Why Not to Compete
When we started dancing tango, we were against competition. We were, and mostly still are, purists. We think that you primarily compete against yourself ... that it isn't about competing against others.
Additionally, if you compete, you often don't get to pick the judges ... and the judgement is only as good as the judges...
Why we do it Anyway :)
There are some people for whom this is a great motivator. It really makes them work hard and become better dancers. And, it can be a fun and exciting experience.
A Recent Experience
Two of our students, Malachai and Jessica, recently competed. Their entire tango instruction came from us. They flew to San Francisco and competed in the official national USA Argentine Tango championship - the winners from this competition are sent to the world Argentine Tango competition in Buenos Aires. The competed in the stage category, and you can see a video of their performance in the finals below. They did great!
I believe they were the only non-professional couple to make it to the finals, and clearly they were top-tier performers.
Malachai and Jessica in the finals:
Below are videos of the people who got 1st and 2nd place respectively. We don't really understand judging criteria ...
1st place:
2nd place:
Do you have questions or have things you'd like to say? Please post on our forum.