I made a similar post awhile back about the prolificness of tango blogs. You can see it, and some of the responses about why tango dancers feel they blog so much, here

Maria,

You're way ahead of me - excellent post!

Well, I can say why it works for me. I think the deceptive simplicity of the basics, together with the enormous range of possibilities, make it attract the kind of person who likes to think and talk about what they do. I find it gives me a lot to keep my brain interested at well as my body, and that makes it enjoyable to think about and discuss with other people.

It's also an unusually difficult dance to learn - and I find that explaining what I've just learned or done to an interested friend the next day has helped me deal with difficulties and keep my sense of humour and my sense of proportion.

I've never done bellydance, but perhaps the solo expressive nature of it also attracts the contemplative type?

Dear Doug,

Many thanks for including my blog among your links; I'm honored and happy to read that you enjoy my posts.

On the issue you mention--the obsessiveness of Tango Dancers and relatively more blogging and reflection. I do believe that Tango tends to attract persistent, intense, very passionate and reflective personalities. It is such a difficult and complex dance, that it truly requires much patience, attention, and dedication to be learnt.

Moreover, the more you understand it, the more evident becomes that the experience of dancing Tango represents a very powerful snapshot of the life experience. It can be so intense that it provides a true high--a vision of a (beautiful) Ghost that makes everyone who has experience it continue to chase it. I'd dare to say that even those who may not have yet seen it may feel, intuitively, that it is there, somewhere, waiting to be seen and uncovered...

Hi Doug!
Thanks for mentioning us in your post! Hum, I think mshedgehog and LaTanguera (as always) spoke very wise words.
Tango makes us, tangueros, feel so passionate that we end up trying yo evangelize the world... or something like that! ;o)

Why thank you Doug. I wrote that post at a time where I was feeling lonely salsa-wise in the blogosphere. I do like la tanguera's thoughts on this. From the blogs I've read, tango strikes me as attracting a very intense, introspective sort of person. Salseros on the other hand are more of a partying sort. Not in terms of drinking, but in terms of being more social and expressive than introspective. Tons of intelligence among us, mind you, but I guess we'd rather be out there doing it than writing about it. Except for people like me whose lifestyle prevent one from being out every night, and so I have to satisfy myself with writing about it and other forms of dance that I love.

Hi doug, well, I tagged you mate. If you want to know more about it check tangologue. See you there!

Anytime someone wonders what is the attraction of Tango, blogueros everywhere have a writing spasm.

Though all of us have ideas or theories about what makes tango tick, it's very difficult to pinpoint. Sort of like trying to describe what is "love". Most of our descriptions revolve around the embrace (which is unique in partner dancing - but you'll have to read about why in one of our many, many, many blogs). Or Tango's improvisational nature, which requires total presence all the time.

It is this latter which I feel creates that incredibly blissful "high", which can be achieved through both the most basic steps or the most advanced. And which causes us to head for the keyboard :-)

Perhaps this is what is unique about Tango. While almost any activity can produce the salsa-like "fun" rush (and there's nothing wrong with that!), far fewer take us to that state of blissful connection the way Tango does. This is a state of utter perfection and creativity, and the number of people who have were inspired with creative goals after starting to dance Tango is stunning.

In addition, for me at least, the music is incredibly emotional, offering an startling range - even within the same song. The resulting combination of the embrace, the movements, and the music is the definition of heaven on earth.

A lot of people have commented on tango...

As far as why so many bellydancers blog (And I was recently wishing there were *more* bellydancers blogging!) well, it's definitely true that if you get 10 bellydancers in a room and ask them a question, you'll get at least 11 different answers. :) We like discussing the dance almost as much as we like doing it.

The dance is so closely intertwined with the cultures of the middle east and North Africa, and it's only within the last couple of decades that there has been a lot of academic information available about the dance. Similarly, it's also been in the last couple of decades that American dancers have had access to instruction from dancers actually from the Middle East. There is so much to learn, and always new information and new insight coming to light.

The dance also doesn't exactly have a fixed definition - it varies a lot stylistically from country to country, and most teachers teach at least some folk dances from the middle east that aren't really technically "bellydance" but kind-of fall under the bellydance umbrella. Plus the dance is continually evolving, both in the Middle East, and new fusion forms evolving all over the world.

Well, here I go, writing a whole huge essay. And I've barely scratched the surface of what kinds of things there are to talk about. I guess that's why I have a blog, right?

I just wanted to thank everybody for the wonderful comments!

I find it fascinating to hear what tangueros, bellydancers and salseros have to say about what attracts people to these different dance forms.

I'm right now delving into the world of Argentine Tango and I can relate to the qualities that attract people to Tango. I'll blog soon about my tango experiences - or I wouldn't be much of a Tango dancer :)!

koolricky now that I'm tagged, I'll soon write post.

Hi Doug!

It's actually very simple.

Tango is cool.

Tango dancers are cool.

That's it.