[Tango-L] Milongas (or Practicas) in Denver

[Nina Pesochinsky]

Chris, Neil,

Here, I believe, we are getting into some very important cultural 
differences.  In the U.S., I do not see very many people drinking 
coffee or wine with their friends in the summertime on some plaza 
cafe at 2AM and actually spending 3-4 hours just sitting there 
chatting.  In Argentina, for example, when a woman has a problem, she 
takes coffee with her 10 friends, one at a time, and then she feels 
much better and might even have a solution to the problem.  In the 
U.S., such a woman would need to make a lunch appointment with most 
of those friends at least 2-3 weeks in advance (I speak from personal 
experience) :-)

Again, this brings me back to the question of values.  Americans 
value "doing", while Argentines value "being".  This is ironic, 
considering that English language is mostly about prepositions, while 
Spanish is all about verbs.  Perhaps people focus in the language on 
that which is NOT happening.

Wasting a huge amount of time in a stylish and classy way is an art 
in itself.  Argentines do at the milongas exactly what they do 
elsewhere - they hang out, spend time with friends, and listen to 
some music.  Just being with people has great value.  The whole 
ritual of taking mate in the afternoons takes hours.  At a milonga, 
the only difference is that people also might dance.

Americans do not hang out with friends in the same way.  The norm is 
that there would be a scheduled dinner, lunch or a party, with a set 
time limit.  People do not casually share their time with one 
another.  Time is spent "doing" instead of "being".

So in a milonga, one has to plan to waste a lot of time in a really 
"classy" way (and you have to pronounce "claassy" like the gangsters 
did in the old movies), while in a tango class one has to do, do, do 
something!  This is a huge difference in values.  In order to chose 
milongas over classes, people need to begin to value wasting, and I 
mean really wasting (by the standards of their cultures), lots and 
lots of time.

Warm regards to all,

Nina


At 11:46 PM 1/26/2007, Tango Tango wrote:
>Chris.
>
>Most people in the US treat tango as a sport, so they are most comfortable
>approaching it in a sweatpants-wearing, water bottle-toting, dance
>sneakers-wearing setting such as a class or a practica.
>
>This is the fundamental reason why tango in the US is, -and will remain, so
>far removed from Argentine Tango. Most people do not seek to attend an event
>where they can sit down and socialize with friends, drink a glass of wine,
>enjoy some beautiful music and perhaps a dance or two (as you would in a
>milonga), they seek a place where they can practice their steps and
>combinations. This is why classes and practicas are generally more
>attractive to people here.
>
>Neil
>
>On Sat, 27 Jan 2007 02:20 +0000 (GMT Standard Time), Chris, UK <
>tl2 at chrisjj.com> wrote:
> >
> > OK, I stand corrected:
> >
> > > Denver, a metro area of perhaps 3 million people
> >
> > has not 2 milongas a week, but 2.5. Along with approx. 20 classes etc.
> >
> > > I'll bet it is the same in pretty much everywhere.
> >
> > No, Tom. A European city of that size has about ten times as many
> > milongas.
> >
> > Neil wrote:
> >
> > > There's more money in teaching that in running a milonga. That's why we
> > > are blessed with such a wealth of 'teachers' in Colorado, and thus; many
> > > classes.
> >
> > Well, same here... except the determining factor is not number of teachers
> > but number of interested students - they are relatively few, and hence so
> > are classes. People much prefer to spend their tango time in milongas.
> >
> > What puzzles me is why USA people find spending tango time in classes
> > preferable. By (apparently) a factor of 10.
> >
> > Chris
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -------- Original Message --------
> >
> > *Subject:* Re: [Tango-L] Tango in the USA
> > *From:* "Tango Tango" <tangotangotango at gmail.com>
> > *To:* tl2 at chrisjj.com
> > *CC:* tango-l at mit.edu
> > *Date:* Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:23:12 -0800
> >
> > There's more money in teaching that in running a milonga. That's why we
> > are
> > blessed with such a wealth of 'teachers' in Colorado, and thus; many
> > classes.
> >
> > Neil
> >
> >
> > On Fri, 26 Jan 2007 21:55 +0000 (GMT Standard Time), Chris, UK <
> > tl2 at chrisjj.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > > A better Colorado website is put out by Tango Colorado:
> > > >
> > > > http://TangoColorado.org
> > >
> > > Can this really be correct? Colorado state has only two weekly milongas?
> > >
> > > Yet over twenty weekly classes/practicas? I wonder where all these class
> > > students go to actually dance...
> > >
> > > Chris
> > _______________________________________________
> > Tango-L mailing list
> > Tango-L at mit.edu
> > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
> >
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