Dear tango dancer,

I write to you as a person to a person. I don’t care if one of us is a teacher, DJ, organizer or a famous tango star. We are both part of something that goes beyond me and you, and, in the same time, something deeply personal. If you read this, it means tango is meaningful part of your life.

It’s been a year since the coronavirus pandemic hit the world and our precious dance is on the edge between life and death. Social distancing measure is really the opposite of what our dance is all about. There are not many people in the world that danced a lot this past year and, as things are standing, many will not dance in the following year as well (some, unfortunately never will).

These words might sound bitter, but, the point of this letter is not to complain or curse. These words are written with intention to motivate you to take action and help restore tango as it was.

It’s up to you

Let me tell you a personal story. When I first started dancing tango community in my town was very very small: there were no more than 15 of us. We had fun, but that was not really a tango community. Healthy tango community needs schools, practicas, milongas and tango trips – we had almost none of those things.

I liked the friendships I made there and I enjoyed the time I spent with them, but I soon realized that something was missing. The first instinct we all have is to complain, but that is not really helpful.

“Oh, you play cortinas?”, he said.

That was the first reaction when I started my first DJing set. You can imagine how tango looks like in your community when people are surprised when you played cortinas? No tandas. No cabeceos. Not a real tango experience.

I soon also became a milonga organizer and after few months co-organizer of a practica – which in time became a tango school.

My point is that if you want something to exist you have to make it happen. Nothing will popup into existence just like that, by itself. It always depends on you.

Well, maybe someone else will make it happen, but it will not exist for long if you don’t support it in some way. It always depends on you, always.

The pillars of the tango world

You have to ask yourself: what tango activity did you spend most of your time on? Did you liked to visit your local milongas? Or maybe you loved to travel to big international events?

Whatever it was, there was somebody who spend their time and energy to make it happen. There was a person or a team of people who rented a room, send invitations, spend time to make everything work great. There was someone who done all that with love and care for people that showed up.

Hey, sorry to interrupt…

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From my heart to yours!
Ivica

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Those were the people who were the pillars of your tango world. They took responsibility for your experience. All these workshops, practicas, milongas, events etc. didn’t just popped up into existence – there were some people that worked for them to exist: sometimes for small or even without any profit. Just for the love of the dance.

Last year a heard of many stories of what those people who dedicated all their life to tango were doing. Some changed profession with hope that they will eventually return to tango. Others, unfortunately left permanently.

Those who left took with them all that they were doing for tango – the milongas they organized, the time spend on teaching us, the music sets they played for us, the events they made happen. Without them your tango community is smaller and dancers have less opportunity to enjoy their favorite dance.

Many of those people who helped your tango world to exist will do that again, but this time, they will need you more than ever. They were the pillars of your tango world, but now they need support themselves. Now you have to become their pillar.

Ideas how to help

My point is that if you want something, you should contribute as much as you can. Don’t take tango for granted.

I don’t say that you have to become tango enthusiast like I am, but there are some little things you can do that will contribute greatly. Even a small word of encouragement goes a long way.

Here are some ideas what can you do to help your tango community:

• Milongas will soon start opening – you might feel safe to visit or not, doesn’t matter: if you are afraid, don’t dance, just show up, pay the ticket and say hello to your friends. Don’t forget to thank the organizer and give a little word of encouragement. Then leave! Or stay. As you wish. What matters is that you supported their effort.
• Take private or online class with your teacher – Maybe you don’t believe in online learning or you don’t feel like you need a private class. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you helped your teacher. You made the gear of tango life roll for a bit.
• Buy a tango product (shoes or a dress) – Who knows when will you have a chance to put them on? That is less important: if you can afford to buy your purchase might make the difference between survival and bankruptcy of their business.
• Invite your friends to sign up to tango classes – As soon as it feels safe, schools will open again. I don’t believe many non-tango people will rush to sign up – support your community by inviting your friends to start dancing.

… 0r just donate! The amount doesn’t matter. What matters is that it means a lot to teachers, organizers, sellers, producers… First, it encourages them and gives them hope that things will return to normal. Second, many might be on the border of giving up: your small contribution can turn the balance. Third, do this for selfish reasons – to have your tango community come back.

We waited for a year and we will maybe wait a little bit longer to dance again, but we don’t have to wait to help our tango community. Time is coming when we will once again storm the dance floor and when that day comes, make sure that you to show up and contribute to the re-birth of tango.

Yours truly,

Ivica

I understand: all of us want to become perfect dancers, but what many don’t realize is that the perfectionism is exactly what stops you from approaching that goal.

When Tango Mentor started five years ago, my message to the readers was “Discover your dancing perfection”. Few months later I learned that the word “perfection” was source of confusion: my idea of perfection was often opposite of what some of my readers had in mind..

My intended message was to tell people that the most important lesson a tango dancer should learn is that he should focus on the connection. Unfortunately many are using the connection as just another tool to achieve what they have in mind when they say “perfection”, and that is to look attractive and elegant.

Solution? I changed the tagline of Tango Mentor and the current one is “Connection is the ultimate style”.

When I use “perfect” and “perfectionism” in this article, I mean both of the meanings: 1) the one majority of the dancers consider as perfect dancing, and 2) the idea that perfect dancing means being able to dance with perfect connection.

I wrote in this article 5 points, but if you dissect them they could be easily expanded to more than 10. In the same time, they are connected and dependent. Anyways, it’s easier to read this way, so here we are.

1. Missing the point

“It’s like a finger pointing away to the moon. Don’t concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory.”

Bruce Lee

Some dancers are getting obsessed with their movements. They study hard and spend hours of practicing, focusing on the details. In the same time, they completely ignore how they feel during the dance and, even more important, how their partner feels. In this process, they become robot dancers – perfect and emotionless.

The point I want to make is that if you’re social dancer the real drama is not the one happening on the dance floor where your body moves, but in yours and your partners heart.

Focusing on the body, the movement and what is going on on the dance floor is limiting yourself to the surface of the phenomena. Or, as would Mr. Lee say focusing on the finger and missing all that heavenly glory.

2. Losing self-confidence

Can you dance as someone else? Well, you can try, but I doubt you can succeed. All you can do is to be yourself and dance as yourself.

Unfortunately I often see dancers desperately trying to dance like (what they believe) their perfect idol dancers. The result is people who think they are inadequate; dancers who think they can never be able to achieve the level of even being considered average dancer.

This idea of what perfection means is damaging their self-confidence and blocks them to develop their specific talent.

Hey, sorry to interrupt…

Do you like reading my articles? If you do please consider a small contribution to the existence of this blog.

I don’t sell a book or run ads: I share these articles for free. Unfortunately I also have to pay my bills, so if you see value in my work please consider a small donation/gratuity (the same way you tip your favorite bartender).
From my heart to yours!
Ivica

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3. Dancers without personality

When I see tango performers first thing that catches my eye is awful lack of variation. This is specially true for those performers who compete in tango mundial and similar events. You’ve seen one – you’ve seen all of them.

This lack of variation, that template dancing is what often helps me dismiss them without watching more than 5 seconds. See first few steps and you’ve seen everything. See one of them and you’ve seen them all. They look alike like a ping pong balls mass produced on a factory assembly line. The same posture. The same costumes. The same walk. The same embrace.

Following one model, without taking into account specifics of your body and character, leads you to dance in unnatural and awkward way. I don’t even want to begin to talk about how poor the general landscape becomes.

Of course, you can’t force uniformity – your personality finds it’s way to show up. What worries me is that many people think that less personality they show (or more closer their dancing is to their idea of perfection) – the better dancers they are.

Sorry to say, but I don’t consider losing personality a good thing.

4. You cant get into the state of flow

“[Flow means] being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the utmost.”

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

You can achieve perfection only if you’re able to get into the state of flow. You can’t force it – you’re only able to get it when you let go and allow the dance to lead it. The dancer is not dancing, the dancer is being danced.

And, you know what? If you think of your mistakes you can never get into the state of flow. That is something that paralyzes dancers, and some of them even give up tango.

There was this story (I can’t remember where I heard about it) about a tree legged dog. If a dog loses a limb it doesn’t get depressed or feel inadequate. It doesn’t consider itself less than other dogs, staying in a corner and coursing the destiny for its misfortune.

No. The tree legged dog jumps and tries to run as if nothing is wrong. Plays with other dogs and enjoys life.

If perfectionism blocks you from enjoying, try to think like the tree legged dog. Invite a partner and jump to the dance floor. Continue dancing despite the mistakes.

You don’t dance with your body – you dance with your heart.

5. “The money” thing

Following one perfect model of perfection is like trying to look like those stars and models from the cover of the magazine.

You’re not stupid. You know that those stars don’t look like that all the time. They have preparations and diets for weeks just to look perfect for their photosh0ots. Most of the time they look much more like regular people, or, to be more precise, less perfect than they appear on their pictures.

We often pursue imagination and people use that desire to take our money. You know, the 6-pack-abs-in-a-week model!

Don’t spend money to learn to be perfect. You don’t need that. Just learn few core techniques and learn them well, so that your partners enjoy dancing with you. That’s all!

Bad news! Looks like for most of the world tango is going nowhere.

As vaccination efforts are rolling out, countries are still holding tight to their lock down policies – in some they are getting even tighter and, as a result, tango communities are getting in the worst shape than they have ever been.

In this survey I’ve got answers from over 150 dancers from 37 countries. I want to thank everyone who contributed and helped me to put together this article about the results.

If your country was not included in this survey, be sure to sign up to my Newsletter, so you will be notified when I send my next survey. I plan to do my next survey in April or May 2021.

The vaccines are here, but unfortunately, the map above is not much greener than the one in December 2020.

Check out the article for November/December 2020:

Dancing tango in December 2020

What people are saying?

This survey was anonymous and I will not share participants names. On the other hand, when I read the survey I see a lot of interesting information in the comment section. So, I decided to share the most interesting comments, paying attention to respect the privacy of the participants and not to get them in trouble.

Not surprising, the communities all around the world are ripped apart between those who insist on strict rules and measures, and those who think there should be more relaxed approach.

“Tango community is divided in two major groups – scared to death, wearing masks in their own houses, driving in masks and dancing over Zoom “virtually”. And normal people, dancing as they did before all this insanity started.”

“Some of us are not afraid, while others are shaking with fear. I have to be careful who I tell about private practicas; the fearful want to shut the rest of us down.”

Some of the dancers are unfortunately so scared that they are not sure will they dance even after all this will be over. Even vaccination will not make them feel safe enough.

“Personally, only one shot. Waiting until after second and still not sure when I’ll feel safe.”

Some of us are hit so hard that they can’t hold their emotion when we talk about tango:

“I’m crying….”

On the other hand, there are those who are more optimistic.

“There are on-line classes of course – and some teachers are available for private lessons (money speaks). But I survive due to a private practica with a just handful of people once a week – plus two weekly dance sessions with my dance partner on my own little dance floor. Tango finds a way – always!”

Although there are some places where people are dancing the situation in Buenos Aires is not bright either.

“Gricel is open now only on Fridays. They spray people at the door, and wash hands with alcohol after every tanda, and take many more precautions. Few attend.”

Either way, the situation for tango is not good at the moment, and there are those of us who are hit hard.

“Social and cultural events are locked down and politicians do not really care about. It is lowest priority. Official Tango schools (paying taxes) get minor support – all these freelancers not at all. I don’t know how they can survive and how / when Tango communities go back to life. Here in (big city) they’ll find ways but in smaller cities I really don’t know.”

Hey, sorry to interrupt…

Do you like reading my articles? If you do please consider a small contribution to the existence of this blog.

I don’t sell a book or run ads: I share these articles for free. Unfortunately I also have to pay my bills, so if you see value in my work please consider a small donation/gratuity (the same way you tip your favorite bartender).
From my heart to yours!
Ivica

Thank you button

Securely processed via PayPal

The conclusion

In my last article I concluded that the situation is much worse than October 2020, with hope that after we get the vaccines it will get better. Unfortunately, I have to conclude that the situation this time is even worse.

On the other hand, I see hope in three things:

1. The number of the cases is significantly lower and shows tendency to flatten out or to get even lower
2. As the ongoing vaccination effort continue we can expect that the number will go down even further
3. There are tango communities where people never really stopped dancing

This means I still believe that this year we will see some normalization and some communities will resurrect.

Meanwhile, we should have in mind that some people are afraid and others are hit hard by the loneliness. We have to understand that both groups are suffering emotionally and do what we can not to escalate the conflict.

Have patience. Understand.

If you are curious to see the details of the report, sign up here and I will send the report right in your inbox.