887  Community growth...Teacher Challenge

Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 14:47:12 -0700
From: Tom Stermitz <Stermitz@RAGTIME.ORG>
Subject: Community growth...Teacher Challenge

The end of the year is a time to evaluate the past and to make
resolutions for the future.

First a note of thanks for all the local tango teachers. I think in
most places, Tango is being built on classes of 8-10 students rather
than 20-30. The economic consequence is that very few local teachers
are making much money, yet it is primarily due to their efforts and
ongoing weekly classes that people learn tango. Master teachers can
inspire, but the local teachers do the week-to-week that results in
community growth.


I sense locally in Denver, and perhaps more broadly, that tango
communities are in a slow-growth or perhaps stable state. Newcomers
arrive, but old friends drift out about the same rate.

I'd like to propose a teacher challenge:

"Over the next year, change what you are doing to produce JUST 12
students (1 per month) who can dance nicely and have really joined
the community. If you produce only 6 in the next year, you get a
half-star."

Let's see...10 local teachers, times 12 months...my gosh that is 120
people! If achieved, I most communities would grow 50%, and many
would DOUBLE in size.

Simple enough? Did this happen for all your local teachers in the
past year? I'll bet not!


So what is going wrong?

It would be nice to hear from others...I'll jump in with some fairly
obvious platitudes.

For example, you have could have better outreach or higher retention.

One can always market more, and get more people in the beginner
classes, but once you have them, what if you could double your
retention rate? Even an easy-access dance like salsa has a high
fallout rate after the first 4-week class, but I think some tango
teachers have fallout rates of 99% after the first series. How many
teachers have retention rates of 10% or even 20%?

So my challenge is to make changes in what you are doing to increase
your retention rate. 120 new beginners over the next year and 6
successes would be 5% retention. What does it take to jump to 12
successes, or even 24?


There are two critical points for a newcomer, and therefore the
growth of the community:
(1) The transition from Beginner to Continuing-Beginner
(2) the transition to Community Member.

The FIRST is highly dependent on teaching methodology, teaching
skill, personality, and somewhat on the style of tango you teach. It
is critical whether the methodology and style are such that the guys
succeed...This is probably the most important point, a community
grows ONLY as fast as the guys "get it". (I don't want to neglect the
ladies, but this dance is a challenge at first for the guys, and if
the teachers fail with the guys, who ya gonna dance with?)

All tango teachers have their own opinions about what is "right".
Sometimes that gets in the way of learning new things. Teachers need
to go back to school constantly, and I'm not talking about learning
more fancy steps, or taking master-level workshops. Teaching well is
about learning how to teach, not how to dance.


The SECOND has to do with the social environment of the parties &
practices. Your community has to be welcoming, to be sure, but just
as important is whether the parties feel like PARTIES.

Would a newcomer peeking in feel like people are having fun? Is the
music high-energy, changing in emotional content from set to set? Are
the personalities primarily introverted? Is there a mix of ages and
types of people? Do the teachers bring 10-15 of their students and
introduce them around?

These issues are typical everywhere. Maybe some of the largest tango
communities have reached a critical mass where you have such big, fun
parties so that the scene grows almost by itself.

--

Tom Stermitz
https://www.tango.org/
stermitz@tango.org
303-388-2560

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 09:05:57 -0800
From: Robert Dodier <robert_dodier@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: Community growth...Teacher Challenge

About getting more people into the tango
community, Tom Stermitz wrote, in part:

> For example, you have could have better outreach or
> higher retention.

I'm really in agreement with everything Tom wrote.
In particular, I agree that the key is getting
people to stick with tango, rather than just getting
more people to try it.

One thing I'd like to add is that whether people
stick with it has a lot to do with the other
students, even more than the teachers. Tango has
to take a long time to learn, I think, but if you
enjoy working with the other students then that
makes the long haul much more bearable.

Teachers do have a lot to do with the way students
interact; the teacher sets the tone for the whole
class. In particular it might not be a good
idea for teachers to encourage choosiness among
their students. Yes, in BA many people are very
choosy about their partners. They can do that
because there are thousands of people in the scene.
Here in the States, choosiness will more likely
simply erode the already-small communities. And
before anybody else mentions it -- yes, I personally
could stand to be less choosy. 8^)

Thanks again to Tom for his thought-provoking
message.

Regards,

Robert Dodier

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 15:57:59 -0600
From: Stephen Brown <Stephen.P.Brown@DAL.FRB.ORG>
Subject: Re: Community growth...Teacher Challenge

Tom Stermitz offered some very interesting comments.

In most communities, the local teachers are still concerned about
fostering enough growth to sustain Argentine tango in their community.
There are very few communities where are a sufficient number of new tango
dancers that organizers and instructors are simply able to offer to teach
classes and not worry about the community as a whole.

Following up Tom's remarks, it seems as though most communities have
developed from picking the low-hanging fruit. The initial waves of
interest that propelled growth have ended, and more work is necessary to
sustain growth. I break the challenge of continued growth into several
parts.

Marketing:
For a community to continue growing, it must attract new dancers. Word of
mouth is good, but it can be insufficient when a community has plateaued.
The difficulty in marketing is that broadcast marketing is unlikely to
work well for an activity such as tango. The marketing must be targeted
to an audience that will be interested in learning to dance tango.
Exhibitions at homes for retired people isn't going to cut it.

In addition the marketing must give realistic expectations about what
Argentine tango is. If the marketing does not, those who show up will
quit after a few lessons. (Tango shows were once described as the sizzle
that sells the steak, but they may actually only sell sizzle.)

Converting newbies into members of the community:
As Tom has noted, the attrition rate in all dances is fairly high. Tango
has one of the highest attrition rates. I agree with Tom that instructors
must work to increase their retention rates. I think that realistic
marketing is one way to maintain good retention rates, but the teaching is
also important. The instructors must teach in a manner that the students
can learn enough to dance at milongas within a month and in a style that
is compatible with a variety of styles in the community. For this reason,
instructors should emphasize social styles of dancing and generic techique
in their beginning classes.

It is a sad truth that there are typically more women than men seeking to
dance tango, and for that reason the effective size of a community depends
upon a community's ability to retain and teach men to lead. To me, this
does not mean neglecting to teach the women skills. Rather, it means
looking to teach the men in a way that gets them moving on the dance
floor. Memorizing complicated step patterns delays getting the men onto
the dance floor. Teaching tango as small elements gets the men out on the
dance floor more quickly and it allows the women to work on their movement
skills.

In addition, the broader tango community outside of the instructors also
has a role in retaining newbies, and not in just dancing with beginners.
For a tango community to grow, it must have a sense of openess, a
willingness to accept newcomers, and not just visitors who already have
great dance skills.

I also think that the music at milongas can play a role in attracting and
keeping new dancers. As we all know, good live orchestras generate the
most excitement, even when the arrangements are a bit more complex. I
think djs can work a bit harder to find the music that has emotional and
fidelity qualites to appeal to a broader audience while retaining the
rhythmic qualities that appeal to more experienced dancers. There is a
considerable body of tango music from the golden age that was been
recorded well enough, that a dj need not choose between the extremes of
scratchy old recordings and Piazzolla.

The above are elements to consider in pulling together into a community
business plan. COMMUNITY BUSINESS PLAN--why would one suggest such an
idea? Most communities have developed without a community busness plan,
but as Tom observed, in most communities growth ground to a halt after
all the low hanging fruit has was picked. Growth seems to be continuing
in those communities dominated by a single instructor or couple with a
business plan.

With best regards,
Steve

Stephen Brown
Tango Argentino de Tejas
https://www.tejastango.com/

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 16:30:41 -0500
From: Ramu Pyreddy <rpyreddy@EECS.UMICH.EDU>
Subject: Re: Community growth...Teacher Challenge

On a related note -

Maybe this was discussed in this list before.
But why is that swing, ballroom and salsa communities are
thriving whereas tango communities are always struggling to
survive - let alone grow. Salsa clubs and ballroom studios
can be found in small cities and big towns - so obviously
it is economically feasible, whereas clubs dedicated to
only tango are rare - (extinct as a matter of fact,
TangoNadamas in Chicago just got closed - it is a shame).
Salsa, Ballroom, Swing and Tango - they are all recreational
activites and probably face the same challenges -
marketing, teaching, retaining, "partying", and finally and
probably most importantly staying in good financial health.
So what are we doing wrong? Or is it some other reason
that is inherent to the dance itself? (I hope not)
Or is something wrong with the people that tango attracts?
(Most of the communities I have been to were very warm
and welcoming)

Ramu Pyreddy
Ann Arbor, MI

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 22:47:21 -0500
From: Ramu Pyreddy <rpyreddy@EECS.UMICH.EDU>
Subject: Re: Community growth...Teacher Challenge

Tom Stermitz made some very good points - even if obvious.
I wrote my thoughts on some of them - in a different order though.

> Tom Stermitz wrote:
> than 20-30. The economic consequence is that very few local teachers
> are making much money, yet it is primarily due to their efforts and
> ongoing weekly classes that people learn tango. Master teachers can
> inspire, but the local teachers do the week-to-week that results in
> community growth.

Master teachers are good - once in a while - to inspire and to break
the monotony. They usually stay for an extended weekend anyway. In the
end, the bulk of community building rests with the local teachers.
Bring master teachers too often - you can stretch the budget of the
local dancers to the point of making it economically infeasible.
This is epspecially true for small and fledgling communities.
Bigger communities have enough volume to afford monthly or even
more frequent master classes.

More often than not, the weekends are packed with 8-10 workshops!
I would really like to see a change in this. If you take more than
2 classes per day - how much can you learn and more importantly
how much can you retain? It does not do anybody any good. The
students spend a lot of money and their brains get roasted for
the weekend and there is an incremental change in the dancing.

Instead, what if the master teacher(s) stayed at a place for
2 weeks or maybe even a month? Take a class a day - or 3 classes
a week; In the end, you take the same number of classes or a
few more, but I think it will be far more effective. At the end
of the teacher's stay, you can see if the master teacher has really
changed the quality of dancing in your community. Or it was just
a big name going through the town to be seen againa a few years
later. I know that this is a much more difficult proposition
economically, but it might be good in the long run, especially for
the smaller and struggling communities. Maybe the local organizer
will not make much profit (or any profit), but the community
is stronger and the next time .....

While on this point, I would even go to the extent of saying that
travelling to other tango communities is money better spent than
taking expensive workshops. It negates "in-breeding" and it is more
fun. It provides an opportunity to watch/lead/follow other styles
of dancing. You learn because it is fun, not because
"you-are-in-a-workshop-and-you-HAVE-to-learn"
Traveling together can go a long way in building communities,
especially the many small and struggling ones.

> The FIRST is highly dependent on teaching methodology, teaching
> skill, personality, and somewhat on the style of tango you teach. It
> is critical whether the methodology and style are such that the guys
> succeed...This is probably the most important point, a community
> grows ONLY as fast as the guys "get it". (I don't want to neglect the
> ladies, but this dance is a challenge at first for the guys, and if
> the teachers fail with the guys, who ya gonna dance with?)

I would say that the number of intermediate guys in a tango
community is a measure of the health of the community. Once guys get
to the advanced stage, they tend to be choosy with who they dance
and they probably don't frequent the milongas/practicas/lessons as
much as they used to. It is the intermediate and the advanced beginners
who have the drive to learn and dance with many partners.


Ramu Pyreddy
Ann Arbor, MI
Tango in Ann Arbor check https://www.umich.edu/~umtango

Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 10:53:44 +0100
From: Eero Olli <eero.olli@ISP.UIB.NO>
Subject: Subject: Re: Community growth...Teacher Challenge

At 09:00 20.12.2002, you wrote:

>Subject: Re: Community growth...Teacher Challenge

Some time back we had this discussion in our club. We have around five
couples in town who give beginnersclasses on behalf of the club. In the
club we agreed upon that the measure we wanted to use on a teachers success
was the share of people who continued dansing after at least 6 months.
Therefore following points are of interest:
* it is not about teaching as much 'tango' as possible to the students, but
to teach the skills they need at milongas. Floorcraft, social rules (how
invite to a dance, how to reject a dance, how to end a dance with, etc.
* the teachers job is also to introduce the newbies into the community. It
is not over when the class is over.

We have consicously tried to stick to these two contributing factors for a
good social scene (there are of course plethora of others, but these are
worth trying).
First, we spent lots of time and work searching inexpensive localties. Thus
we have low prices and long hours, which allows the better dansers to spend
some time with the not-jet-so-good-ones. If the prices are high, and the
hours short, most people want to danse only at their own level, and the
generosity is gone.
Second, we do not have enough chairs for everyone, which allows us to have
a rule of no fixed seating. The rule is that Every seat is available, no
matter how many jackets or wineglasses are left at the table. This creates
a rotation in seating, and people end up meeting new people (and perhaps
dansing with them). It is a rule that we have to explain to EVERYONE that
shows up, because it is so different from the normal. Thus the host of the
evening (rotates) does feel an obligation to explain it, which also is a
good excuse to introduce oneself and the club, find out what they want, if
the have danced before etc...

Tango is a social dance. Put some effort in the community. Arrange a party.
Have fun. Make sure that everyone else is having fun, too. Be generous, and
it will all come back to you, one day.

Sincerely,
Eero

eero@bergentango.no

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 20:11:15 +0000
From: Bruce Stephens <bruce@CENDERIS.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject: Re: Community growth...Teacher Challenge

Robert Dodier <robert_dodier@YAHOO.COM> writes:

> About getting more people into the tango
> community, Tom Stermitz wrote, in part:
>
>> For example, you have could have better outreach or
>> higher retention.
>
> I'm really in agreement with everything Tom wrote. In particular, I
> agree that the key is getting people to stick with tango, rather
> than just getting more people to try it.
>
> One thing I'd like to add is that whether people stick with it has a
> lot to do with the other students, even more than the
> teachers. Tango has to take a long time to learn, I think, but if
> you enjoy working with the other students then that makes the long
> haul much more bearable.

And it's more than the students, as you say: it's the community in
general.

I suspect London (and doubtless other places) could do with more
classes emphasizing basic social behaviour (i.e., it's bad manners to
kick people), and stressing the techniques required to achieve that.

One such technique is walking. I rarely see beginner classes any
more, but the last one I saw (the first class) involved teaching the
salida, and the salida with a couple of ochos.

Nothing wrong with learning those, of course, but what men really need
at the beginning is to know that they can get around the room by just
walking, and (even more importantly) that many women would much prefer
to just walk around the room to the music with a man who can do that
confidently. (Indeed, nobody's ever mentioned how nice my salida is,
but I regularly receive comments about how nice and unusual it is just
to walk. If only I'd known and really believed that when I first
started tango!)

[...]

Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 03:25:27 -0800
From: Robert Hauk <robhauk@TELEPORT.COM>
Subject: Re: Community growth...Teacher Challenge

Ramu Pyreddy wrote:

>
> On a related note -
>
> Maybe this was discussed in this list before.
> But why is that swing, ballroom and salsa communities are
> thriving whereas tango communities are always struggling to
> survive - let alone grow. Salsa clubs and ballroom studios
> can be found in small cities and big towns - so obviously
> it is economically feasible, whereas clubs dedicated to
> only tango are rare - (extinct as a matter of fact,
> TangoNadamas in Chicago just got closed - it is a shame).

Hey everyone,

This is a good question. Whenever the discussion comes up there are a
lot of good ideas presented that probably all help bring in new people
and keep the ones that are already around. With all the talking you
would think it would be easy to bring in people and keep them. And
still everyone wonders why more people don't dance tango.

There is a factor in this that exists nearly everywhere and somehow
doesn't get mentioned in these discussions. I don't know why but it
seems that in almost every community I have visited there isn't just one
group of people doing tango, there are two or more. This would be great
except for the fact that most often these various groups are quite
antagonistic toward one another.

I don't know what it is about tango but it seems to have attracted a lot
of people who want to own the one true tango and be the one fountain of
true tango knowledge. There is so much arguing about which style of
tango is the real one (how many times has that come up on this list),
and how everybody should dance and how everybody should conduct
themselves, I wonder when people take the time to dance and enjoy the
experience.

When new people come to tango they discover that they must take sides in
these fights. They quickly learn that if they take classes from one
teacher they can't take classes from another, or else they will have to
switch groups. They quickly have to learn which milongas they will be
welcom at, and which people they shouldn't dance with. Of course new
people don't know so they start with one group, innocently go to the
other group's milonga, get told what is wrong with the teachers they
started with and that they should take classes with this teacher
instead. They find themselves in the middle of this mess and my guess
is that they probably just decide that it is easier to go dance salsa or
swing and leave these crazy tango people to fight among themselves.

If we could just agree to disagree and get on with the dancing. No one
of us knows everything about tango, and we never will. We all share
something in common, we are all crazy about tango somehow. If the
energy spent fighting was spent working together tango would grow
everywhere. It takes a lot to build a real community, and our little
dance communities are a place to practice.

I wish you all happy tango communities, and great dancing.

Robert

Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 10:43:48 -0800
From: JSyverson <JJCSyverson@ATTBI.COM>
Subject: Re: Community growth...Teacher Challenge

I have to jump in on this conversation and say from a fairly newcomer's
perspective, this is a difficult thing! In fact, breaking into the "tango"
scene is difficult in and of itself just due to the fact that there is such
a mystique regarding Tango.....and then when you finally figure out where
and how to start, you then have to struggle through the groups/clicks issue.
In some cases, you are welcomed openly or in most cases, you are left to
wonder why you feel like such as outsider. Few "good" dancers ask beginners
to dance, there is little to no camaraderie until you are "accepted" as
being capable, and all the while you are struggling to learn the nuances of
tango because it is rarely discussed. As a new dancer, you have to ask
questions, read articles, and seek the information out - it's difficult to
say the least.

Although I haven't had near the opportunity as most to dance all over the
world in my short one plus years as a tanguera, it is very apparent that [we
have the ability to scare new people off] just by not being open. If I
hadn't wanted to learn Argentine Tango so badly and if I hadn't had the
opportunity of having a world-renowned instructor take me out on the floor
the very first time I went to a milonga to show me the beauty of the dance,
I would have left like many other newcomers. As a beginner you watch all
the incredible dancers and hope that someday you will dance just as graceful
and elegant as they. It would be a welcomed change to have top notch
dancers open up, say Hi once in a while, or even say excuse me when they
brush past you like you weren't even there. A little kindness, a smile, and
a thought or two as to how each of us felt when we were beginners would go a
long way to changing the culture of the communities.

It is such a wonderful dance, I hope that together we can all keep it alive
by bringing in new members and letting them experience the wonders of
Argentine Tango!

Happy Holidays!

Jodi Syverson


-----Original Message-----

Sent: Friday, December 20, 2002 3:25 AM
To: TANGO-L@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject: Re: [TANGO-L] Community growth...Teacher Challenge

Ramu Pyreddy wrote:

>
> On a related note -
>
> Maybe this was discussed in this list before.
> But why is that swing, ballroom and salsa communities are
> thriving whereas tango communities are always struggling to
> survive - let alone grow. Salsa clubs and ballroom studios
> can be found in small cities and big towns - so obviously
> it is economically feasible, whereas clubs dedicated to
> only tango are rare - (extinct as a matter of fact,
> TangoNadamas in Chicago just got closed - it is a shame).

Hey everyone,

This is a good question. Whenever the discussion comes up there are a
lot of good ideas presented that probably all help bring in new people
and keep the ones that are already around. With all the talking you
would think it would be easy to bring in people and keep them. And
still everyone wonders why more people don't dance tango.

There is a factor in this that exists nearly everywhere and somehow
doesn't get mentioned in these discussions. I don't know why but it
seems that in almost every community I have visited there isn't just one
group of people doing tango, there are two or more. This would be great
except for the fact that most often these various groups are quite
antagonistic toward one another.

I don't know what it is about tango but it seems to have attracted a lot
of people who want to own the one true tango and be the one fountain of
true tango knowledge. There is so much arguing about which style of
tango is the real one (how many times has that come up on this list),
and how everybody should dance and how everybody should conduct
themselves, I wonder when people take the time to dance and enjoy the
experience.

When new people come to tango they discover that they must take sides in
these fights. They quickly learn that if they take classes from one
teacher they can't take classes from another, or else they will have to
switch groups. They quickly have to learn which milongas they will be
welcom at, and which people they shouldn't dance with. Of course new
people don't know so they start with one group, innocently go to the
other group's milonga, get told what is wrong with the teachers they
started with and that they should take classes with this teacher
instead. They find themselves in the middle of this mess and my guess
is that they probably just decide that it is easier to go dance salsa or
swing and leave these crazy tango people to fight among themselves.

If we could just agree to disagree and get on with the dancing. No one
of us knows everything about tango, and we never will. We all share
something in common, we are all crazy about tango somehow. If the
energy spent fighting was spent working together tango would grow
everywhere. It takes a lot to build a real community, and our little
dance communities are a place to practice.

I wish you all happy tango communities, and great dancing.

Robert

Date: Sun, 22 Dec 2002 17:46:48 -0800
From: Jai Jeffryes <doktordogg@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: Community growth...Teacher Challenge

--- Robert Hauk <robhauk@TELEPORT.COM> wrote:

> I don't know what it is about tango but it seems to
> have attracted a lot
> of people who want to own the one true tango and be
> the one fountain of
> true tango knowledge. There is so much arguing
> about which style of
> tango is the real one (how many times has that come
> up on this list),
> and how everybody should dance and how everybody
> should conduct
> themselves, I wonder when people take the time to
> dance and enjoy the
> experience.

Hi Robert,

Always nice to hear from you. I enjoyed meeting you
on your visit to New York. When are you coming again?

I think some degree of debate and factionalism is
probably healthy. Expect to find ardent points of
view regarding beauty and standards in the context of
any expressive art that is sophisticated, deep, and
worthwhile. The same contention exists in music, art,
theater, and publishing, to a *much* higher degree.
With tango, I think it simply reflects the convictions
of people for whom the dance is ... important!

Furthermore, competitiveness must arise when there are
some few who expect, reasonably or quixotically, to
use social dancing as a source of livelihood. Believe
me, tango dancers are meek and mild compared to (say)
classical pianists who cling to the belief that one
day their art is going to sustain a livelihood for
them...

I think serious social dancers often share the
experience of going through familiar "stages". One
stage that might be familiar to many is to be very
devoted to developing one's own feelings and voice
with the dance while not being very susceptible to the
surrounding fray.

Jai


=====
Usenet on Google, the Internet's home for easy and totally free discussion:
https://groups.google.com
Usenet Fast Start for Tango Posters
https://www.geocities.com/jaijeffryes/usenet.htm

Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2002 23:18:55 +0000
From: Bruce Stephens <bruce@CENDERIS.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject: Re: Community growth...Teacher Challenge

Ramu Pyreddy <rpyreddy@EECS.UMICH.EDU> writes:

> On a related note -
>
> Maybe this was discussed in this list before. But why is that
> swing, ballroom and salsa communities are thriving whereas tango
> communities are always struggling to survive - let alone grow. Salsa
> clubs and ballroom studios can be found in small cities and big
> towns - so obviously it is economically feasible, whereas clubs
> dedicated to only tango are rare - (extinct as a matter of fact,
> TangoNadamas in Chicago just got closed - it is a shame).

The comparison with salsa (and swing in the US, I guess) is an
interesting one: why are they so much more popular than tango?

The comparison with ballroom is less interesting. At least in the UK,
ballroom dancing has a quite different feel to it: many people who
take ballroom classes never dance it socially, and the vast majority
don't dance it socially regularly. And the expectation seems to be
set appropriately: ballroom dancing is taught in a way that will get
you through medal tests (and for a small minority, there's competition
tuition), but it's typically not much about social dancing.

So that's how ballroom studios get through: they teach quite large
numbers of people how to get through various tests (by teaching
memorized routines, along with some amount of technique, although way
less than any decent AT teacher). And often they get in significant
numbers of people who want to learn salsa; the salsa teaching demand
still seems quite high.

But there seems very little social ballroom dancing. The various
schools run them, of course, but that seems to me more to be
practicing routines rather than actual social dancing. (There's
sometimes even membership requirements before you can go to such
events, thus making it less likely you'll meet someone who wasn't
taught at that school.)

In contrast, here in London Argentine tango is based around the social
events. I'm sure overall there are more ballroom dancers around, but
I know where I can find social tango, just about every night of the
week.

So why is tango less successful than ballroom dancing? Probably as
much as anything an accident of history. Because it's less
successful, in order to learn it you'll probably have to make a
serious effort (since decent classes are probably some way away). And
then you'll find that it's hard, and it requires social dancing, and
the places to dance it socially are also some way away.

In contrast, it's probably much easier to take ballroom dance classes,
and you'll probably be able to dance it socially at the same nearby
dance school (as much as anybody dances it socially, anyway), and
there'll be a sense of progress because you'll be offered a
progression of exams to take, not to mention the obvious accumulation
of fancy steps.

None of that's anything like the thrill of social AT. But how do you
catch people just as they're considering taking classes in ballroom
dancing? How would you persuade them that they'd get more out of
travelling an extra hour for classes, and the same to dance socially,
and that they'll be regarded as beginners for at least six months,
probably more?

I guess an even more important question is what kind of people are
likely to end up as tango dancers? Who should you market to, and how
can you do that?

[...]

Date: Sat, 28 Dec 2002 12:05:50 -0800
From: Marisa Holmes <mariholmes@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: Community growth...Teacher Challenge

I think the various contributions to this discussion
were right on - Robert who says that folks (including
himself) should just be 'less choosy', Eero, who calls
for generosity, and Jodi who would like to see 'a
little kindness'. The key to retaining people is to
let them have a good time - and when one goes to
dance, having a good time usually involves dancing. I
have seen, however, that even people who say and
believe that their tango community is
open/welcoming/friendly often do not actually dance
with anyone outside their clique. In effect, they
find their community warm and friendly because to them
it consists entirely of their friends!

So here is a challenge for anyone who would like to
strengthen the larger community (and it applies to
less experienced as well as expert dancers): dance
with one person you have never danced with before at
each milonga you attend this year.


The small print:
Ask early - people who are not getting dances go home
before you are tired.

Even if you have fulfilled your weekly quota of one,
if someone you have never danced with before asks you
for a dance, go ahead, unless you have a good reason
to refuse. If your good reason is not that the person
requesting the dance is somehow utterly abominable to
you, ask that person to dance at the next milonga.

If you have danced at least once with everyone at the
milonga, ask the person you have danced with least -
who knows, they may have improved.

Yes, ladies that does mean you will sometimes have to
ask for a dance.


My very best wishes to all for the new year!
Marisa

Date: Sat, 4 Jan 2003 03:50:32 -0800
From: luda_r1 <luda_r1@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Community growth

Marisa wrote:

"....So - how do we set it up so that new people dance
with
folks who are not struggling as miserably as
themselves?...."

Good thought to ponder for the new year. For
everybody.

Thank you, Marisa, for your astute observation.

Luda