[Tango-L] Why are you dancing tango if you don't like tango?

[Ming Mar]

You were dancing ballroom when you saw an Argentine tango demo and you thought 
that Argentine tango was much more spectacular.  And then you made friends in 
the tango crowd.

Twenty years ago you saw the show Tango Argentino in San Francisco and swore to 
yourself that you'd learn how to do that.  And then you made friends in the 
tango crowd.

One night you were walking home when you looked through a storefront window and 
saw a tango class.  You thought it looked like fun.  Since it was in your 
neighborhood you took classes, and then you made friends in the tango crowd.

Your mother is Argentine and to make you more aware of your heritage she made 
you take tango lessons even though she doesn't dance it herself.  And then you 
made friends in the tango crowd.

You actually prefer salsa, but you hate bars.

You actually prefer salsa, and you like bars, but you're a woman and not as 
young as you used to be.  The salseros have been inviting you less and less.

You actually prefer country-western two-step, but the only bar that offered it 
closed, so you switched to tango.

You used to work for an Arthur Murray franchise where you learned a bunch of 
different dances.  You actually find the country-western crowd friendlier than 
the tango crowd but you moved to a region that doesn't have much of a country-
western scene.

You actually prefer ballroom.  In the old country everybody young and old danced 
ballroom.  But here, the ballroomers are so *old*.

You were a Piazzolla fan and then you found out there was a dance called 
"Argentine tango."  So, you decided to check out this dance.

You were new in town and figured that a good way to meet a woman was to learn to 
dance.  You didn't have a preference so you started at "A," Argentine tango.  
Then you hooked up with a tanguera fanatic and found yourself making the 
pilgrimage to Buenos Aires.

Your wife drags you to tango.  She's much better than you.  She spends most of 
her time dancing close-embrace with advance dancers.  You spend most of your 
time dancing open-embrace with beginners.

I think that most people who stay with tango dance do so for social and not 
musical reasons.  If you like the people at the milonga but not the music, you 
can always stay and bitch about the music.  If you dislike the people at the 
milonga, you're going to leave even if you love the music.