Hello, my name is Melina, I am a flair bartender from Hello, my name is Melina, I am a flair bartender from Female Flair Bartending in Argentina
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Your News Thursday, 28-March-2024

Female Flair Bartending in Argentina

78
Posted By
Melina Cali
ar
Hello, my name is Melina, I am a flair bartender from Tucumán, Argentina and I just want to share with all of you some news about Flair Bartending in my country. Unfortunately, in my area there aren't many representatives of this discipline and there are no competitions, but we can compete in other provinces of Argentina.

The last competition was Bar Fest 5, which took place in the city of Neuquén on 14th September 2009 and it gathered around 60 bartenders from several provinces and bordering countries such as Uruguay and Brazil.

I had a good time and it was a nice experience to see many talented flair bartenders. However there are 2 aspects I’d like to comment.

First of all, I think it was quite unfair that only Argentinean bartenders had to pay for the fee while those who came from other countries didn’t just because they were not from here. I know that it’s not that easy to travel from another country, but, in my case, I had to travel more miles than some foreign competitors (my province is farther than Uruguay). My point here is that we all made our efforts to get there, not only foreign bartenders.

Secondly, as a FEMALE flair bartender, I must confess that I felt I was not taken seriously; I felt I was part of the show and not of the competition per se. I say all this because the way judges evaluated the performances was quite dubious to me. Supposedly, we had to focus on showmanship, originality and synchronization with music. My routine emphasized the three aspects. However, what I noticed is that, apparently all that really mattered to get a good qualification was making movements that we all have already seen, being from Neuquén or Uruguay and, most importantly: BEING A GUY. On top of this, the judges were ALL MEN, so they didn’t take into consideration the differences between men and women.

I believe that men and women will never flip in the same way, they both can be great, but different. For example, a woman bumping a bottle with her arm does not look so pretty because she will lose all the delicacy and sensuality that a girl may have. But this does not mean girls can’t do other things to “compensate” such rough movements. What I am trying to say is that the way of evaluating men and women should take into consideration differences like the one I mention.

I’m not aware of the situation of female flair bartenders in other countries, but at least in mine, things like this are tremendously discouraging for anyone and I hope it changes soon.

Thanks





Posted By
James Allison
US
Melina,

Thank you for sharing your story with us.  Judging is a very difficult task and the FBA has worked for over a decade perfecting it... and we are not done yet!  Each year, or even from event to event we adjust how we judge based on what is new in the world of flair.
 

I can't speak for the judges you had as this was not an FBA event you speak of (that I know of) but for sure they were not FBA Certified Judges.  The FBA is trying to teach more and more people how to judge, but it is very costly and difficult to really teach someone how to judge.

The FBA takes female competitors very seriously, but I am not sure that we ever really judge them differently.  It is very true that female competitors can do different types of flair than men and for some this is a huge advantage and others not so much.  But at the end of the day, we judge everyone the same, regardless of sex or any other attribute.  It is very possible for a female to do well in a properly judged event IF that female knows how to put on a show that fits her and maximize the points available to her.
 

I hope you and all females stick with it and strive be the best that you can be, regardless of the obstacles you encounter.
 

Cheers and Good Luck!
 

Jim Allison

 




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