It’s that time of year again and I couldn’t resist peaking on Facebook to see how the US Tango Competition went this year. And to see how some students of mine had faired. It is an interesting place to be after participating four years in a row, to be a voyeur so far away!
Also interesting to have discussions here in Germany with my friend, Stefan, who can speak about competition from the perspective of the ballroom world. He says that even though there is a European Tango Salon Championship and several subsidiaries throughout Europe, that Tango competition has just not caught on in Germany (although I did meet the champions from last year, last year!) It was only about four years ago that he had heard of Tango Salon competitions. He says that the teachers do not promote this here. Our conversation continued with him expressing his thoughts that competition is a good thing. He reflected on his own experiences in competition where the process, the rehearsals, the journey, were the best parts, not the actual competition. The actual competition happens so fast. It is so quick that sometimes that really isn’t what you remember most! Competition is a good thing for people and it helps them grow. The common sentiment has been – tango is for passion and for socializing not for competition. And I understand this, having had this same sentiment.
It appears that Shaun Rosenberg in his Blog, 10 Reasons Why Competition Is A Good Thing agrees with Stefan (and Rommel Oramas, former partner for Salon Championships). He presents some good arguments for competition, beginning with how it promotes growth, creativity, helps to advance civilization, how it teaches us by making us want to win the next time, it promotes taking chances, makes us goal oriented. I know that these are all the reasons why Rommel chose to compete and why he 
continues to pursuit this passion. “Everyone needs to have some passion to live and some passion to win”, says Rosenberg. Competition is good in business, we see it all the time, why do you think there are more products and sometimes better than before products – think Apple!
I don’t think it’s for everyone, but I do think it helps to improve the level and quality of one’s own dancing and the level of dancing overall. Everyone needs someone to admire. It helps to promote Tango to new audiences, and can help to excite those who might feel like giving themselves a goal in their dancing. For me, I still cannot stress enough how much my understanding of the dance has expanded. I feel like I had a narrow vision of the dance and struggled to convey certain aspects of it to my students. I know my training has made me a better teacher. And what I love to do is contextualize the understanding of the dance and now I can. Congrats to those who braved the competition and DID it this year!