Hong Kong tango festival 2010

Tango Festival milonga

The first Hong Kong tango festival took place last week and I was lucky to have booked the workshops and milonga before they were sold out! I spoke to many visitors who are in town but couldn't book onto anything due to the overwhelming popularity of the event! Many tango loveres flew in from different parts of Asia esp. for the festival which demonstrates the power of tango!!

This year, the three pairs of maestros taking part are: Horacio Godoy & Laura Zaracho, Daniel Nacucchio & Cristina Sosa and Hiroshi & Kyoko Yamao. Festival events vary from show to workshops, milongas, and open day for newcomers. From my past experiences, I know that there is no point taking too many workshops because it becomes physically quite tiring and my concentration level tends to drop after a certain point because of information overload! Hence, I only signed up for 1 technique workshop with Daniel & Cristina and another style workshop with Hiorshi & Kyoko.

I could really feel the enthusisam of Hong Kong tangueros at the festival milongas, and through talking to some, I realised how lucky I am to be tangoing outside of Hong Kong! Even though I have quite a few issues with the tango scene in London, at least we often get to attend classes or workshops conducted by Argentian maestros. Hence, even as a relatively green (2 years is still considered as 'green' in tango terms) tango dancer, I was lucky enough to have taken classes or workshops conducted by Carlos Perez & Rosa Forte and Pablo Verón... Also, live orchestra is non-existent in Hong Kong's milongas, so I am lucky to have danced to live music a few times at Negracha!

I don't want to be critical and besides, I am not qualified to comment on the techniques and styles of the dancers here. However, I could see and have personally experienced a few general problems with the tango scene in Hong Kong:

1. The tango circle is still relatively new and small, so everyone seems to know each other. Perhaps it is a cultural issue, but guys only prefer to dance with women they know, which can be quite disconcerting if you are not an insider of the circle.

2. There are only a handful of professional tango teachers in Hong Kong, so the choices are quite limited. My past experiences with 2 of them really put me off... luckily, I finally managed to find a good one this year...

3. Unlike the West, most people who tango in Hong Kong are from middle to upper class aged between 30s to 40s; but this is not so much the case in London which makes the scene more interesting.

4. Certain tango rules such as 'eye-contact' don't seem to work as well in Hong Kong, again, I wonder if it is due to the culture differences?!

5. Contrasting dress code: guys tend to dress down (many wear t-shirt and jeans to milongas) whereas women tend to dress up (in tight and short dresses), so the contrast is huge and looks rather strange.

Hopefully, with the passion and enthusisam of the HK tangueros, things will change gradually. I guess the festival is the first step but widening the age gap will definitely make the scene more interesting.

In the mean time, I will take a break from the tango scene...