I’ve had a number of follower friends comment on not having seen me for a while, and I’ve explained that I’m doing significantly less dancing in London milongas these days, and more time heading outside the capital.

The reason for that is less apparent to followers than it is to (likeminded) leaders, in large part because followers frequently dance with their eyes closed …

Worrying about sounding like a broken record about the F-word, and having been warned off sounding like a grumpy old man, I decided it was time for a different way to explain it.

Interestingly, what I came up with now strikes me as fairer to those leaders who are not of a like mind, as well as being less frustrating to me. Let me explain …

Mindset 1: London tango is Argentine tango danced badly

Previously, I was of the view that traditional, milonguero-style dancing is what tango is about (or should be about), and therefore anything which conflicts with that is an annoying abhorration. The absence of a ronda? Frustrating. Large movements on a crowded floor? Annoying. Lack of leader cabeceo when entering the dance floor? Rude. Multiple back-steps? Not on. Dancing in very open embrace? Lacking connection. Stage tango in milongas? Eye-rolling. Focused on movements rather than music? Missing the point.

But the truth is that, in London tango, those things are not an abhorration – certainly not in the sense of deviating from the norm. In London tango, all those things are the norm. At least, for most milongas and many dancers.

But there is another way to think about it …

Mindset 2: London tango is tango-inspired contemporary dance

I tried on a different mindset: that (most) London-style tango is simply a different dance. It’s not Argentine tango done badly, it’s just tango-inspired contemporary dance (TICD, you heard it here first).

If I think of it as an entirely different dance, then there’s no expectation that it conform to any of the norms or codigos of Argentine tango. Why would it? It’s a different dance. Even when it is danced to traditional tango music.

Thinking of it in those terms is perhaps fairer to those who dance in that way. Indeed, someone coming into dance via teachers who teach TICD, and who go to TICD milongas, may not even know that milonguero-style tango exists.

But it also becomes less frustrating to me, because when I let go of my expectations of how it should be, and just accept it for what it is, then being frustrated by what it isn’t would make no sense.

Take the first of my complaints, for example: the ronda. A ronda makes sense for a walking dance, but TICD isn’t a walking dance, it’s a circular one. A ronda makes sense when you are dancing a social dance in the sense of dancing with the other couples in the room, as well as with your partner, but TICD isn’t a social dance in that sense – it’s one where each couple dances in their own bubble.

Similarly with each of the other issues. TICD doesn’t conform to any of those other Argentine tango norms for the same reason: it isn’t Argentine tango.

I mean, I might be frustrated that there are very few Argentine tango events in London, and lots of TICD ones, but that’s a different thing. I know that if I want to dance Argentine tango (and I do), then mostly I’m going to need to go outside London to do so.

So that’s why I’m dancing more outside London

While I can enjoy TICD when I’m in the mood for it, I mostly want to dance Argentine tango.

There are places you can do that inside London – but it’s generally easier for me to get to weekday evening milongas, and the London ones which spring immediately to mind tend to be at the weekend: Corrientes, Los Angelitos, Tango Garden.

For example, when I finally made it back to Corrientes last weekend, I realised that my previous visit there had been some five months earlier, back in February! (It’s probably about the same with Los Angelitos and Tango Garden; I really must get back to both.)

If you’d like to try the out-of-London tango experience yourself, and haven’t yet, there’s nowhere I would recommend more than Tango Secrets. This was once quite a trek, but thanks to the Elizabeth Line and a free pickup and drop-off service from Taplow station, it’s a very civilised journey – and it’s a consistent delight.

CamTango is another haven of tango civilisation, also around an hour from London. The only challenge there is that the music is as important to me as the quality of the dancing, and the very large rotation of mostly unknown DJs can make the experience a very unpredictable one. That’s the reason my once-weekly visits are now more occasional.

But I also rely a lot on festivals. My feeling back in 2022 that festivals were my future was absolutely correct. These are obviously more occasional treats, but I’ll take quality over quantity every time. You’ll find blog posts on The Feast, Sheffield Tango Festival, Tango by the Sea, Cheltenham International Tango Festival and more in the festivals link.