Individualistic networks and networking individuals in Tango Argentino

TL;DR

This study models the social network of Tango Argentino dancers, analyzing how individual behaviors and social rules influence network structure and mentoring success over time.

Contribution

It introduces a simulation approach to quantify network patterns and predict mentoring success in a social dance context.

Findings

Network degree distributions and clustering coefficients vary over time.

Successful new dancers often benefit from established mentors.

The model predicts mentoring effectiveness in social networks.

Abstract

We have performed a simulation study of the social network arising from dancing partner selection in Tango Argentino. Tango Argentino is a famous intellectual dance which combines individualistic behaviour with consensual social rules, generating complex patterns of network behaviour in time. We quantify these patterns by time-dependent degree distributions and clustering coefficients for the network structure, and by monitoring the evolution of the individual dancers skill. In particular, we have investigated how successful new dancers are in entering the network under the promotion of established network members. Our approach allows us to predict the success of mentoring in a social network.