Spring Tango Mini Festival,

About the event

This event is a weekend of dance and educational workshops about tango, in addition to including a social network gathering after the workshops. In the past, this event has only included instructors from Columbus. However, since this event has been successful in the past, the goal for this year is to bring in more advanced instructors from other cities. The main goal of this event is to raise awareness of Argentine tango dance and culture at OSU. The Argentine tango scene at the university and in Columbus in general is quite lackluster relative to comparable universities and communities. We feel that the Argentine tango club at OSU is well positioned to be an impetus for this change. Accordingly, we are organizing a very well-planned event that will help raise awareness of the club, revive activity and excitement, get people on board with our new vision, and network with others in the community. Ultimately, we feel that the process of and success in executing this goals will also enhance the reputation of the university - particularly if we are able to be key players in the hosting of Columbus Tango festival comparable to those in Chicago or Pittsburgh someday. All major cities tend to have tango festivals; however, there isn’t one in Columbus. We are dedicated to this vision and we hope that you will help us reach it! Although the group is small, we are determined, creative, resourceful, and will work towards this goal!

By bringing in instructors from out of town, we are hoping to raise the caliber of dancing in this community while also spreading the word about tango in Columbus. In order to do that, we will be using donations and sponsorships to pay for well known instructors and providing future lessons to people for free. One reason that the tango scene is lackluster at OSU is because of a cost barrier to students. To make this event and all future events as inclusive as possible, we would like to provide instruction for free to students. Outside of OSU, tango workshops are usually priced at $25 per workshop and the social gatherings afterwards are priced at $15. For a whole weekend of workshops and social gatherings, this could cost up to $205. This price range is simply inaccessible for most students, which is why we would use this grant to make this event free and also to provide party favors of free future tango lessons to students. 

We have already implemented cost inclusivity within our 1 hour weekly lessons and 2 hour practice time by negotiating with local instructors to charge $3 for students. Within other communities, it is common for instructors to charge $15 per lesson and then charge additionally for practice time. By keeping lesson costs low, we have seen an increase in the size of our tango community of people from all different backgrounds. Also, by giving out free future tango passes, we are expecting more people to be willing to try tango especially once they understand that in our community cost should not be a barrier for anyone who would like to learn to dance.

An additional goal is to allow everyone to experience the culture of tango, regardless of dance experience or ability. Most tango workshop weekends are geared towards dancers who have been dancing for years and are already experienced. This event is geared towards all levels of dancers, even those who have never danced before. Also, if people do not want to dance, they can learn about the culture of the dance, listen to traditional tango music, enjoy refreshments, and network with all different types of dancer. 

Last year, participants included OSU students, faculty, and staff, as well as individuals from surrounding communities. For that event, we were able to get about 85 (about 35 students and 50 non-students, faculty, and staff) to attend. For this event, we are expecting to get about 150. I’m expecting this increase in attendance because of our increased club size, better marketing strategies, and better knowledge of our club outside of the university and Columbus. Previously, we have partnered with the Salsa Club at OSU and the Dancers in Graduate School organization at OSU and we have created dance contacts outside of the tango community who will attend, which will also increase attendance.

The schedule for the event is on Friday, we plan to have a workshop about tango music from an orchestra conductor and bandoneon player from a Latin-American music chamber. After that, we plan on having a social gathering where music that was created from 1930-1950 in Buenos Aires, Argentina is played. Before the social gathering, there will be a mini educational piece about tango and traditions from Argentina that are still used today. On Saturday, we plan on having workshops about the technical aspects of Argentine tango and learn how to improve our dance skills as well as an additional social gathering on Saturday night. On Sunday, we plan on having a few additional workshops about the technical aspects of tango. While we want to bring in high quality instructors from out of town, we also plan on showcasing an instructor and DJ from Columbus to show the work that is being done in this city.  

We want to go to great lengths to make attendees feel that this event about them. Thus, this event is not just a usual social gathering. But rather, a groundwork to start building our internal capacity, attract new members to grow the club and establish networks within and outside the university.

Why should you sponsor?

Sponsors should support this event because the tango dance scene is starting to expand and we are expecting guests from Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Indianapolis. In addition to out of town guests we are expecting a lot of OSU students and faculty and Columbus community members. Due to this diverse audience, your sponsorship will get a lot of visibility, especially visibility to students on campus within many different dance and arts groups.

This will also be the 1st event of it's kind in Columbus! So it would be a great opportunity to support the future legacy of a hopefully annual dance, social, cultural, and education event! 

Mackenzie Jones

Hi! Thanks for checking out our event! My name is Mackenzie and I'm the President of the Argentine tango club at OSU. I've been the president for 1 year and I've been dancing tango for 2 years. One major goal of mine has been to create a tango festival right here in Columbus. I've traveled to many other cities to attend these festivals but there is nothing comparable in Ohio. To bridge this gap, I've decided to organize the 1st tango festival in Ohio. I really appreciate you considering sponsoring this event and making this possible!

Contact the Organizer Contact the Organizer