Letters to the Tango Club of Malaysia

Monday 7 February

Dear Marguerite,

I was very delighted to read in the El Once Tango News Winter 2004/5 issue that there is a tango club in KL. Please do tell me how you started this club and whether the response is encouraging.

I am Malaysian & belong to a thriving tango club in Cardiff (5 years) & another in Bristol (7 years). We do get to meet other groups from Bath, Totness, Southampton, Reading and Oxford at Milongas. Please do read about us at www.tangoincardiff.com & www.tangowest.co.uk

If & when I visit Malaysia, I would certainly like to come to your salon.

Best wishes & hope to hear from you.

Mabel

Monday 14 February

Dear Mabel,

Such a pleasure to get your email and say "hi" to another Malaysian tanguera, all the way up in England. Do you have our website address www.tangomalaysia.com. We would love to one of your tangolinks. It is amazing how many people travel to dance, or combine dancing with their business travels.

We have been rather quiet of late - I spent a good part of 2004 travelling in the US. I have been the moving force of tango here in KL. And I must admit that I have been running out of steam, lately. It is not easy to keep people motivated and coming. Our Malaysians tend to think that 1 or 2 lessons will make them tango dancers.

However, we do have a small and very dedicated core group of people. Unfortunately, for us, Argentine Tango is only taught here in KL. The other smaller towns are not interested - ballroom/latin ballroom dancing reigns paramount.

I am sending you a sample of my weekly email and our advertisement for our monthly milonga. If you would like, I will include you on my emailing list. Look forward to hearing from you.

Marguerite

Friday 18 February

Dear Marguerite,

Delighted again to hear from you. I am impressed with what you are doing for Tango in KL. In fact I must admit I felt homesick when I browsed through the photo gallery on your website. I do hope your Tango community will gradually grow as it does take time. Tell me, do you teach the Tango yourself & how did it get started in KL?

The Cardiff group started in 2000 & now we meet every Thursday evening with Beginner/Intermediate lessons followed by dancing. We have a regular teacher who used to dance in London. For additional lessons we go to Bristol where there is a resident Argentine teacher with Tango West giving regular lessons/workshops.

There are also visiting teachers mostly in Bristol. We are going to have a visiting Argentine teacher in April for workshops/private lessons. There is a monthly milonga in a lovely place called the Norwegian Church in Cardiff Bay when Mike, our teacher is the DJ. He is very knowledgeable on the Tango music & writes reviews in El Once Magazine. I deejay the Tango Cafe events on Sunday afternoons in the city centre, again monthly if possible.

There is quite a lot of choice around here & the dancers are willing to travel to get to these places.Quite a number of dancers here have been to BA but the standard of dancing is still at the local level, depending on the individual. However, the Milongas are great social gatherings & everybody has a good time.

Do keep me informed about events in KL & thanks for including me in your e-mail list.

Regards,

Mabel