Tango 'taxi dancers' glide novices through daunting local scene

For many people, dancing the tango while on a visit to Buenos Aires is on the bucket list. The only problem: the steps are tricky to learn and venturing unversed onto a milonga dance floor can be a brutal experience.

Enter the Argentine capital's "taxi dancers" – professionals who accompany novice dancers for a night out on the town.

Without insider help, the experience can be "intimidating," admits David Tolosa, 35, who works as an escort for amateurs.

“Some can’t pull it off,” said the 35-year-old, a professional dancer and taxi dancer at a local tango mecca.

"The dance floor... is like a showcase. People are constantly watching you. There are many dancers, well-known dancers, who are sitting and watching the floor... You feel observed, you feel that pressure."

Experienced dancers can be impatient and "a little cruel" to outsiders new to the scene, said Tolosa, adding that the unschooled might get elbowed out of the way or have their toes stepped on.

Though younger generations have brought a breath of fresh air to tango halls, codes remain. For women who are by themselves, it can be a frustrating experience, having to wait – as is the custom – for a dance invitation that may never come.

Taxi dancers save unfortunate people from the frustration of “flopping” – being left repeatedly without a partner or invitations.

"Women prefer to hire me... because they can spend hours sitting" and waiting if they do not have a guaranteed partner, said Tolosa.

Foreign clients

Tolosa’s clients are almost exclusively foreigners, "mostly women, mainly Asian, Japanese, Chinese, but also French and British" who pay about US$50 per hour.

His busiest time is August, when Buenos Aires hosts the annual Tango Festival and World Championship, a tourist magnet.

Outside of the festival, regular milongas – social events where people gather to dance tango – are held year-round across the city.

“It’s a gig to live off dancing, art,” said Martín Gabriel Cardoso, who at 40 years old has built a career in tango.

There are different types of taxi dancers, from “attendants who escort foreigners who come do their 'tango tour' in Buenos Aires,” to “those hired as partners to compete in the World Cup and those who give lessons – it’s a wide scene,” he added.

“Argentines don’t hire us much because of the cost, and because they know what milonga is like, but foreigners don’t know the scene,” said Cardoso, a regular dancer at shows in Buenos Aires.

In addition to being a good dancer, a taxi dancer “must have a good look, know how to handle the floor, because there’s a code to it, and speak English,” he added.

Dancers are hired via social networks, but “more often by recommendation of people from the scene,” Cardoso explained.

“In addition to taxi dancers, there are tango costumes, tango shoes – a whole world around it,” he said.

'Learn by practising'

Most taxi dancers like Tolosa work independently, but the capital is also home to agencies such as TangoTaxiDancers, with 17 years of experience.

The agency, which stresses it is not a “Latin lover agency” to avoid “misunderstandings,” offers private lessons but also accompanied dance outings, promising on its website: "Do not sit and wait – dance and enjoy."

Just knowing the steps is not enough to enjoy a tango night out, say those in the know. For this, you also need to know the art of cabeceo, a non-verbal invitation to dance using just a head movement.

"There are certain codes in tango, such as how to... ask someone to dance," explained taxi dancer and teacher Laura Florencia Guardia.

"There are still some traditional aspects, such as inviting someone to dance with a look from one table to another... People also need to learn this. That's why it's good for them to hire dancers to show them this world," said the 28-year-old.

Guardia skillfully avoided the feet of Salvador Bolanos, a Mexican tango enthusiast attending one of her lessons, boasting laughingly that she had "never had a client step on my toes!"

Bolanos, a 37-year-old systems engineer, said he was in Buenos Aires to "learn about the music, in particular. I am learning about tango: the culture, the composition."

“This is the first milonga I’ve come to and I love it,” he confessed.

He said he enjoyed the "melancholy of the tango, but at the same time the strength it has."

Tango tourists get something from "taxi dancers" that they might otherwise miss: real-world experience in a traditional setting, said Guardia.

"At first they are shy, then they gain courage," she explained. "You learn by practising."