Peer pressure
I am constantly amazed by the positive effects peer pressure can have, despite all the usual negative connotations*.
Since around 2004, we suddenly became aware of the emergence of another group in tango scene in Singapore who had quite different preferences. So, on the one hand, there was a small and young but dedicated group dedicated to social tango – us; at the same time, there is a parallel group more interested in tango fantasia and somewhat nuevo-ish figures.
At the time, the differences were like chalk and cheese. Since there was no interaction between the two groups, each was left to develop on its own and no one really imagined if the two can be brought together at all? In fact, after the dismal experience at the first milonga held at upper club in 2006 which involved both groups, I was ready to write off this as nearly impossible to pull off.
Creatures of habit
During a recent milonga where I DJ’ed, I was a little amused when someone – the owner of the establishment as a matter of fact – was surprised that everyone on the dance floor knew it was the end of the milonga when the La Cumparsita came on. Incidentally it was not my usual “finishing” tanda although I did play the same version of La Cumparsita (30’s D’Arienzo)
However, I have to admit that the process of giving people the message that it was the end of the night was not always so straightforward.
Rekindle the fire
When I decided to take a break from event organising for Tango earlier this year, I never imagined that I’d be right into the thick of things within a year – well, about 7 months as a matter of fact.
Ironically, as if coming to a full circle, the venue for my reentry is none other than Xen Bar, one of the long-term Tango venues since the early days of Singapore’s Tango community, albeit at a new and much larger venue. More significantly, the owner of Xen Bar was a Tango dancer himself and has long supported Tango despite catering to a relatively small market even now.
Well, given the enthusiastic response of last night’s first milonga (over 40 people for a milonga held on a week night) with me back as the DJ at Xen Bar, there are at least grounds for some cautious optimism. Hopefully Xen Bar can once again provide the needed springboard for the initiation and retention of new-comers to our Tango community. After all, with more people in the “system”, perhaps we can finally see the long-hoped for growth that we have all been waiting for? But let’s not look too far ahead just yet… 😉
Layering
Some quick reflections after the past two weekends of workshops with Hsueh-tze Lee and partly due to the short discussion we had on the approaches to learning.
For someone not having the luxury of “Tango immersion”, either in Buenos Aires or in the various Tango strongholds in Europe or USA, from a purely technical point of view, I like to imagine the learning process for Tango as a little bit like an onion. An onion has many layers. At the core, there are the basic philosophical principles. The next layer out will be some generic techniques. Finally we come to the outer layer of “style” that is usually the first thing people see.