Can a guy take tango classes without a partner?
Did you ever wonder if it was weird if a guy took tango classes alone? What could people think? How to explain if someone asks who your partner is? How can you feel more confident about this idea? We’ll have a look at it in a few points. But first, let’s spoil the ending. Yes, he can!
Equal representation of women and men
The number of women in tango classes is almost always greater than the number of men. And the fact is that everyone in the class would love for the numbers to even out. That would make it easier for everyone to have someone to practice with.
Change couple!
In group tango lessons, you’re going to swap partners anyway, and quite often when couples show up, someone will get jealous or they won’t swap partners. A situation like this is far from ideal. Changing dance partners accelerate your learning and make you ready for social dancing sooner.
It’s important to understand that partner dancing is much more about mastering the lead/follow techniques than memorizing steps. Dancing with the same partner and only that partner actually makes it more difficult to learn proper lead and follow techniques, because you both get used to the mistakes of each other and you get feedback only from one person. That is why it’s really super important to learn how to dance with a variety of partners if you’re going to dance tango.
Learn the other role
If it happens that there are more men (a rare situation, believe me!), it can be an excellent opportunity to learn how to follow. Oh, it would be awesome if men outnumbered the women often enough that men had to be forced to learn the follow role the way that some women end up learning the lead role just because there aren’t enough leads in the class.
Of course, it would be better if everyone learned both roles. That makes them better at whatever their preferred role is, and all social dances would be better if everyone just danced with everyone, but since we’re not there yet, women are far more likely to learn both roles out of necessity and so often women are better dancers and some of us would love to see the tables get turned so that men could benefit from the necessity too.
It is my choice to be here
Society, in general, would benefit from men choosing to learn how to dance on their own, rather than being forced into it by a girlfriend or wife. A man who takes lessons without a partner is a man who chooses to be there. Very likely he will be a better dancer and a more enjoyable dance partner.
Even more reasons to dance tango
The lessons that we learn in social dance culture extend far beyond the dance skills – lessons in consent, accepting rejection, self-confidence, tolerance, social skills, in how to engage with other people (particularly people of different genders). People who choose to partner dance have the opportunity to be better human beings, and society would benefit from more men learning how to be better human beings. 🙂
Final argument
Yes, as a single guy you can take tango classes. Even though not enough men take dance lessons, out of the men who do, some of them are guys who were dragged there by their girlfriends and would stop dancing as soon as those relationships break up, but all the rest are either the ones who just love to dance. Or the men who have figured out that an activity where the women outnumber the men almost 2:1 is a great place to meet women*.
So please take tango lessons if you have even the tiniest desire or curiosity!
but…
*While it’s true that you can meet many women at tango classes, do not go there to hit on them. They’ll get creeped out, they’ll talk to each other, and they’ll all start avoiding dancing with you.
Go there to meet people in general, make friends, learn a new skill, and there is a good chance that you could meet someone who might be interested in an off-the-floor relationship as a result of being an interesting person who shares their hobby.
Premiere: Milonga Baviera
We invite you to Milonga Baviera, with a show from wonderful Lorena Tarantino & Gianpiero Galdi! On the decks, Vinyl TDJ Almut Knauß from Halle will be our official moodmaker.…
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