[TANGO-L] Competitions

[Melina Sedo <melinasedo @onlinehome.de>]

Hi all,

I'm no fan of competitions and I would never take part in one - but I don't want to demonize them, as competitions are a part of Tango history also among the "old milongueros" in Argentina.

But here's the recent story of tango-competitions in Germany.

During the last two years the first and second "German Championships Tango Argentino" were organized and they were a real disaster.
In order to understand it, you must know that in Germany there exists a great antagonism inbetween the tango people and the professional dance-schools. Most Tango people detest the other social dances and would never visit a ball or a milonga in a dance school. The ballroom dancers call tango people snobbish fanatics. (Is it the same in USA?)
And: the German championship was organized by a couple who also teaches ballroom and who are members of the german association of ballroom-teachers (ADTV).
But: the two love Tango, visited Buenos Aires frequently and wanted to unite tangodancers with ballroom dancers during this championship. They stressed Tango de Salsn (without ganchos or voleos) during the first rounds, choreography was restricted to the last round. They invited Milongueros like Tete as judges and stressed improvisation. And last not least they invited the best german tango-orchestra to play at the ball. All in all: they tried to please the tango communities.
Well, maybe their aims were not that altruistic as they said, but I think they gave a nice try to overcome the prejudices.
But the tango people didn't trust them: "This is ridiculous. They want to ursurpe Tango and to standardize it. This it how it worked in the 20s. Horror!"

And this is how the championships failed: Almost nobody took part. The first championship only counted 7 couples, the second 4!!!! A third one will not be held.

So don't be afraid of competitions, I'm sure the european and american tango-community won't allow them to spread uncontrolled. ;-)))

Melina