Tango UK Community

I am greatly pleased by the argentine tango growth in the UK since I
began. I can only really comment on my corner of the country the
central southern coast and hope that is representative.

Argentine Tango is a relatively young dance here. Now you have to ask
young relative to what?

Here are some facts and educated guesses as a comparison

Tango
Oldest tango outside London is Edinburgh Tango Society started in 1997.

Tango Oblivion in Devon was started by Ruth Zimmermann in 2000.

Tango in Hampshire started in 1999 with a course at The Point,
Eastleigh, led by Brian and Fiona Gale which led to the birth of Tango
UK (Steve and Debbie Morrall) in 2000.

Alternatives
Ballroom has decades on all the others. Very competition focused so I
guess far fewer social milonga style events.

Salsa older. If Hampshire is any average has about a quarter the
classes run each week compared to modern jive across the county.

Lindy even smaller community than Salsa.

WCS is relatively new to the UK. Only a dozen or so mature
communities (3 years+) across the country. Growing fast so could
double in three years. WCS has about 3 major overnight events a year.

Modern jive is about 30 years old. Ceroc the big daddy held their
first event in 1980. It has best guess 60% share with 150 venues with
over 30 franchises.

If I were to guess I would say there up to 30,000 regular modern
jivers in the UK and about 2500 regular Tangueros.

As an illustration of community strength:

Major tango events for 2010
Tango Feast x4
Super Tangk x4
Tango Tangk x2
Tangkademy x2
Tango Mango x3
Eton Tango x2

Major modern jive events 2010
Ceroc Champs
Ceroc Weekends x10
Jive Addiction Weekends x3
Franco Weekend
Warmwell x
Rock Bottoms x5

With the exceptions of two Feasts and Tango Mango no accommodation is
provided at tango events compared to the modern jive events. Tango
events rarely go beyond 1pm. Nearly all modern jive weekends will
have dancing beyond 4am each night.

The gap is narrowing as in 2007 you would of had 7 fewer tango events,
almost half.

TJ