[Tango-L] Tango Meccas (WAS Re: Seminar review)

[Lois Donnay]

This got me thinking....When I am in Buenos Aires, I hear tango
teachers (mostly from BAires) sit at the milongas and gripe about how
the milongas in the US and Europe just can't compare to those in BA. I
always hear threats to quit - stop teaching in the US and move back to
BA to enjoy real milongas.

I wonder if it is the same in other cities as here - our two local
teachers from Argentina are rarely if ever at a milonga.  We have no
organizers or DJ's who are from BA.  Some have never even been to BA,
or haven't been in years. Yet we have a lively scene (for our small
city), with 5 or more milongas a week and 2 live tango orchestras.  In
your cities, is it the same? Are Argentines organizing and DJ'ing
milongas?

I think Chris is correct - good teachers alone cannot make a "tango
mecca"  I work hard to create milongas here that have a bit of the
flavor of BA. But it is hard when too many dancers are unfamiliar with
that scene, and make it more like a competition for the next cool
step.

Lois Donnay
Minneapolis


On Mon, Oct 10, 2011 at 3:22 PM, Chris, UK <tl4 at chrisjj.com> wrote:
> Martin wrote:
>> Boulder is now the go-to mecca for Tango, second only to Buenos Aires.
>
> Interesting. How many milongas does it have?
> Thirty a week, like Berlin?