Tango in Small Cities

There are numerous teahouses in the streets and alleys of Chengdu, China, and each one is bustling with business. People in Chengdu enjoy spending time with friends in teahouses, drinking tea while chatting, reading, playing chess, listening to local operas, and more. This leisurely pleasure has become an indispensable part of daily life in Chengdu.

What the teahouse is to Chengdu is like what the milonga is to Buenos Aires. There are numerous milongas in the streets of Buenos Aires. The Porteños like to pass time there, meeting friends, drinking coffee, listening to music, and dancing tango. Over time, they became skilled dancers, and tango has been an integral part of their daily lives. For many Porteños, a day without tango is like a day without food.

Tango dancers in small cities aren’t as fortunate. There are too few of them to support regular, high-quality milongas. That’s why I used to drive to nearby big cities to dance tango. For a three-hour milonga, the round trip would take me five to six hours. Besides the fatigue and sleepless nights, the costs added up significantly each year. Eventually, I couldn’t keep up with it and had to accept the reality of dancing locally.

Dancing locally may not be as gratifying as dancing in big cities, but it is convenient, time-saving, and affordable. It’s okay to go out to dance occasionally, but to enjoy tango on a regular and sustainable basis, you have to do it locally. Tango aficionados in small cities must face this reality. In big cities, established tango groups and milongas are readily available. But in small cities, we have no choice but to create our own. Building a tango community isn’t easy, but if we don’t, and instead choose to travel long distances, we’ll eventually have to give up tango when we tire of traveling. Wouldn’t it be better to put that energy into building our own tango community so we can enjoy tango just as people in big cities do?

Dancers in small towns need to be strategic. We can’t expect others to plant trees for us to enjoy the shade; we must plant our own trees and enjoy our own fruit. Building a tango community requires dedication and hard work. Despite the challenges, we shouldn’t trade this vision for immediate pleasure. We must invest in the future, so when we can no longer travel, we still have a place to dance tango. Don’t be discouraged by starting small and slow. As long as we stay committed, the community will grow. Right now, we are in the start-up phase, but that will pass. What we ought to think is how to make our community bigger, stronger and better, not to leave the community and dance elsewhere.

The importance of building a local tango group cannot be overstated. It is where we improve our dance skills and enjoy tango regularly. Tango is teamwork; without a team, there can be no tango. We go out to dance because there are better tango communities elsewhere, so why not invest time in improving our own? As tango dancers, we must think about the future, not just the present; focus on team-building, not only personal enjoyment; contribute as well as enjoy; give back as well as receive. I provide you with a place to dance tango willingly, as my contribution to the group. I hope you’ll make your own contributions - not as a way to return the favor but to strengthen the group, making it stronger, more united, and better. Don’t come just for a good time. Ask yourself at least once a month: “Have I done anything for the group lately?” If everyone plays their part, our local group will grow faster, and tango can become an indispensable part of our daily lives, too. (See Never Forget Why We Started.)