WHO ARE WE?

OUR BEGINNINGS

TTD (Trabajadores del Tango Danza) was born in 2017 as a response to the publicly known labour conflict in which the renowned dancer and choreographer Juan Carlos Copes was going through a delicate state of health and lacked the adequate means to be treated. This situation led us to raise awareness and discuss the precariousness of our working conditions as actual workers.

We are officially a non-profit civil association that brings together mainly tango dancers, teachers, directors and choreographers, but also milonga organisers, photographers, music makers and tango shoes and clothing designers.

Our activities are aimed at the whole community, so we are also joined by amateurs and milonga dancers, with whom we meet in an embrace, on a dance floor, at a show, dancing in a neighborhood street or in theatres, working in Argentina or abroad. We include all the participants of the tango world who want to organise themselves to improve the working conditions of the sector.

In all of our debates and actions, we take into consideration a federal vision of tango culture with a gender perspective in our speeches and activities. In addition, we advocate those projects and issues that have to do with the inclusion of disabled people and people with functional diversity. We work for everyone: we understand that actions are collective and for the whole community.

OUR OBJECTIVES

      • To recognise ourselves as tango and dance workers and to defend our rights as such. To emphasise this awareness both in our sector in particular and in the whole community in general.
      • To promote and provide tools for research, training and pedagogical development for our teaching activity as well as for all other activities that generate culture.
      • To spread the culture of tango in order to strengthen the community both nationally and internationally, taking into account that the genre is practised all over the world. We emphasize that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared tango an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009.

HOW DO WE WORK?

We are advocates of collective participation, where the opinion and contribution of each member is valuable and valued by the rest. That is why we act as a team in a collaborative way. We are committed to and aim at all of us getting involved both at the level of ideas and debates as well as at getting physically engaged in actions that seek the common good above the personal benefit. We believe that this is the only way to achieve a better and fairer future for all.

We learn by doing, weaving community bonds. We bet on working horizontally and all together even if it takes longer.

Our collective construction in words:

      • Teamwork
      • Plurality of voices
      • Horizontality
      • Shared responsibility
      • Pro-action and tangible action
      • Commitment
      • Solidarity

FUNCTIONING

Every week we have open meetings where we discuss our problems, listen to concerns and proposals, work by consensus and vote when making  decisions about the way forward. We form working teams where ideas are channeled and projects are generated to be translated into concrete actions.

HOW CAN YOU PARTICIPATE?

It’s easy! You can join any of these regular open meetings. There, we explain what we are working on, agree on the steps to follow and divide the tasks in the operational teams. In addition, we invite you to bring your proposal to the group to take it forward together. You can also join directly to start working in an on going project according to your interests and availability.

OUR CURRENT WORKING TEAMS ARE:

      • Communication and Dissemination Team
      • Food Bags Team
      • Talks and Training Team
      • Partnerships Team
      • Protocols Team
      • TTD Administration Team

PARTICIPATION IN EXTERNAL FRONTS

As an organisation, we have actively worked in spaces of dialogue with the rest of the groups and collectives of tango, dance and culture, such as:

      • Federal Assembly of Tango Workers (Asamblea Federal de Trabajadores del Tango AFTT)
      • Federal Front for Tango Unity (FFUT)
      • Federal Dance Movement (MFD)
      • Emergency Dance Front (FED)
      • Tango Dancers Movement  – Movimiento Bailarines de Tango (MBT)
      • Tango Dance Discussion panel  – Mesa de Tango Danza

WE ARTICULATE WITH

      • Assembly of Tango Groups (Asamblea de Colectivos Tangueros)
      • Tango Dance Music Players (Musicalizadores Tango Danza)