Tango scene, community and events in Slovakia

Note: this page is just under construction.

Tango community

Our community is relatively small and young, nevertheless it is constantly growing. More of us have quite rich experience with dancing, we are at the advanced level and visit milongas and bigger tango events also abroad, and we made good tango friends in many foreign countries.

History: The first attempts to teach Argentine tango in Slovakia can be traced back to 1997. However, tango courses started to be taught more intensely in 2009 when several new tango schools and milongas originated. Since that time their number has been increasing. From the very beginning, most tango events are held especially in the capital city – Bratislava. By estimate approximately 1500-2000 people have taken up Argentine tango in Slovakia so far (for the period of at least 3 months) and a small part of them still continues dancing tango to date.

Present time: There are about 120-150 active students and dancers who dance tango in the long-run and regularly in Bratislava and there are approximately 150-200 tango dancers in other Slovak towns. There are about 50-60 of us who occasionally visit milongas and other tango events even abroad. There are a few foreign tanguer@s among us who live and work in Slovakia.

Our community is relatively young, therefore we have a lower age average and less experience compared to the countries where Argentine tango has been taught and danced for decades. Despite this fact, many of us improve in tango constantly and we are very pleased to see that our milongas are visited by a growing number of foreign visitors and tango-tourists as well.

Schools and teaching tango

At present there are about 20 tango schools operating on a regular basis in Slovakia, out of this number there are 7 schools active in Bratislava. Here is the regularly updated list of schools (in Slovak). Schools give lessons especially in the Slovak language.

Tips for foreigners: In Bratislava there are two schools that offer bilingual lessons officially: Tango Vida (in Slovak and English) and Danza Infinita (in Spanish with the translation into Slovak). The school Dunaszerdahely Táncklub in the town of Dunajská Streda gives combined lessons (in Slovak and Hungarian). You might obtain more information about lessons taught in a foreign language in a particular school (List in Slovak).

Workshops: Bratislava hosts a weekend´s workshop with foreign teachers which takes place approximately once a month (schools take turns in organizing these workshops) and minimum once a year there is a similar workshop held in other Slovak towns: Banská Bystrica and Košice. These workshops are usually held in English. Workshops and seminars are listed in the milongas calendar.

Milongas

There are approximately 7 milongas held on a regular basis in Bratislava and other 7 milongas held in other Slovak towns. Most milongas are organized once a month, some are organized more/less often or irregularly. Organizers post almost every milonga as an event at Facebook with more detailed information (about the venue, time, entrance fee, DJ, type of music, etc.). More information in:

• Milongas calendar in Bratislava and in Slovakia (updated regularly)
• Facebook events collection of milongas and workshops in Bratislava and in Slovakia
• List of milongas and their profiles and contacts (in Slovak)
• Map of milongas in Bratislava and Map of milongas in other Slovak towns.

Big tango events in Slovakia

Concerts

Particularly in Bratislava there are based several music groups that give concerts occasionally, Argentine tango makes a significant part in their music repertoire. Most of these groups specialize in Astor Piazzolla musical compositions and other similar composers of more complex styles which are suitable for listening. There are about 2-3 orchestras that offer good quality production and there are enough compositions/pieces of music in their repertoire suitable also for dancing.

If you are interested in tango music concerts as a listener, you can find scheduled concerts in the milongas calendar.

Exchange of tango DJs, orchestras and teachers

There are several tango DJs and tango orchestras in Slovakia who occasionally perform even abroad. Similarly, foreign DJs and tango orchestras become guests at some milongas in Slovakia, or foreign tango teachers organize their workshops here.

If you are a milonga organizer, tango DJ, musician or teacher who is interested in the possibility of production and cooperation, go to the page Cooperation and exchange of tango DJs, orchestras and teachers.