[Tango-L] Milongueros for Hire

[Victor Bennetts]

Paying for dances is quite an interesting subject. I have heard that in Japan there are far more women than men who dance tango, so the Japanese women have to import men (Argentinians naturally) to dance with. I don't know if that is true, but that is what I have heard and if it is true it is a perfectly understandable reasonable solution to a local problem. Also in Argentina I saw a couple of foreign leaders who had been taking classes with me sitting at tables at Milongas with very attractive young Argentinian women who I presume were tango taxis.

I know from personal experience that it is really difficult to get dances initially in BsAs (and sometimes in other places too!) typically if you are not well known by the local dancers. There is nothing worse than sitting through tanda after tanda of songs that you love not being able to get a dance (particularly if you have to watch other people you know getting dances), but I can't imagine ever paying someone to dance with me. I certainly don't want to criticise people who resort to this because I can understand the need all too well.

However to me the whole point of tango and the joy (and pain) of it is trying to get someone onto the floor based on your own merits. So I always feel terrible if someone suggests they dance with me and I think it is out of obligation. Those are never my best dances or anywhere near my best. Whilst I can understand this sort of arrangement fills a legitimate need, it also makes me think that tango then becomes a bit like a fast food where you just order up your dance partner. Personally I would prefer to spend a year in front of a mirror alone doing exercises until my dance improved. I don't think you can dance at your best unless you are a bit hungry.

Victor Bennetts


-----Original Message-----
From: tango-l-bounces at mit.edu [mailto:tango-l-bounces at mit.edu] On Behalf Of Janis Kenyon
Sent: Monday, 15 October 2007 2:28 PM
To: Tango-L
Subject: [Tango-L] Milongueros for Hire

Sunday night I went to dance at my favorite club de barrio.  I was
pleasantly surprised to see several men arrive who I know from the downtown
milongas.   It's unusual to see any tourists at this club, but a group of
eight women and two men showed up and were seated at tables near them.  When
the first tanda began, all of the milongueros were dancing with the foreign
women.  The two foreign men had two local women for dance partners.  It was
obvious that arrangements had been made for the group to have some of the
best dancers in Buenos Aires for the night.  I knew I wasn't going to get
one tanda with any of the men.  They danced nonstop with the group of women.
During my eight years in Buenos Aires, I have never seen six milongueros
dancing four hours with a group of tourists.  The women were delighted.

I met one of the women in the ladies' room.  She told me that this is her
first visit to Buenos Aires for two weeks.  She lives in Switzerland.
Others in the group were from other countries.  Two teachers made
arrangements for the women to have regular tandas on two weekends
(Fri/Sat/Sun) with these men.  I told her if she was here alone, she could
wait hours to be invited to dance, and none of the men in the group would
dance with her.  She had tandas with all six of the men and danced as much
as she wanted.

It goes without saying that the milongueros were being paid for their
services.  If this kind of arrangement is made more often for tourists, it
will give the young, inexperienced taxi dancers some competition.  The
quarterly guide on everything to do with tango that accompanies the magazine
B.A. Tango, Buenos Aires Tango, edited by Tito Palumbo, added taxi dancers
one year ago with five listings; now there are three times that number of
listings.  However, they don't include any milongueros.

The milongueras/os hired were Adela Galeazzi, Elba Biscay, Antonio (placed
9th in the Campeonato Metropolitano 2006), Abel Peralta, Jorge Uzunian,
Ricardo Suarez, Jorge Orellana, and Alberto Dassieu.


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