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| Tango Terrace, Muziekgebouw aan ’t ij, Tango Train edition, Amsterdam 2106 |
A: Where I was in Germany the dancing wasn’t that good but even the teachers wouldn’t invite me at their events.
B: Wow! They didn’t know what they were missing. Did you go to Berlin?
A: Yes, when I could.
B: How did you find it?
A: I didn’t enjoy it that much. You have to break in to get the good dancing.
B: Berlin has a bit of everything but on the whole I found the milongas either a bit shit or at the ones with good music, it could be hard to get dances.
A: Exactly.
B: It's weird because I know, from dancing with you, that you're one of the best dancers in this room which has a handful of great dancers, so us finding it hard to get dances is obviously not to do with our dancing, it's something else.
A: Although, that's not always how it feels at the time!
B: Indeed!
A: Very like London, in fact.
B: Oh, London is worse. Music and dancing not as good, and attitude considerably more arrogant.
A: In Portugal, the dancing was better than Berlin, a really good local scene.
B: Oh, really? In Lisbon?
A: Yes.
B: When we were on holiday before Covid I went to an afternoon milonga during the festival. It was OK, nothing amazing.
A: There are a lot of outsiders at the festival, but the local scene is really good.
B: A Lisbon encuentro in Lisbon has a fun and very professionally made promotional video. The event looks nice, I recognise people but, well, it’s an encuentro.
A: I'm not a fan.
B: Of the encuentro concept?
A: Yeah.
B: It's so refreshing - and so rare! - to hear that. Why is that?
A: It’s so cliquey.
B: I haven't been to enough to know that it's always the same people, and not famous ones, just Bristol, and Murcia. Oh and I went to a double role weekend in France plus a queer tango marathon type event in Sheffield which had some fantastic dancing. But at traditional encuentros I know that people who dance well like to meet up with their friends and for good dancing and why not?
A: Not my kind of thing.
B: And yet you dance so well. I've been to a few events, especially in Spain that need registration for e.g. catering but they tend to also be open to locals. I do find though that the same venue, people etc gets a bit claustrophobic, especially if you're not having a nice time.
A: And organisers wants to see your Facebook to check what you've been to.
B: Yes, that part of it is vile. To share, or even open up your Facebook to strangers so they can scrutinse who you know etc…eugh!
A: Exactly. It’s invasive and patronising. Plus you have to register and plan and plans can get disrupted by illness or Covid, all sorts.
B: With a local scene you turn up if you feel like it, or do something else if you don't.
A: But if you've committed to an encuentro, well, that's it, a commitment.
A: Yes. And then there are all the explicit rules at milongas. That's a big turn off for me.
A: Mmm. If there's that much scrutiny to allow only the "right people" in, why go on about the rules so much?
A: Indeed. I like local scenes.
B: Me too. That is milonga culture. It’s open, it’s accessible, varied.
A: But encuentro organisers and attendees specifically don’t want that variety.
B: Yes, encuentros are about getting an expected package + commitment, milonga culture is about variety, opportunity, spontaneity.
A: Milonga people don't tend to like commitment, I've noticed.
B: That's why we dance a tanda, then go our separate ways! People like to come and go and be free!
A: I do know people who dance fantastically, who go to these events because they don’t find what they like in the local scenes.
B: Yeah, it’s a trade off. But I like the Amsterdam Tango Train idea. A series of milongas in different venues, different organisers. Dutch milongas don’t have the warmest atmospheres but it was nice to have that variety. Berlin replaced their festival with Embrace - a similar idea.
A: It’s a good idea to replace a festival with a series of local milongas.
B: Yes, albeit this one has classes too. But both Amsterdam and Berlin already have plenty of weekly milongas. The places that need that idea are those that don't have enough milongas, that aren't a weekend destination for tourism and dancing. Edinburgh or Cambridge for instance. In Edinburgh, even after, what, ?30 years, there aren't regular weekly milongas on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. But they could do a one-off weekend hosted by the three local milonga organisers, advertised internationally.
A: Yes, although there are often political problems when it comes to local milongas.
B: Not to mention there's still the local music problem!
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