Individualistic networks and networking individuals in Tango Argentino

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.