Tango in the Spring: 1-4 October 2010 Canberra Australia

FAQ

If your question isn’t answered here - send us an email or suggest a question in the box at the end!

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How much are tickets?

A weekend pass which includes entry to all core events is $60.
Entry to each individual milonga is $20. Tickets are on sale soon!
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Who's running it?

There's four of us doing running it and doing the 'vision thing' -- (Yuko, Tim, Gary and Jane), but there will be a whole bunch of other people from the Club helping out, in all kinds of ways. Like the first one, this Tango in the Spring is under the umbrella of the Tango Social Club of Canberra Inc, a non-profit association in Canberra, run by volunteers.
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What kind of music will be played?

Each DJ will play their selections of the best ‘Golden Age’ Argentine Tango music, plus some occasional spice. We've got some great DJs from around Australia: Pat Petronio, Jarny Choi, Nadim Sawaya, and Tim (Chanop) Silpa-Anan.
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Who's performing at the milongas?

We are not having any performances at the milongas. Just dancing!
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What happens to the profits (and who pays for it if there's a loss)?

Beacause it is under the wing of The Tango Social Club of Canberra Inc, it is taking the financial risk on this event. If there is a surplus, it will go towards other non-profit tango events and activities run by or under the auspices of the Club. And if there's a loss to cover, the Club will be paying it from its members' funds (which include the surplus from he previous TISP).
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How do I organise to do a performance at the festival?

We are not having any performances at the festival. We would love people who normally do tango performances to come, but to take a break from performing and enjoy dancing socially with everyone else.
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Who's teaching at the festival?

We are not having any workshops or classes at the festival. We would love tango teachers to come, but we want you here to enjoy dancing socially with everyone else. Please don't organise workshops while you are here - we really want everyone to be able to have all their energy available for dancing socially, not working on the latest move or worrying about technical corrections.
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What is the difference between a practica and a milonga?

Practicas have a distinctly different focus from a milonga: they are just for improving our tango dancing.

How you work on it is up to you. A practica does not need many of the social conventions that are essential at a milonga - you don't need to keep to the ronda. You might discuss a problem with other dancers, try out new ideas, work on your technique, polish your tango walk by walking around by yourself, watch what others are doing, or just by dancing. Practicas in Buenos Aires are often run by teachers, who offer individual assistance outside a class setting.

The weekly practicas in Canberra offer a good selection of quality danceable Argentine tango music, in a comfortable venues. There is a host looking after the music and greeting, but no teacher. You can have a taste of a practica during the festival on Saturday afternoon. Please come along!

Milongas, on the other hand, are the place for you to just dance tango. Unlike practicas, no teaching and practising happens on the dance floor - the flow of dancing with other couples is more important than what any one couple or individual is doing.

It is the place for you to just immerse yourself in the gorgeous tango music that the DJs bring us, and enjoy the connection with the music, your partner, and the dancers sharing the floor with you.

The milonga is the place where we experience the beauty of social Argentine tango.
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If this is a Tango Social Club of Canberra event why is there a separate website?

Tango in the Spring 2010 (and 2008) is under the auspices of the Tango Social Club of Canberra, to make a clear legal and financial situation. We (the TISP team) have kept a separate website to make it easier to navigate for festival-goers, who might not be interested in the minutiae of Canberra tango. Its quite possible that future Tango in the Spring events might be under a different non-profit structure -- plus we have in the back of our minds that perhaps another like-minded group from another city may like to adopt Tango in the Spring one year.... so perhaps they could then take over management of this website. Any volunteers?
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Can I just turn up to the milongas without booking?

We want everyone to be comfortable, with a seat at a table. If you book and pay in advance, we will make sure that you have a seat, even if you arrive late. You can just turn up too, but we cannot guarantee that we have a seat or table for you -- and we may end up having to turn people away if there are a lot of walk-ups. So, if you help us by pre-booking, that would be great for everyone.
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Can I be billeted by someone local?

If you know someone in Canberra you want to stay with, contact them directly. If not, send us an email to billets@tangointhespring.org.au, telling us when you are coming, and any special requirements or requests. Give us plenty of notice, and we'll get in touch and let you know if someone has a spare room - then you can work out the details with them.

For the 2008 Tango in the Spring, quite a few people stayed with locals, and quite a few more had some arrangement with a local to share transport.
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I'm happy to billet someone. Is there a list somewhere?

Send us an email to billets@tangointhespring.org.au, telling us what you are willing to offer, and any special requirements or requests. We'll put you in touch with people requesting billets, who seem to match your criteria - then you can work out the details with them.
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What about an alternative music milonga?

We are focussing on the best of ‘Golden Age’ tango music, with a few excursions earlier and later, because that is our passion. Every DJ will have their own style of course, but there will be only the occasional tanda outside of traditional Argentine tango music.
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What do you mean by "Golden Age" tango?

Short answer: you know it when you hear it.

Long answer: Some people would just say "traditional Argentine Tango music". Like most music genre descriptions, there's a fair bit of fuzziness around the edges, but the expression "Golden Age" of tango music generally refers to a period from about 1930 or 35 to about 1952 or even 1960, roughly contemporaneous with the big band jazz era in the United States. Certainly not all tango music recorded in that period is good for dancing, and there are a few great tangos from before and after, but it's a useful shorthand.

It is difficult to describe the music stylistically: it includes huge diversity, with perhaps the only shared features being a steady pulse and being 'made for dancing tango'. It includes the sparse rhythms of early Canaro, the odd syncopations of Biagi, the smooth but powerful di Sarli tangos, the driving valses of Laurenz, though to the dramatic orchestrations of Pugliese. It includes orchestras with as few as 6, and up to 30 musicians. It may emphasise a singer, or feature the bandoneon, or be rooted in the strings. It includes the majority of music you hear at most milongas in Buenos Aires, and many milongas elsewhere - in Canberra this includes Club milongas, Las Vacas Locas, and El Boliche.

When we say we will focus on Golden Age, this does not mean the exclusion of pre-Golden Age tangos or more recent recordings, but rather that these will be a relatively minor addition.
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Will it be just like the 2008 Tango in the Spring?

We were inspired by the positive feedback from the first Tango in the Spring. And three of us were involved in organising that one. We are continuing the goals of the first event: an emphasis on social dancing with excellent music. The main events will be similar. But the 'extra' events will all be different -- many of them were one-offs. And of course, every dance you have will be different: different people, different music. It'll be great!
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Isn't there another tango festival in Australia at the same time?

Unfortunately, yes. We think it is a great shame. Our dates have been known for some time, and fall on the same long weekend as the previous Tango in the Spring. We were very disappointed when we heard that the another festival was subsequently planned for the same weekend, but we understand their planning was constrained by the availability of teachers.

We looked long and hard at the possibility of moving Tango in the Spring. But in the end, we had to face the reality that the long weekend was a huge draw for ACT, NSW and Adelaide people; and that we as volunteer organisers just did not have any other weekend available in Spring when we were not working.

So, unfortunately, this has put people in the position where they have to choose one or the other -- or commuting between them, perhaps?
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Will you be allocating people to tables like you did last time?

Yes, we will. With a few changes. For everyone who books ahead, our aim is to have a seat allocated for you at the main milongas. We won't know our seating plan till quite close to the day, but we will try to accommodate any requests you put in your booking. And we'll try to move people around so you sit with different people each time -- unless you ask us not to!
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I'm a vegetarian. Is it worth coming to the asado?

Well... it depends. The main reason for having the asado is so we can all hang out together and chat- recovering from the night before, and gearing up for another 8 hours of dancing! But it is also probably true that there is no real vegetarian equivalent to traditional asado, so we will be catering a simple but vegetarian lunch with quiche and some other options. Still good value for money! We'll get the menus up as soon they are confirmed
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I'm coming! How do I book and pay?

Great! Bookings are open! you can book here, and pay by credit card or paypal online; or mail us a cheque, or do a bank transfer, or thrust fresh banknotes into our hands. Look forward to seeing you!
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Oh crap, I'm sick and I can't come and I've paid. What is your refund policy?

For single tickets and festival tickets: If you cancel prior to Thursday 30 September, we will refund the full amount less $10 handling; this will be by bank transfer. After that, no refunds, sorry. Hey, it's cheap as chips, and we've already spent all the money...
For the asado: no refunds.