[Tango-L] Elitism

[Siamak Tazari]

Hi,

I have recently joined this list and I am a male dancer in my late
twenties, dancing tango for about a year now. Elitism is exactly the
word that really strikes me when I read many of the posts on this list
- even when it is the subject being discussed. Quite honestly, it is
somewhat depressing and discouraging to follow a lot of posts here
because they often suggest the idea - from both men and women - that
only those who have perfected the art already and are sitting in the
high towers of tango are entitled to truly enjoy the dance and "get
the good dances and dancers", etc... and that it is extremely
difficult and takes the equivalent of studying for a graduate degree
or more to get there. I totally disagree with that.

I certainly do not want to get a PhD in tango, I've already been there
in another field. Nevertheless, I love tango because the music and the
intensity of the dance touch me on a very deep level. I went to my
first milonga right after my first class, which was a wonderful
weekend workhshop in Berlin. I could only walk and do a few ochos and
I only danced with my class-partner and one of her friends, but it was
enough to capture me into the beauty of a milonga. When I introduce
tango to friends, I always tell them that the beauty of it is that the
basic idea is so simple - you just want to embrace someone and walk
with her, that there only a few simple steps and you create your own
dance by creatively combining these steps according to the music; and
the fact that there are no rules in tango, basically everything is
tango as long as it feels good to both partners and is in harmony with
the music. I often invite women who have never danced before to try it
once with me, take them right to the dance floor and tell them just to
try to sense and follow my steps. And it often goes pretty well...

I see tango as a way of socializing, as a way of unwinding a long day,
to completely turn off all worries and thoughts that I might have and
devote myself to the beauty of the moment. It rarely fails to make me
feel wonderful, no matter how bad I felt before. And I believe that
you do not have to be a dancer with dozens of years of experience to
get that feeling and thoroughly enjoy a milonga in this way. If you
could promote this thought you could probably get many more male and
young female dancers to the floor. In fact, I'm somewhat surprised
that especially in university classes you have lots of young dancers
but they barely show up in milongas...

That said, I do adhere to some unwritten rules of milongas. I observe
the dance floor for a while before starting to dance and try to not
ask the really good dancers to dance - as I assume they would prefer
dancing with more experienced leaders - in a sense, respecting their
cliques, even if that means that I am (and perhaps even they are)
sitting down for a couple of tandas. This is even more true about
young dancers and cliques as I somehow (perhaps wrongly, I don't know)
feel that they have even higher expectations (note that this
observation confirms that elitism and cliques are quite existent in
milongas). As another rule of thumb, I usually do not ask the same
woman twice during a milonga - even if the first dance went really
well - unless I know her well. And I also usually say upfront that I
have been dancing only for so long. Following these ideas, I have in
about 80-90 % of the time really wonderful dances and meet wonderful
women to dance with all around the world, wherever I go. Sometimes I
even end up with a really good dancer after all and it is still a
beautiful experience. In fact, most of the women I have met and danced
with in milongas turned out to be extremely nice and friendly people,
fully enjoying the dance with me, and giving me often positive
feedback and encouragement. Very much unlike the ideas that are
suggested here that you have to show off with fancy moves to catch the
attention of the good followers, etc....

Turned out to be a lengthy one for a first post :)

All the best,
--Siamak