3336 Taxi dancers - Lost in translation
Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 16:51:04 -0300
From: Alberto Gesualdi <clambat2001@YAHOO.COM.AR>
Subject: Taxi dancers - Lost in translation
Dear friends
Follows a roughly translation of the Clarin newspaper article.
I was out of the list for a while, due to extra work at the office , that still keeps flowing in much more than I can send it out.
However, I know Nicolas Godoy , the taxi dancer mentioned in this article. He came to our school of Tango on Villa Ballester, on 1999 , and was full of ideas and activity . It seems he has found a regular source of income , and this is good , so I am happy about it . So Nicolas desserved to be quite understood , whith his struggle for life, as this his activity is .
Follows a roughly translation . This article of Clarin newspaper has just open the closet of this subject, that was an unspoken truth of the milongas around Buenos Aires, people being payed for a dancing service at the dance floor.
Warm regards
Alberto
Histories
Taxi dancers : get on that I will take you for a ride.
At the frenzy of tanguero tourism , a new species spread the milonguero ecosystem. For a bunch of dollars, they offered himself in rental to dance with foreign visitors. The taxi dancers ask to make room for them at the dancing floor.
Nico & Maria arrived to Salon Canning altogether, is past midnight. It is the time of the night when , contrary to the daily timetable of the working world, the milonga start their stirring . Shortly afterwards, the dancing floor is crowded with veteran and newcomers milongueros, argentines, oriental, europeans, octogenarians , those on their forties, teenagers....
When the Miguel Cals4s orchestra comes from the loudspeakers, couples just being settled ( and that will clove one each other within fifteen minutes ) , abandon the esperanto language used on their mutual spoken misunderstanding, embrace and put themselves into motion.
Nico & Marma go embedded within the other dancers :blonde, petite and smiling , she circles embraced to her partner. Although she doubles him in age, Maria has a shining in their look , a cheerful attitude and a menacing needle shoes whose carrying defies the almost 70 years that her brazilian passport shows. Nico has thirty one ; he is working.
Nicolas Godoy was born at Santo Tomi, province of Santa Fe. At 18 he migrate to transform into a Villa Ballester lad , where he lives with his parents and younger sister. Is industrial technician, work as a cameraman , promote house appliances at a supermarket , creat an organic orchard and was a card promoter for tango venues ( although he prefer to refer himself as 4public relation4man ).
To hire his body is the weirdest work he has taken , if we do not consider acting as a stove when he was 13 years old , at a theatre performance that make a tournaround allover the public squares at his native province.
Today Nico is a taxi dancer . In all their definitions and meanings, the service of taxi dancer, dancing compagnion on a fee payment basis, is the most expensive and curious of the tango tourism boom that changed the shape of the circuit of milongas, when the devaluation of local currency started.
A small portion of the visitors that come to Buenos Aires to dance tango , create this alternative for a bunch of porteqos , regular members of the salons , that found a trade source out from their entertainment. The commercial proposal could be individual on their own, or corporate, as part of a wider commercial scheme.
In other words, the proposal could start from an unformal arrangement for a night company at a traditional milonga - where the commercial relationship could went more or less unnoticed - , to a system established for certain festivals for foreign people , that includes a service of partenaire , within the package of lessons and/or dancing nights.
The customers of Nicolas ( a standard salon dancer, with a soft and clear lead, 1.65 mts height ) are generally proffesional women , foreigners, middle aged, willing to pay 10 dollars per hour of " stroll " at the milonga, plus entrance fee and consumptions,when it is a personal and exclusive service.
" This work has nothing to do with local people: nobody around here will pay you to dance. Customers are all from abroad. I have around seven or eight that already know me , they contact me by mail beforehand each time they came. Now I am making it a bit more organized, I am my own entrepreneur. There will be people that will consider this job as a low grade occupation. But if someone could earn 30 or 40 local currency pesos to dance, which is what you like , ? where is the humilliation ? , - defies Godoy -.
I alway say that we are a kind of cultural ambassadors. I receive at home phonecalls from she friends customers from allover the world ."
- And your mother, what does she say ?
Stop making nonsense and find a job.
Give me the tin tocken
"Never in my life I pay for a man " , whisper Nathalie with a mix of shyness and enthusiasm , while balances a motherpearl roulette tocken on her right hand , with their eyes focused on the dancing floor: " This is my first time. I have already chosen him. Is that one that is dancing with that blonde for the past hour ... His name is Eduardo ? But this blonde, her brave face , what does she think , that he has bought him already ?
It is thursday , small hours , and the habitual salon of La Viruta/La Estrella looks different. It has been hired for a private event : a kind of tango workshop - a seminar that includes intensive dancing practices & exclusive milongas -.
The attendants , all foreign people with a fancy for this dance , are elbow to elbow with the opposite endings of the milonguera social scale: celebrieties and taxi dancers.
From milonga music from the guardia vieja records , up to electronic tango , all styles are danced. Effectively, the blond has monopolized the so called Eduardo, maybe with the trick of an advance payment . The current currency acepted for this transactions: a plastic token with the name of the event printed on it. The female customers bought it for a price of three dollars. With one token they can hire for a tanda of four or five tangos , a taxi dancer ( they are around seven of them , they bear a distinctive T shirt ) .
At the end of the night , the taxi dancers change their tokens at the cashier , for money: for each token they receive two dollars. An enviroment-free version of this service.
Eduardo Amarillo is 37 years old and is the leader at the ranking of requests . " The secret of my success with women is that while I am dancing I sing the scripts, but I sing it for me " , says this athletic dark face guy.
Plumber and gas technician with a tanguero heritage (" I learn to dance tango vhen I was a toddler, with my face inside the breasts of my grand mother") , Eduardo is a die hard tanguero, that at his hardware shop , literally nailed the dial of the radio receiver at FM tango, using an extra strong glue to fix the dial to this radio station. A couple of years ago,discovered that dancing also could help to balance his budget .
" Mine is a service to the community. I am like a box sparring: I am paid to receive the blows, in this case the stomping ."
Mario sees the things otherway round. This night he put in the black T shirt with live red motive for the first time. Maybe it will the last time also. Seated at the black mosaic steps that leads to the dancing floor, with their eyes fixed in front of him and a soda water at his hand, does not look confortable inside that limelight T shirt . At 2 am on the morning, Mario has collected two token.
He does not effort to be charming . " The fact that you are given a token on the palm of your hand, create a mental image ressembling the prostitutes many years ago, that work for money at the bordellos ". Here they came with a purchased token, they put it in your hand and know that you will have to accept. They do not have to sweat for the seduction and conquest. They hold a place of power , and sometimes they show it to you . Here you dance four tangos and the story is ended, but while you are dancing there are somebodies that behave to make you feel you are purchased ". According to Mario , one dance as it is. "The character, the problems that oneself could have , all of this will be translated on your tango. When you dance you use a lot your head , but when you danced a lot of time, there is a moment that your head melts into your body .
Then the movement turns to be unvoluntary , natural, pleasant ..." ,
as long as , for Mario, tokens are not given for this experience.
While I draw an 8
The same as local "criollo" wittiness, Nico never rests Comes and goes .
Greets one girl, dances with another, acept to be reserved by another for the next tanda, deliver unending smiles here and there, babbling spanglish and portuqol , in short, invoices himself to potential customers.
Ana Rosetti, a peruvian raised in Italy and established at the USA as haute couture designer , bought six token. " I come from a place far away ; I want to dance with someone who knows how ".
- How much could you spent on a night ?
Price does not matter. I am looking for quality in a dancer. The meaningful point is how the man leads, and to establish a connection. It is a three minutes love story with an unknown person.
- Does prejudice matters at the time of paying for this ?
I am a professional woman with a cultural level quite high. I am quite sure of myself. I dont care what they say.
If to Ana it doesn t care what they say , too less it matter for Peter , a man in his forties with looking glasses and a sober attire. A german citizen living in Italy, where he works as a real state agent, Peter discovered by chance that he prefer dance in woman role rather to assume the leader role , a field belonging to the man in tango dance: " I started dancing in woman role because in my tango lesson there were too much men. And i discovered it was too much relaxed: you dont have to look for a place at the dancing floor, you don t have to think , just to know how to allow yourself to be driven".
His problem, each time he cames to Buenos Aires, is to find boys willing to dance with him . " I am not gay , but there are few girls that know how to lead". His solution was to hire a taxi dancer : "With Nicolas we went one night to the Marshall (the gay milonga) and we have a lot of fun ".
"! Nico, I am waiting for you ! , claims with unchained wittines an oriental girl from California that takes Godoy from his back.
I take 5 minutes
Friday midday , at the Opera cafeteria at Corrientes y Callao. Nico keeps sleeping three hours per night this past week. Recorded at the automatic answer machine, each day his voice sounds more and more disphonic , due to black cigarettes and not enough sleep. While swallows a coffee with milk and croissants, opens an album of 9 x 13 snapshots, where he is seen while dancing with different costumers. There are postcards from San Francisco. There are polaroid snapshots that shows him smiling and with a neat dress, in his posture of " horse trainer " . In a take he essays a posture a bit bizarre over a table: his dancing partner is shown with one of her leags embracing his hips , in a show off very close to craziness.
- Do you always keep a straight balance in your relationship with female customers ??
I am a friendly guy, like to make jokes : sometimes we go to the dancing floor and before start dancing I made them to do a turn like a local non tango dancing, the cumbia villera, and they take it as quite funny. I say to them : excuse me, I forgot to take my mental health medication today, and they laugh and get relaxed. I try to be amusing, but keeping always a respectull relationship.
- Always ?
Well , sometimes there is a bit of sexual harassment. There was one girl once that tried to have sex with me . She make me to get into his room at the hotel where I went to meet to go for the milonga. I explained to her : do not get confounded , this is my job, I keep things apart very straight, bla bla bla.
She understood , but she likes to drink. One night she went a bit out of his alcohol tolerance and not only she lost his balance on the dancing floor , but also all the behaviour. She got sticky, and search for my mouth when dancing while I tried by all means to dodge her .
But what I was going to do ? To say " It s a confusion ?" . I was in the middle of the dancing floor and look around while thinking : If somebody watched me , I am at an oven now.
- Are there other unconfortable moments, like receiving the payment ?
With the brazilian woman, for instance, it makes me feel uneasy, I don t know why . Because sometimes you like this , you enjoy, it but also you have to earn a living.. Sometimes they do not give the money directly.They gave you an envelope :" Take this, is for you". It is a polite gesture. I also try to be polite. If they stay for a couple of weeks, I copy a photo taken while we were dancing together and give them at the last night of our meeting. It is nothing, the copy costs a couple of pesos, but you would not believe how heartfully they thanks this present ..
- Are you engaged ?
Yes. She dances, but from time to time. We do not go frequently to dancing tango places because she says I keep saluting people. And she is right. We try to seek a bit of intimacy.
- Have you make many female friends ?
Here you met interesting people. Straight people. People that know and think they are pennyless, and sometimes own fortunes. The son of a person whom I was dancing yesterday, is a movie maker. And beware, she is also a Vicepresident of Asia Operation of I dont remember what around Asia. There are people that are willing to pay 300 dollars one lesson , to someone that rejects them because they have no available time to give them . My God !
I wish I could only place the music and polish the shoes for those guys !
"Osvaldo Zotto, Petaca, Sergio Natario, Gabriel Misse ..." recounts Nico
the list of top tango dancers that he admires, and that he does not dream to replicate onto a stage. " I think you need a lot of preparation for this stage work, and not everyone could be able to make a stage show ".
But he is not totally out of ambitions. " Beware, my target does not end here , but those who try to embrace everything , lost grip and pressure." , he warns . " Beware, that I also read Osho, read Chopra ", he will say later between yawn and yawn .
A long journey waits in front of him : compromises for four lessons , night customers to dance and a fiancei diplomated nurse with surgeon instrument capabilities , that waits for him with the first lights of the next day.
Tomorrow morning, very early, he will take the bus and train to Ballester, because the family organic orchard requires attention. " I sow vegetables , you know, and my mom called to say it is about time to make the crop "
.. ,
?
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Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 23:48:42 +0200
From: "Christian Lüthen" <christian.luethen@GMX.NET>
Subject: Re: Taxi dancers - Lost in translation
Alberto was so kind to translate the "taxi dancer" article from Clarin
(thanks for the effort, Alberto!!!).
Not having had the time to read the original article in castellano (I do not
read that fast in castellano yet) I just to a few seconds (too busy
otherwise) to read some passages of the english translation ...
... it made my day!!! I had some great great loughs!!!
Off course everyone is allowed to do what pleases ...
... but I can't avoid the impression of prostitution (on both sides!)!
Traveling to Bs.As. and making use of a 'taxi dancer' no one will ever get
the *real* Milonga feeling.
Does a woman really think a real *honest* "latin lover" is only waiting for
her???
Thanks for the laughs!
Christian
P.S.: Well, to be honest: "Taxi dancers" represent *the* authentic tango ...
"back to the roots" when tango started ... only roles have changed - now the
women are paying the men!
--
christian@eTanguero.net
https://www.eTanguero.net/
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Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2005 12:27:37 -0400
From: Tanguero Chino <tanguerochino@NETSCAPE.NET>
Subject: Re: Taxi dancers - Lost in translation
Alberto, Good job.
In the same Clarin article on-line, there was a sidebar on the same topic.
I have translated the text, with some liberal interpretations for translation purposes. Enjoy.
THE GIRLS DON't DANCE BY THEMSELVES
- Rented companions for seminars, festivals and milongas.
The Miami Tango Fantasy Festival, which is being held in May in Florida, has as one of its attractions the attendance of "10 taxi dancers imported directly from Argentina".
In Argentina, where several decades ago there was the old tradition of dance schools having female partners available for practices, paid for with tokens. This activity has reappeared in the schools, but with the roles reversed. Now it is the men who are working. This is happening informally, with the occasional patron searching for a partner, or a project [providing partners for a special occasion]. However, there are already taxi dancers with websites (www.thetangodancers.com.ar, www.taxidancers.com), teachers that offer that option, and an annual festival (CITA, of Cosmotango) with up to 500 participants in Buenos Aires, which systemized the service for its classes and milongas. CITA, organized by Fabian Salas, a well know dancer and teacher, has a staff of 26 teaching couples giving classes in its 7th edition several weeks ago.
Amongst the taxi dancers that Salas had invited for the organized classes and milongas, there are both men and women (even though the demand for the women is almost exclusively for classes). In the afternoons, for the seminars, the students request in advance for particular dance companions. For the evening, they only have to buy a token and give it to the one selected for 4 or 5 tangos.
Many people come from outside the country to have the experience of dancing with a local. [Without taxi dancers], they will not be able to achieve this, because of age or the lack of dancing ability, the chances are stacked against them. These people come on their vacations after having worked hard. They want their time here to be pleasant and not sit all night and then feel that they have failed. Some who had come here had said
Aurora Lubiz, well known stage and social dancer, teacher and artistic director of World Tango Festival, which attracts some 350 students each October, tries to avoid the use of the label
Buenos Aires Tango Week
"Every night, there is at least one. When I see a good dancer, not necessarily the best, but one that is good on the dance floor, seated submissively next to a woman, [I know that] he is working. **Sometimes I see them
** I know I
A veces son de esos tipos multifunciC3n, que se prenden en todas. Algunos se jactan, medio la van de gigolC3s, y otros lo hacen de cayetano, pero que los hay, los hay."
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Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2005 12:41:46 -0400
From: Tanguero Chino <tanguerochino@NETSCAPE.NET>
Subject: Re: Taxi dancers - Lost in translation
There was a problem with my copy/paste. Part of the text near the end was left out. Here's the entire article. again.
THE GIRLS DON'T DANCE BY THEMSELVES
- Rented companions for seminars, festivals and milongas.
The Miami Tango Fantasy Festival, which is being held in May in Florida, has as one of its attractions the attendance of "10 taxi dancers imported directly from Argentina".
In Argentina, where several decades ago there was the old tradition of dance schools having female partners available for practices, paid for with tokens. This activity has reappeared in the schools, but with the roles reversed. Now it is the men who are working. This is happening informally, with the occasional patron searching for a partner, or a project [providing partners for a special occasion]. However, there are already taxi dancers with websites (www.thetangodancers.com.ar, www.taxidancers.com), teachers that offer that option, and an annual festival (CITA, of Cosmotango) with up to 500 participants in Buenos Aires, which systemized the service for its classes and milongas. CITA, organized by Fabian Salas, a well know dancer and teacher, has a staff of 26 teaching couples giving classes in its 7th edition several weeks ago.
Amongst the taxi dancers that Salas had invited for the organized classes and milongas, there are both men and women (even though the demand for the women is almost exclusively for classes). In the afternoons, for the seminars, the students request in advance for particular dance companions. For the evening, they only have to buy a token and give it to the one selected for 4 or 5 tangos.
Many people come from outside the country to have the experience of dancing with a local. [Without taxi dancers], they will not be able to achieve this, because of age or the lack of dancing ability, the chances are stacked against them. These people come on their vacations after having worked hard. They want their time here to be pleasant and not sit all night and then feel that they have failed. Some who had come here had said
Aurora Lubiz, well known stage and social dancer, teacher and artistic director of World Tango Festival, which attracts some 350 students each October, tries to avoid the use of the label
Buenos Aires Tango Week
"Every night, there is at least one. When I see a good dancer, not necessarily the best, but one that is good on the dance floor, seated submissively next to a woman, [I know that] he is working. **Sometimes I see them
** I know I
A veces son de esos tipos multifuncion, que se prenden en todas. Algunos se jactan, medio la van de gigolos, y otros lo hacen de cayetano, pero que los hay, los hay."
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Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2005 12:51:10 -0400
From: Tanguero Chino <tanguerochino@NETSCAPE.NET>
Subject: Re: Taxi dancers - Lost in translation
The same problem occured. I have changed the quotations marks. Hope it helps this time.
THE GIRLS DON
- Rented companions for seminars, festivals and milongas.
The Miami Tango Fantasy Festival, which is being held in May in Florida, has as one of its attractions the attendance of
In Argentina, where several decades ago there was the old tradition of dance schools having female partners available for practices, paid for with tokens. This activity has reappeared in the schools, but with the roles reversed. Now it is the men who are working. This is happening informally, with the occasional patron searching for a partner, or a project [providing partners for a special occasion]. However, there are already taxi dancers with websites (www.thetangodancers.com.ar, www.taxidancers.com), teachers that offer that option, and an annual festival (CITA, of Cosmotango) with up to 500 participants in Buenos Aires, which systemized the service for its classes and milongas. CITA, organized by Fabian Salas, a well know dancer and teacher, has a staff of 26 teaching couples giving classes in its 7th edition several weeks ago.
Amongst the taxi dancers that Salas had invited for the organized classes and milongas, there are both men and women (even though the demand for the women is almost exclusively for classes). In the afternoons, for the seminars, the students request in advance for particular dance companions. For the evening, they only have to buy a token and give it to the one selected for 4 or 5 tangos.
Many people come from outside the country to have the experience of dancing with a local. [Without taxi dancers], they will not be able to achieve this, because of age or the lack of dancing ability, the chances are stacked against them. These people come on their vacations after having worked hard. They want their time here to be pleasant and not sit all night and then feel that they have failed. Some who had come here had said
Aurora Lubiz, well known stage and social dancer, teacher and artistic director of World Tango Festival, which attracts some 350 students each October, tries to avoid the use of the label
Buenos Aires Tango Week
** I know I
A veces son de esos tipos multifuncion, que se prenden en todas. Algunos se jactan, medio la van de gigolos, y otros lo hacen de cayetano, pero que los hay, los hay.
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Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2005 13:00:11 -0400
From: Tanguero Chino <tanguerochino@NETSCAPE.NET>
Subject: Re: Taxi dancers - Lost in translation
Sorry list. I will try again. The double dashes (--) replaced the troublesome quotes that caused problems previously.
THE GIRLS DONT DANCE BY THEMSELVES
- Rented companions for seminars, festivals and milongas.
The Miami Tango Fantasy Festival, which is being held in May in Florida, has as one of its attractions the attendance of --10 taxi dancers imported directly from Argentina--.
In Argentina, where several decades ago there was the old tradition of dance schools having female partners available for practices, paid for with tokens. This activity has reappeared in the schools, but with the roles reversed. Now it is the men who are working. This is happening informally, with the occasional patron searching for a partner, or a project [providing partners for a special occasion]. However, there are already taxi dancers with websites (www.thetangodancers.com.ar, www.taxidancers.com), teachers that offer that option, and an annual festival (CITA, of Cosmotango) with up to 500 participants in Buenos Aires, which systemized the service for its classes and milongas. CITA, organized by Fabian Salas, a well know dancer and teacher, has a staff of 26 teaching couples giving classes in its 7th edition several weeks ago.
Amongst the taxi dancers that Salas had invited for the organized classes and milongas, there are both men and women (even though the demand for the women is almost exclusively for classes). In the afternoons, for the seminars, the students request in advance for particular dance companions. For the evening, they only have to buy a token and give it to the one selected for 4 or 5 tangos. --The concept of taxi dance is really old and is very much part of tango. It occurred to me to modify it slightly, believing that it will spread and will become part of all the milongas--, said Salas. --This is something that I would like to see because there are many guys that would need the work.--
Many people come from outside the country to have the experience of dancing with a local. [Without taxi dancers], they will not be able to achieve this, because of age or the lack of dancing ability, the chances are stacked against them. These people come on their vacations after having worked hard. They want their time here to be pleasant and not sit all night and then feel that they have failed. Some who had come here had said --I spent 15 days in Argentina and I did not dance a single tango.-- --This is very discouraging, which is why I implemented the system.-- Salas define his taxis as --developing dance professionals--. --It gives people satisfaction. It opens up the way. They need to be seen [dancing]. Nobody starts at the top.--
Aurora Lubiz, well known stage and social dancer, teacher and artistic director of World Tango Festival, which attracts some 350 students each October, tries to avoid the use of the label --taxi dancer--. --We don--t like the words, because we have our own sensitivity. We don--t think of it as a personalized transaction, but as a staff of some 80 assistants, hired for the festival. It balances the classes and accompanies the students when they go to the milongas, both the regular ones and the ones organized by the festival. They dance with the students and try to establish relationships that are not commercial in nature. They try not to lose the magic of inviting someone to dance.
Buenos Aires Tango Week
--Every night, there is at least one. When I see a good dancer, not necessarily the best, but one that is good on the dance floor, seated submissively next to a woman, [I know that] he is working. **Sometimes I see them --multifunction--, and try to work with more than one at a time. Others brag about their exploits, to the point of becoming gigolos, and other who act as if they were cayetanos. There are all kinds.--
** I know I--ve done an insufficient job with these sentences. Maybe Alberto can help. The original text follows:
A veces son de esos tipos multifuncion, que se prenden en todas. Algunos se jactan, medio la van de gigolos, y otros lo hacen de cayetano, pero que los hay, los hay.--
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Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2005 19:14:39 +0200
From: Christian Lüthen <christian.luethen@GMX.NET>
Subject: Re: Taxi dancers - Lost in translation
On 5 Apr 2005 at 13:00, Tanguero Chino wrote:
> Sorry list. I will try again. The double dashes (--) replaced the
> troublesome quotes that caused problems previously.
double dashes at the beginning of a line are a mark-up to inform the
e-mail-programms that the *signature* section of an e-mail starts.
christian
christian@eTanguero.net
https://www.eTanguero.net/
Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2005 11:52:12 -0700
From: Trini or Sean - PATangoS <patangos@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: Taxi dancers - Lost in translation
Here is the last word, from Peter via PATangoS:
--- Tanguero Chino <tanguerochino@netscape.net> wrote:
A paragraph was missing, and now I have exceeded my
limit for the number of posts to the list.
Here's the missing text, if you don't mind posting
it for me:
the missing paragraph that started with Buenos Aires
Tango Week.
Buenos Aires Tango Week, which is held every April and
September, with classes, dances and shows for smaller
groups, offers a package with tango partners included
for the classes. -There are usually more women than
men that register [for the Tango Week]. It becomes
necessary to hire some men.- Explains Pablo Banchero,
one of the organizers. -The problem is that
afterwards, everyone wants to dance with the
Argentineans and the male students are left standing.-
On the other hand, Banchero is also organizer of the
milonga La Nacional, where he sees foreign females
arriving with paid companions.
Tanguero Chino <tanguerochino@NETSCAPE.NET> wrote:
> Sorry list. I will try again. The double dashes
> (--) replaced the troublesome quotes that caused
> problems previously.
>
>
> THE GIRLS DONT DANCE BY THEMSELVES
> - Rented companions for seminars, festivals and
> milongas.
>
> The Miami Tango Fantasy Festival, which is being
> held in May in Florida, has as one of its
> attractions the attendance of --10 taxi dancers
> imported directly from Argentina--.
>
> In Argentina, where several decades ago there was
> the old tradition of dance schools having female
> partners available for practices, paid for with
> tokens. This activity has reappeared in the
> schools, but with the roles reversed. Now it is the
> men who are working. This is happening informally,
> with the occasional patron searching for a partner,
> or a project [providing partners for a special
> occasion]. However, there are already taxi dancers
> with websites (www.thetangodancers.com.ar,
> www.taxidancers.com), teachers that offer that
> option, and an annual festival (CITA, of Cosmotango)
> with up to 500 participants in Buenos Aires, which
> systemized the service for its classes and milongas.
> CITA, organized by Fabian Salas, a well know dancer
> and teacher, has a staff of 26 teaching couples
> giving classes in its 7th edition several weeks ago.
>
> Amongst the taxi dancers that Salas had invited for
> the organized classes and milongas, there are both
> men and women (even though the demand for the women
> is almost exclusively for classes). In the
> afternoons, for the seminars, the students request
> in advance for particular dance companions. For the
> evening, they only have to buy a token and give it
> to the one selected for 4 or 5 tangos. --The
> concept of taxi dance is really old and is very much
> part of tango. It occurred to me to modify it
> slightly, believing that it will spread and will
> become part of all the milongas--, said Salas.
> --This is something that I would like to see because
> there are many guys that would need the work.--
>
> Many people come from outside the country to have
> the experience of dancing with a local. [Without
> taxi dancers], they will not be able to achieve
> this, because of age or the lack of dancing ability,
> the chances are stacked against them. These people
> come on their vacations after having worked hard.
> They want their time here to be pleasant and not sit
> all night and then feel that they have failed. Some
> who had come here had said --I spent 15 days in
> Argentina and I did not dance a single tango.--
> --This is very discouraging, which is why I
> implemented the system.-- Salas define his taxis as
> --developing dance professionals--. --It gives
> people satisfaction. It opens up the way. They
> need to be seen [dancing]. Nobody starts at the
> top.--
>
> Aurora Lubiz, well known stage and social dancer,
> teacher and artistic director of World Tango
> Festival, which attracts some 350 students each
> October, tries to avoid the use of the label --taxi
> dancer--. --We don--t like the words, because we
> have our own sensitivity. We don--t think of it as
> a personalized transaction, but as a staff of some
> 80 assistants, hired for the festival. It balances
> the classes and accompanies the students when they
> go to the milongas, both the regular ones and the
> ones organized by the festival. They dance with the
> students and try to establish relationships that are
> not commercial in nature. They try not to lose the
> magic of inviting someone to dance.
>
> Buenos Aires Tango Week
>
> --Every night, there is at least one. When I see a
> good dancer, not necessarily the best, but one that
> is good on the dance floor, seated submissively next
> to a woman, [I know that] he is working.
> **Sometimes I see them --multifunction--, and try to
> work with more than one at a time. Others brag
> about their exploits, to the point of becoming
> gigolos, and other who act as if they were
> cayetanos. There are all kinds.--
>
> ** I know I--ve done an insufficient job with these
> sentences. Maybe Alberto can help. The original
> text follows:
> A veces son de esos tipos multifuncion, que se
> prenden en todas. Algunos se jactan, medio la van de
> gigolos, y otros lo hacen de cayetano, pero que los
> hay, los hay.--
Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2005 18:42:41 -0700
From: Randy Fisher <randyafisher@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Taxi dancers - Lost in translation
I know Nico and we always laugh about his job. We joke about him being Call
boy and how he could make the most money. One night he had a lot of money
given to him and we wondered what he had done to make that kind of money. He
laughed, we said, are you sleeping with them too and he said noooo. Then we
suggested it would be less if you did, the ones (call girls or guys) who
don't sleep with their clients are the most expensive. So we joked that he
wasn't going to sleep with his clients, he could apply it to his field he
could be the one who didn't dance, he would played hard to get. It could be
more about the chase. He would go to tea and just have tea.
As for not getting an authentic dance because you paid for it...that is
debatable. That would be bad business. If you want someone to dance with you
again or tell their friends about you or raise your rates you have to be
quality. Hell, there are people who aren't being paid who don't give quality
interaction. Atleast with a paying customer, you know they going to be
somewhat present. I spent two weeks taxiing and from my limited experience
paying customers aren't bad dancers, they are sometimes the most present
dancers, and it makes your job exciting. They are tired of sitting at
milongas posing. They just aren't chosen first among the hordes of women who
flood Buenos Aires not to mention ones that live there too. Sometimes they
are interested in getting a little feedback (not a lesson) about their
social connection and they actually listen.
I think you have to give it your all everytime you dance and I don't think
it matters if you are getting paid or not. Paying and being paid might even
make it simpler. There are people taxi dancing who are ashamed of it and it
shows(but some people are into that power dynamic).
I have seen examples of men and women taxi dancers who I would love to pay
them to dance they are present and if it is an act, I would love to see
their real thing.
I do think the cabeceos and customs are important but when there is a major
imbalance and it leaves too much crazy energy in the room. I like a soothing
dance environment.
Randy de San Francisco
