Dear tango teachers without your students you´r nothing

* This blog post is not written by Maldio Tango. It is written by a local tanguera who wishes to remain anonymous.

Dear tango teachers,

This is not a hate letter. It is a reminder.

Somewhere along the way, a dangerous illusion can creep in: that the teacher is the center of the tango universe. That students are replaceable. That respect flows only upward. That paying students should feel grateful for whatever mood, attitude, or treatment they receive, because you are the artist, the authority, the one with the knowledge.

Let's be very clear: without your students, there is no class, no workshop, no festival invitation, no income, no career built on dance. There is no platform. There is no audience. There is no tango business.

Students are not background noise. They are not wallets with legs. They are not there to boost your ego, tolerate your bad days, or accept disrespect in the name of "tradition," "discipline," or "art."

They are the reason you get to do what you love.

Many students come to tango vulnerable. They bring insecurity, curiosity, joy, fear, hope. They trust you with their bodies, their confidence, their time, their money. When that trust is met with arrogance, impatience, sarcasm, favoritism, or dismissal, the damage goes far beyond a bad class. People leave. Quietly. Sometimes forever.

And here's the part some teachers don't want to face:
Students don't quit tango because it's hard.
They quit because they feel unseen, unvalued, or disrespected.

Yes, you have trained. Yes, you have experience. Yes, you may be brilliant on the dance floor. None of that gives you the right to belittle, ignore, intimidate, or emotionally manipulate the people who keep your profession alive.

Teaching is not about power, it is about service.

It is about creating a space where learning feels possible, where questions are welcome, where mistakes are part of the process, not a source of shame. It is about remembering what it felt like to be a beginner. It is about humility.

If you live from dance, your students are not an inconvenience. They are your livelihood. Treating them with respect is not optional. It is not a favor. It is the bare minimum.

So pause for a moment and ask yourself:

• Do my students feel safe with me?
• Do they feel respected, even when they struggle?
• Do they leave my class feeling smaller, or stronger?

Tango does not belong to teachers.
It belongs to the people who dare to step onto the floor and try.

Without your students, you're not a teacher.
You're just someone dancing alone.

Una Milonguera Que Observa