Royce’s Tango Thoughts

Last night, Jean-Michel and I went out having dinner with few French dancers that we met in the milonga. During the dinner, one of them raised an interesting point about tango tourist in Bs.As.

Since we arrived in Bs.As., we have been hearing a lot of complaints, both from local dancers and tourists, about the number of tourists in famous milongas like Canning or Niño Bien. But to be more precise, the key matter is not exactly about the number of tourists. What is truly behind the discontent is the quality of tango tourists is getting lower and lower - no respect of line of dance, doing big and dangerous moves on a crowded dance floor, no care and consideration to other people who shares the same floor, no respect of dress code, dancing the cortina etc.

Of course, some milonga organizers’ attitude or business approach may also “encourage” this phenomenon. Instead of chasing out badly behaved tourists (some milonga organizers still do so), they choose to keep silent. Maybe the financial reason monopolizes the whole issue now, so much so that the consideration of having a harmonious social interaction on the dance floor is completely put aside. More tourists mean more income! Why should people chase them out, they won’t be here for long anyway!

Almost 4 years ago, during my first trip to Bs.As., there were already many tourists. But at that time, badly behaved ones were still minorities, so local dancers won’t complain much. And here comes the interesting observation of our French friend, who has been living here for more than a year. Few years ago, the average dancing experience of the tango tourists was at least 4 or 5 years. Nowadays, the average dancing experience of tango tourists drops to 1 to 2 year, or even only having few months of dancing experience. Few years ago or even before the economical crisis in Bs.As., going to Bs.As was not as easy as nowadays. Distance, money, not familiar with local culture, lack of information and not feeling confident about one’s own dancing, all these factors made a trip to Bs.As. a big decision - going to dance in Bs.As. is like a Muslim going to Mecca. The trip itself was very important to one’s tango life and the attitude was more serious and humble.

Things changed and are changing nowadays. Going to Bs.As. becomes rather easy. Argentineans are actively promoting their tango business and there are much more information available on Internet. If people still worries about going to Bs.As. on their own, they can join tango dance tour - experienced tango dancers or teachers will bring them around to all the “essential” milongas, classes and shops (I did my first trip in this way). If people worry that no one can dance with them, they can hire taxi dancers. As a result, no matter you’re experienced dancer or a beginner who just started 3 months ago, it doesn’t matter, Bs.As. can always offer what you need! Special seminar for those who wants to be teacher, intensive workshop for beginner, full package of sightseeing plus going out to hot milongas, hiring a dance partner to take classes and go to milonga, having dinner with famous dancers etc. Nowadays, going to Bs.As. is like going on vacation to anywhere, except that the main activities is tango. Thus the attitude changes too. Tango trip to Bs.As. is getting less and less “religious”, but more and more like a consumption. Tango tourists are becoming less and less humble and alerted in front of the local dancers and dance customs, but more and more arrogant and no sensitive to the usual practice and value in the local milongas.

My sincere advice to those who wants to dance tango in Bs.As. - “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”, or in Chinese 入鄉隨俗 (Ru Siang Suei Su). Try to be respectful and sensitive to local etiquette. Things that are acceptable in your own community don’t mean that they will be accepted too in Bs.As. If you find out that you are not welcomed by the community, instead of blaming others right away, you should first ask yourself if you have done something which upset the local dancers or etiquette. And last but not the least, even if you are the tango king or queen in your own community, when you are in Bs.As., you are just an ordinary dancer like everybody. You should make an effort to be with the local community, not reverse.