Local milongas that people love going to – How?

I asked the subscribers of The Curious Tanguero tango newsletter to help me create a list of what makes a great milonga.

Based on it, I created:

🔍 An overview of the responses

🔍 A checklist that organisers can use to improve their milongas (It’s YOUR job to SHARE it with them) and 

🔍 A customisable feedback form for participants, that organizers can easily print and share in their milongas.

You can find everything below.

👉 If you create or are aware of additional resources to help improve milongas, feel free to send them to me so that I include them here.

👉IMPORTANT: If you want better local milongas, share this resource with your local organisers and on the local tango facebook groups. Complaining about the local issues solves nothing. Providing solutions does. Stop complaining. Share.

👉 Examples of other resources you can find by joining the newsletter:

How to dance more in milongas – for followers,

How to dance more in milongas – for men,

What to bring in milongas,

Checklists to improve your tango,

etc.

Overview of the responses by social tango dancers

Social tango dancers mentioned the following topics as important to them:

Dance Floor and Location

Gender Balance and Role Distribution

Inclusivity and Friendliness

Music and DJ

Atmosphere and Environment

Organiser Responsibilities

Code of Conduct and Floorcraft

Involvement of All Dancers

Food and Socialising

Parity and Respect

Empathy and Understanding

Invitations and Engagement

Ego and Attitude

Involvement of Older Dancers

A checklist for local milonga organisers

Important: 

I don’t think there is any organiser that will agree with ALL the elements of the checklist.

Each milonga has a different personality and that’s OK.

Choose only the ones you agree with and ask yourself: 

How am I currently achieving this? What else could I do?

Each improvement will bring more people to the milonga.

You can read the elements of the checklist below (printable version below too).

You can provide more ideas for better milongas here.

🔍 Dance Floor and Circulation:

   – Talk about the circulation code for smoother dance floor flow. Signs on the bathrooms can be helpful too.

   – Encourage understanding and use of cabeceo to avoid awkward situations.

   – Arrange the space to allow sitting dancers to observe and initiate cabeceo.

   – To avoid traffic jams, create more ways to enter the dance floor.

– Make sure the floor is nor too slippery nor too sticky. Sweeping the floor or using powder usually work. 

🔍 Event Management, Socializing and Community Building:

– Serve snacks away from speakers on round tables where people circle around to socialize. 

   – Reserve the seats with the best visibility for beginners and travellers, not the ‘VIP’.

   – Earlier start and finish of milongas, especially in places with an older population or parents.

   – Interaction of locals with new guests (mixing different people in the same table) 

   – Give accessible classes before the milongas. Often people connect easier socially in the relaxed environment of the class.

   – Promote community building and a welcoming atmosphere. Don’t forget that people easily connect over food.

   – Introduce newcomers to regular dancers.

   – Provide opportunities for social interaction during the milonga. Mini-games during the announcements, a paper with three questions on the table as conversation starters, you get the idea, a space where people can go to talk where the music isn’t so loud.

   – Signs saying “Leaders AND Followers can ask for a dance with cabeceo/mirada”. Many followers still believe they can’t use mirada to ask for a dance.

   – Organise one dinner or simply a walk per month, for people to go out and meet.

   – Use tables. Tables (with chairs around them) tend to be much better for socializing than just chairs. 

🔍 Involvement of Leaders (and/or Taxi Dancers if that’s OK with you), if there is a role imbalance:

   – Give benefits to leaders that are dancing with many followers. A mini vote and award for kind participants, a free or discounted ticket to the next milonga, a glass of wine. You can also provide participants the option to buy a kind leader his next entrance to the milonga and give it to them (anonymously if they choose so).

– Some professionals say that if you have 5 well rounded couples in a milonga the whole energy changes. Let the couples know about resources that can help them develop.

   – Some organisers create a small group of leaders that observe which followers are not being offered dances and these leaders make sure no one goes home without a few dances. A discounted entrance fee to the milonga or an extra glass of wine could be a simple way to say thank you. The followers dance more, the leaders save some money or enjoy a glass, and everyone is a bit happier.

   – Hire taxi dancers (leaders). Two taxi dancers dancing all night can easily dance 20 tandas with followers that don’t dance enough. Those followers will come back to the milonga again and again more than covering the expenses for the taxi dancers.

🔍 Inclusivity and Double Role Dancing:

   – Shy tangueras can become great in using Cabeceo. Click on the link, learn how, and let them know (or print it and put it on the walls – please mention the origin: thecurioustanguero.com).

   – Give a little bracelet or a cheap item or even a piece of coloured paper that followers can leave at the tables of considerate and inclusive leaders to show their appreciation. At the end of the night some tables will be full of ‘thank you’ items. This will send a clear message. Do the same for leaders. Let people express appreciation. It helps people bond.

   – Encourage double role dancing for both leaders and followers.

– Let tangueras know that they can get a lot more dances if they know how.

🔍 Temperature and Good Practices:

   – Encourage hygienic practices (have available deodorant, odor-free baby wipes for people to remove sweat, first aid kits, etc.) and provide amenities like water and snacks.

   – Open windows or air-condition. 

   – Fans on the tables or at least for sale.

🔍 Atmosphere and Environment:

   – Pay attention to lighting, sound quality, and dance floor conditions. Is there enough light above the chairs so that people can notice invitations easily?

   – Consider organising milongas in open-air or spacious venues.

🔍 Communication and Education:

   – Educate attendees about milonga etiquettes and codigos. Unfortunately people tend to assume someone has a bad character before considering simply that he/she is unaware of something. Put a paper on the toilets too, people like to read there 😁

– You don’t need to do everything yourself. Inform participants of Podcasts that can help them dance better, dance more, and master the social dynamics of the milongas.

   – Address and correct inappropriate behaviour and unsafe dancing. Gently, first by mentioning it unanimously during the announcements, and then in person if it is not corrected.

🔍 Introductions and Mixers:

   – Introduce new or unfamiliar dancers to others.

   – Dedicate a tanda to invite unknown dancers. Or, if a tanda is too long, just one song, maybe after the announcements.

   – Incorporate mixers or random match-ups to encourage dancing with different partners.

🔍 Management of Attendee Numbers:

   – Pay attention to the number of tickets sold to avoid overcrowding.

   – Strive for an equal number of leaders and followers.

🔍 Food and Amenities:

– Have available sewing kits, first-aid box, deodorant.   

– Enough space to change and store belongings.

   – Offer good quality food and beverages at the milonga.

   – Provide comfortable seating.

🔍 Music and DJs:

   – If the role imbalance is too big, use 3 song tandas.

   – Select exciting and competent DJs who understand dancers’ needs.

   – Music loud enough to cover the sound of people chatting and good enough to hear clearly the songs.

   – Appropriate cortina duration. 30+ seconds might be too much for certain people.

You can download all the above here and use it as you wish. Click on ‘File’, then ‘Download’ and select the option that works best for you. 

 Put the following survey on the tables of the milongas (or send it to the local organizers).

You can’t trully know what to improve if you don’t ask.

 The survey is available in a few different languages here.

Click on ‘File’, then ‘Download’ and select the option that works best for you. 

👉 Thanks to the volunteer translators Dia Dumitru, Helena Fernandes, Krzysztof Rumiński. A special THANK YOU to Kiran Sheena Premnath for creating also the extensive version in English.

If you translate it in a language that’s not available in, please send me the translation to tango@thecurioustanguero.com so that I add it to the folder.

It will take people 2 minute to finish, and will help you create a milonga that everyone will want to go to.

That’s it.

Share this on local facebook groups, send it to organizers.

Together, we can create the milongas of the future.

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