and they mentioned my blog. (As of this writing more than 3500 hits in 2.5 days!) I know it is difficult for many people who have never been here before, but tango is not a regular part of Argentine life. Few Argentines compared to the general population actually dance. You are looking at an area population of 12 million people and a tango community of about 5,000. Buenos Aires has long been known for its art scene and young clothing designers.
While the previous government in the Capital Federal promoted tango for tourism, the current government of Macri will not. The arts will continued to be promoted because the government feels that art and culture benefit the population as a whole. Before you get too upset about this, those of us who live and dance here support this. Why? Because in supporting tango, the government was promoting tango in a way that was an abuse to the foreign population who come here to dance. There were government sponsored seminars teaching businesses how to best get that foreign dollar. Everything went up in price - more than inflationary raises. Teachers went from charging 100 - 150 pesos a lesson to 250 - 350 pesos. The rational is that is what is paid in the U.S. or Europe, so why not here? I was asked by a dancer to teach with him. He wanted us to charge $200 USD for privates. I declined. I don't abuse my own people. While most of the milongas were charging 10 - 12 pesos to enter a year ago, there were some that stopped catering to the locals, and went after the cruise ship business, hotel guests - non-dancers, and charged 20 pesos to hear a live orchestra for 30 minutes. Poorly made tango shoes made with cardboard filler are now costing $280 - $300 pesos. The biggest abuse? The campeonato mundial where people paid a fortune to compete. The promoter is now bringing the International Ballroom competition here. That should say it all. These crazy abusive prices along with inflation had one of my Argentine friends commenting to me: One day the milongas will be all foreigners because none of us will be able to afford to come to a milonga. So while I can appreciate that the people on this list think of Buenos Aires only in the concept of tango, this is a city with far more to offer than just tango. Or I would not live here. _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
