Terminology

Tango Marathons

Tango Marathons are usually events from Friday night to Sunday afternoon with many hours of dancing (but there is usually a few hours of no-music break so everyone can have a chance to sleep). There are no workshops, no shows or live music. Instead, multiple DJs are invited to provide excellent music selections to the dancers. Marathons are closed events with a guest list that aims to be equal in followers and leaders; some say a quota of up to 4% more leaders works best. Many marathons aim at internationally travelling dancers of a high level who are coming to dance well, much, and meet their friends. Often these marathons are “full packages”, where there’s brunch and dinner included in one fee.

Encuentros

Are basically “Marathons” in most ways (closed, pre-registration, leader/follower balance). It’s just a different mindset, somewhat other people, and….:

Here’s a quote from Melina Sedo:

…Tango events for Milongueros who cherish the “Abrazo” to traditional music. Although some of these events also offer classes and short, improvised demos, the focus is on social dancing. The etiquette of invitation by Mirada & Cabeceo plays an important role as does the respectful interaction of all dancers on the dancefloor.

Milonga Weekends

The most prominent Milonga Weekend is El Corte’s Chained Salon: basically, it’s an event where multiple milongas (i.e. tango dance events with beginning and end, which often means different people, too)  are aligned in a way that enables many dancing hours during a weekend; usually many more than regular milongas would offer in a city or region. Milonga Weekends are open events: there is no required pre-registration, and thus there is no planned gender balance. In some analogy, Buenos Aires could be called a Permanent Milonga Series. [/one-third]