My friend Sol from Hong Kong called, sadness in her voice.
What's wrong?
Well, she just came back from a private tango lesson and didn't like it at all.
The thing is she went out dancing in a milonga last night. Had a great time. Danced with good dancers and got flattered from top to toe by the milongueros. Went back home feeling like a much pampered princess until just now when she took the tango lesson where her enthusiasm was extinguished by a bucket of cold water. During the lesson, She was told by her much admired teacher that she doesn't know how to walk, that her dance lacks presence, that she needs to learn how to carry her own weight instead of letting the leader carrying it, etc., etc. All that for 300 pesos.
Poor girl! But she is not alone.
Here in Buenos Aires, I'm constantly told by the milongueros that I shall not pay a single extra peso for more tango classes, that I should just dance with them in the milongas, as 'we milongueros dance with our heart! No-one is gonna teach you this in a class!' And they are quite right. Some of the greatest milongueros/as have never taken any tango lessons!
Meanwhile, in and out of numerous private and group lessons I've taken over the years, I'm demanded by my teachers to drill harder, to push my leg while walking, to stretch or bend my knees, to disassociate, to pivot, pivot, pivot... And no matter how hard I try, I still feel totally inadequate next to the perfect movements demonstrated by my talented teachers. So I blow more pesos on more classes. Heaven knows how much I've invested in this bewitching dance!
While appreciating the sincerity of both parties (I know some milongueros would dispute this), we fanatical tango-dancers can get quite trapped like my friend Sol. Putting the budgetary concerns aside, if we are already having a great time dancing in a Buenos Aires milonga, do we still need to take more lessons and to be told that we are not good enough? I guess this is when we need to ask why we dance tango in the first place. As with me, I'm taking more for the time being, as I'm a virgo, a perfectionist that is. 
