Tango cliques

You've seen it, you've been there. The little groups of people that dance only with each other and with nobody else, worse than a facebook group that only accepts members after the owner's approval. To this one, you have to be invited!

There are two types of cliques in tango.

The beginner clique, which is made exclusively of people from the same class that dance together because they're too scared of dancing with someone who they have not seen in class or because they can only dance with people that can return a similar mistake as the one they have just done.

The advanced clique, which is made of people that have reach such a high status that they can't see anything when they look down. That is also called tango snobbism.

But, I kind of was part of a clique! I didn't really think about it but a few years ago I would dance in milongas with the same people milonga after milonga. I really enjoyed dancing with these people and by the time I danced with them, there was little time to dance with anybody else! And some of them would take offense if I didn't invite them to dance! Is there a difference between dancing with people you like and being part of a clique? Yes, on the former you look forward to dance with other people on the later you avoid anyone that does not have the golden membership card.

The true is that, cliques are kind of uncool. It gives the image to other people that you can't be bothered to get out of your comfort zone, whether it is because you don't want to look bad when dancing with a beginner (if you are an advanced dancer) or because you don't want to look bad when next to an advanced (if you are a beginner). The whole thing about levels in tango is that more advanced people should help less advanced, that's how tango during the golden generation exploded and that's how we should keep it. A tanda in a milonga can make a hell of a difference!

PS - if you liked this post you may want to check our Johanna's post on the same subject, it's worth reading!