Looking to hear what tango events (marathons/festivals) in Canada you would recommend, and why.

From what I’ve heard, there aren’t very many, and most are on the smaller side.

Are there any gems (ie. well-organized, drawing dancers from many places, great DJs)?

Any events that are ideal for a younger crowd and/or switch dancers?

Most people recommend going to events in the states, but the dollar isn’t great for Canadians, and I’d like to meet more fellow Canadian dancers (currently living in a rural community with no tango).

Haven’t seen much on this topic before, so grateful for any thoughts or recommendations!

Tango DJs with modern orchestras in their collections and play them often in your events, how do you piece your tandas together?

By themselves, the songs are amazing covers, but trying to create tandas around them is tricky.

The main challenge I'm facing with modern orchestras is they have their own versions of classics, yet it's very difficult to create 4 song tango tandas (3 for vals and milongas) using one modern orchestra only because it's rare they would have say at least 3 milonga songs from the same composer. (e.g. maybe only Canaro, Lomuto, and a Di Sarli in the same album.) Would you recommend to simply sticking to the same person who arranged the covers with similar energy as the basis for tanda creation?

Also would like some recommendations of other modern orchestras that have similar vibes to Sexteto Milonguero, Romantica Milonguera, and Sexteta Cristal please.

Hi everyone! I'm a tango beginner, let's say. I have a dance backround, salsa and social standard ballroom, though I wasn't exceptionally good at it. When I started tango, a month ago, I got encouraged by the instructors who liked my dancing and after two weeks I also joined the intermediate group. As a beginner follower, often I struggle following there, but I like a challenge and those classes motivate me. Still, I really want to improve my tango. I don't think about fancy figures. I really want to perfect the basic step, and follow very well. Once I attended a lesson in another town, and the instructor there told me my body is stiff, that I should relax and that I do not look like I'm comfortable in my body and dancing. (Though he told me that while I was dancing with some dude who genuinely didn't hold me well and I was just uncomfortable with the guy).I wonder how should I improve that, though. Should I do more lessons? Practice by myself? What and how should I even practice by myself? For now I have lessons once a week, for 3 hours straight, and sometimes I dance with my partner on the weekends (he is a tango leader, though also relatively a beginner). I just find tango different, like it's not about forcing more practice but more about the feeling and just giving in the music and dance. But I really want to be more of a pro dancer in this, perform and eventually be an instructor if possible. Btw I am 19yo so I believe I do have time to achieve that with some hard work, any advice is welcomed.

BaAs doesn't count.For me it's definitely Medellín. Pre- COVID I liked Hong Kong, Seoul and of all places Almaty. But haven't been to these three in over 5 years

Hi there

I want to order Madame Pivot men's shoes and I'm confused with the sizing.

I have large feet (size 13 uk, 48.5 EU, 30cm length) and I have trouble finding shoes for my size in general.

Madame Pivot weren't very helpful when I emailed them so I'd like to ask people here who have them, do they run true to size, smaller or bigger?

I'm thinking that I need 47.5 EU as its measurements are taken on the last they build the shoe around and it measures 31.4cm, which hopefully will be enough of an extra space in front to not squeeze my toes.

Any help is greatly appreciated, thank you.

In any milonga or practica where I'm sitting and watching others, I'm surprised by how many leaders are off-beat from the basic beat of the song. I'm not talking about slowly down or speeding up, just the foot not coming down on the primary beat.

I'm autistic, so just watching this makes me all squirmy! Ladies/followers, how do you feel when the leader is missing the beat? Can you still enjoy the dance? Or is it like a mole-on-the-cheek, where you can't take your mind off of that one thing. Do you try to enforce the beat by resisting and forcing the footfall at certain moments?

The backdrop:

My previous post was from a throwaway account. I deleted the post and the account.

Me and my wife (Anna, fake name) recently met with this guy (Carlos, fake name) at local milongas. She kept dancing lots of tandas with him at every milonga. When I told her I don't like it she became defensive but agreed to keep it to what's considered more normal. We are both experienced and don't have any trouble getting dances.

Update:

Like I said, Anna said ok to my concerns, but didn't want to talk any more about it. She said that this is compromise for her but she'll do it for me. I felt like a controlling AH after that. She pointedly declined to talk more about it.

We acted like nothing happened after that. We skipped one week and then went to our regular milonga which is about an hour drive into a college town. Anna danced with all the usual partners and Carlos too, but no more than 2-3 tandas. During the drive back she mentioned how she didn't dance that much with Carlos and she hoped I'm satisfies with that. There was a tone of slight accusation in her voice, but it vanished quickly and we were back to our usual selves. She asked me if I'm ok if she is friends of sorts with Carlos outside of milongas, and I said of course that's ok. She has many male friends just as I have female friends. Carlos is not my friend but I have no issue if she is friends with him. I didn't know that Carlos works for the same large employer that my wife does (not in the same department or building, but same campus. This is very large employer based in our area so it's not uncommon to find random people who work for the same employer.) Anyhow, it appears she and Carlos have gotten to know each other a bit and she is planning to join the carpool to another milonga which I don't plan to go to. I told Anna that I am perfectly fine with all of this and in fact happy that she is making new friends after moving to this area somewhat recently.

Now here's the interesting part. We skipped another week and then went back to the same milonga. After about half way through Anna grabbed me and said she wanted to introduce me to someone. This was an older lady, may be around 70 years old, that I hadn't met before or danced with. Anna said she just met her and did some small talk with this lady after introducing. After a minute Anna pulled me towards the dance floor to say we should dance the next tanda to which I gladly obliged (Pugliese, my favorite!). I could sense that something was wrong and Anna wasn't quite herself. At the end of the tanda Anna said she isn't feeling well and if we could go home. I said of course, and we quickly wrapped up.

On our long drive back, I could again sense that something was off. On the highway Anna got got emotional and had tears in her eyes. Suddenly she said she was sorry for hurting my feelings and didn't realize she was doing it. Said she understand how she'd feel if I danced that many tandas with another girl at each milonga and she understands how she made me feel.

After we came home that night, we had "passionate connection", if you know what I mean. It was like that for several days after that (and nights). Anna has been especially lovey and vocal. She has told me things like she appreciates how much a good husband and a dad I have been and she hopes she can make me happy. I have no idea what has brought this sudden change, but I'm happy for it.

Last weekend Anna went to a milonga without me, with Carlos and another older guy, and told me all about it the following day. I can see she is really trying hard to make it very transparent for me.

So dear redditor, this is where we are. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but we seems to have reached a happy ending for this saga and the best possible outcome. Thank you all for advice (even the terrible ones like "divorce her" bs). It helped me see things from different perspectives and orient my views of the situation.

Dear tangueras and tangueros, what's your attitude towards the birthday waltzes? Both ones where you're being celebrated and the case when it's someone else's birthday.

What do you think makes a perfect tango place? What are your requirements for location, floor, music, games, food/drinks and other services?

Can anyone recommend milongas in London for out of towner? Specifically Friday night. Do you guys like Negracha? Thank you in advance.

Although I don't get tired fast when doing physical activities (e.g. in the gym), I sweat a lot.

In milongas, I can start sweating as early as from the second tanda, and by the time I have danced 5 tandas I'm usually completely wet inside.

How do you cope with this? Do you bring multiple shirts to change, or have some specific shirts that contain sweat?

What about your head? Wearing a band on my head to contain the sweat helps, but then I'm not sure what other clothes to wear with the band. Wearing suit + a band seems funny, doesn't it?

Any comments/ tips/ advice ? I've been dancing for a little more than a year.

P.s someone told me that after a point the idea of lead and follower disappears and u are just connected to the ongoing music. While i get this perspective. I also believe that leading and following do require us to tap into different parts of our brains. Hence for people who dance both roles, switching and coming back can be challenging at first ..

What do you guys think? Especially those of you who dance both roles.

Hey everybody!

With a friend we were wondering what was the average spending per year per dancer. We have very different opinions on that (she said up to 7K per year, I tap more around 3K).

What’s yours??

It includes:

• classes & privates
• events (workshops, festivals, weekenders)
• socials
• shoes & clothing
• transportation & housing (for far away events)

And for how long have you been dancing?

Edit: I am in New Jersey for people asking

I would love to do dance lessons with my wife together but unfortunately I have a condition where I need to replace both my hips at 30, so my recovery will take place first in 2025.

My wife is a beautifully fit Argentine women who loves dance and is missing it since we permanently located in USA.

Any recommendations for how to go about this, private lessons vs group lessons, attire to buy?

Unfortunately I have avascular necrosis which destroyed my ability to move my hips, I don’t want that to delay my wife dreams.

Fortunately, I have been blessed financially this past year so money isn’t a limitation.

Hey guys, Im a relatively advanced leader in my mid 20s, dancing for about 10 years.

My current private teacher insists that I dont compromise my technique for bad dancers; that I lead everybody as if I were dancing with a good dancer.

In my local community there are not many good dancers. Thats why Im almost every weekend in another city to dance and learn. So when I dance in my home town I dance with a lot of beginners and dancers who are used to being lead with a lot of force.

My new mindset is that I just try to stay relaxed and lead as close to as I would with someone who knows what to do as possible. And if they do some stupid shit I dont care. I will just adapt and do something with whatever they did and not lead the same thing again. I used to always adapt to the dancer I dance with and lead in a way that they understand. But it actually feels kinda nice to not burden my body with all that tension anymore.

But on the flipside I notice that beginner dancers seem to have less fun dancing with me now, compared to back then. They seem to enjoy being forced into all kinds of advanced steps over subtle tensionless leading that they dont really know how to interpret.

I am conflicted about it. I dont know whats more important: to preserve my technique as well as possible and to safe my body all the unneccesary tension, or to provide the best experience for the dancer I dance with at the moment. Thats always the goal for me when Im at the milonga, to be in the moment, with the music and with my partner and make it enjoyable for them.

I dont know.. how do you guys handle that? And is it a valid concern that my technique will get worse if I adapt to a dancer who doesnt understand me? Because I think I can switch pretty easily. But my teacher seems to notice when I danced with a lot of beginners over the week and insists that I dont compromise my technique for them.

Appears to be from the Golden Age of tango.

In september I've started teaching a beginners' course in my city. I have approximately 12 couples, of which most are complete beginners. Their age ranges from 21 to about 55. I started the course with open embrace, but I don't want to postpone introducing close embrace for too long. I would like to make a class on this topic before the end of this year. Yet the more I think about how to do it best, the more confused I am. I seem to have some contradictory assumptions in my head. For example: I belive that I should present CE to the students as something special, "magical", a gateway to the "real tango", to the real connection. And on the other hand I suppose that it would be easier for them to cross the psychological boundary of embracing a stranger if I treat CE in a more down to earth, matter-of-fact, practical-technical kind of way. Or anothe dilemma: should I force changing partners? It would be the most beneficial for them, but some students - especially young, attractive girls and/or their partners - might feel uncomfortable, embarassed, and not happy at all, which would be counterproductive teaching-wise and would make them miss the whole point of the class. So maybe I should give them freedom to change partners or not? But then again I'm kind of making a big deal out of it and seem to imply that in CE there really is something "inappropriate" so to say... So maybe I should not suggest changing partners at all? But then: should I as a teacher practice with students in CE? If not -then they will not learn effectively. If yes - then I may be frowned upon by the abovementioned suspicious attractive ones and their boyfriends... What would you recommend to me? Is there a way to introduce CE to students in a gentle, positive way, without inspiring any suspicions as to my intentions, and so that all the students in the class practice it to their best interest (preferably with many different partners)? How were you personally introduced to the CE and do you recall it as a positive memory or not so much?

Hola a todos! Consulta, hace tiempo quiero ver la peli Tango! con Tita Merello, Mercedes Simone, Libertad Lamarque, etc, pero no la encuentro en ningún lado. Si algún alma caritativa la tiene podría compartirla por el medio que sea? Sería un aporte cultural tremendo, muchas gracias !

Hello!

I am a leader dancing for about two years. I think my level is intermediate / intermediate-advanced. I am able to follow the music pretty well, and know some steps well. I feel however that my vocabulary is a bit lacking in terms of turning, which sometimes limits what I can do. I know some basic turns, and some milenguero cross system turns, but that's where my limit is. Do you have any suggestions for youtube videos to expand my turn vocabulary as a leader?

Hi to all! I want to try some swing classes (really like the music) and I've been studying tango for three years (still a beginner, my study wasn't very consistent).

Can learn another dance can harm what I can do in tango in any way?

Are there people here who dances more than one style? Thanks in advance!

I as a follower recently started dancing with flat shoes and am enjoying the experience a lot. I am dancing with flat shoes in classes and local milonga's where people know me.

I would like to attend a tango marathon in another country. I am slightly concerned that if I go there with flat shoes, people who do not know me might be reluctant to invite me because of the shoes.

Leaders, do you pay attention to the followers shoes?