Aficionados' answers to: the most popular tango song, the main reason they tango and their favourite teachers...
Post date: Nov 3, 2014 9:43:43 PM
What would be your answers?
Normally one could only guess the answers - based on anecdotal experience and personal preferences - rather than research based evidence. I was thus intrigued and delighted to discover in-depth research by an organisation called TangoTechnia on these very questions and many others related to dancing tango socially.
TangoTecnia is an Argentine organization that collects and analyses data related to the practice of Argentine tango worldwide. In 2014 Tangotecnia published a report summarising its research on the the tastes, habits and preferences of tango dancers: 'Attributes and Preferences in Tango'. Tangotecnia's conclusions and detailed analysis of all aspects related to tango were drawn from nearly 1300 dancers from across the globe.
The report's graph on how many tango groups are in Facebook by country is interesting. TangoTecnia proposes that the quantity of Facebook groups within a country is an indicator of tango's popularity within that country. Argentina is no surprise - nor are any of the others in the left column. Australia just made it!
It would be interesting to compare Facebook page prevalence with population size - to gauge which countries really have the tango bug! For example, while Australia appears to be way ahead of its 'neighbour across the ditch' (in terms of tango popularity) Australia's population is 5.2 times greater than that of New Zealand's. The popularity of tango in Australia (based on percentage by population) is then only marginally higher than that of New Zealand.
The variable of accessibility also needs to be considered. In China, for example, Facebook has been blocked since July 2009. According to the "Blocked in China" website, Facebook is still blocked in mainland China but not in Hong Kong or Macau.
The comprehensive report explores a multitude of aspects related to dancing tango (with gender, age and regional comparisons) - including preferences for:
Tango songs and orchestras for dancing
Duration of tandas
Attributes in the occasional dance partner
Dance invitation approaches - cabeceo or no cabeceo?
It also asks the questions:
'Why do you dance tango?
'How do you feel if your life partner does not dance tango?'
You can read the full report here: Attributes and Preferences in Tango
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