one or two of the better male dancers though felt offended, as they 
where not the main attraction this evening and the women where not 
"haunting" them as usual. One did not even come as a protest! ;-)

C The professional taxi dancer
Someone who's easily recognisable as a taxi dancer and may be hired 
officially, either for an evening or a few dances. There are quite a 
lot of them in Buenos Aires and I think it's totally ok - if you don't 
treat them as male prostitutes. It's business - why not?


My opinion concerning the quality of taxi-dances:
Maybe they will not be heaven, but if you've been sitting around for 
hours waiting to be invited you just want to dance and a taxi-dancer 
might come handily. ;-)
Not every man may like to play this role or take this kind of 
"responsibility" but - hey - you will not be forced to do so. Not every 
woman will want to dance with a taxi-dancer, but you don't have to 
invite him and you may refuse him, if he invites you.

As I said befor: it's just a part of the big game and you may play it 
or not - just as you like.

:-)

Cheers,

Melina




Melina Sedó & Detlef Engel
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www.tangodesalon.de