1570  growing the community in nyc (or any city for that matter)

Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2003 13:14:06 -0700
From: robin thomas <niborsamoht@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: growing the community in nyc (or any city for that matter)

one thing i would like to see happen in new york city
and am looking for people to help me with. is to have
a free tango festival for beginners.

people have been complaining that in new york we have
too many teachers and too many milongas competing
against each other.

i don't think that's the case. we probably have far
fewer venues than berlin which is a much smaller city
in terms of population. we simply have too few tango
dancers. we need %500 more people in the community and
a larger percentage of the population dancing.

i feel as though we should have a drive for growth
including all the teachers; the good ones, the bad
ones, all styles. i remember something like this in
bs.as. two and a half years ago when all these famous
teachers were teaching for free, "pa que baila la
ciudad" i think the festival was called. some of the
classes had 100 people in them.

i've given free promotional classes before and had
no-one come because no-one heard about them, so
obviously we need a lot of publicity in order to make
this worthwhile. so how do we get that?

looking for lots of suggestions

robin thomas
new york city

Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2003 16:00:54 -0500
From: Stephen Brown <Stephen.P.Brown@DAL.FRB.ORG>
Subject: Re: growing the community in nyc (or any city for that matter)

Robin Thomas wrote:

>one thing i would like to see happen in new york city
>and am looking for people to help me with. is to have
>a free tango festival for beginners.

...

>so obviously we need a lot of publicity in order to
>make this worthwhile. so how do we get that?

One thing that has been particularly successful in Dallas is using
hit-and-run milongas and an tango open house to generate
visibility/publicity.

The hit-and-run milonga is held on a Friday or Saturday evening at three
to four locations around the city where it is possible to dance social
tango in front of people who the organizers think might be interested.
Locations in parks and squares where people congregate, outside art-film
theaters and outside or inside Starbucks all seem to be good. (The
organizers may need to seek permission to use some locations.) Given that
the event is to help publicize tango, the dancers are asked to where
somewhat dressy attire. The dancers who attend typically love the event,
and the organizers can distribute flyers announcing a free open
house--typically a few weeks later.

The combination seems to work particulary well. Distributing flyers about
open houses at a hit-and-run milonga seems to bring a lot of people to
the open house. (It also helps if you have newspaper coverage of the
event, btu that is not necessary for a succesful open house.) Distributing
flyers about classes at hit-and-run milongas does not seem to generate
many new students, and organizing open houses without any publicity other
than the usual tango venues and webpages doesn't get people into the open
house,

In Dallas the open house following a hit-and-run milonga is typically a
community event with all teachers invited and most participating. Most of
the participating teachers who teach beginning classes experience a
sizable increase in enrollment as a result of the open house.

With best regards,
Steve

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

Looking forward to Labor Day Weekend in Denver

Date: Wed, 23 Jul 2003 09:36:20 -0700
From: Striker <auto_d20@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: growing the community in nyc (or any city for that matter)

--- robin thomas <niborsamoht@YAHOO.COM> wrote:

> looking for lots of suggestions
>

How about a little less "milonguero" and a lot more
"nuevo"?

Don't you get it? You need younger people, the new
generation. How can you attract young dancers with
this old and boring 2-degrees freedom of motion style
of dancing plus the scratchy records from the 1930's?

Face the truth: ganchos and boleos are what attracts
new people to tango. Powerful and beautiful music by
Pugliese and Piazzolla is a must.

If that fails, then of course you can use someone's
previous idea of topless milongas.

El Duke.

Date: Wed, 23 Jul 2003 10:14:04 -0700
From: Ricardo Tanturi <tanturi999@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: growing the community in nyc (or any city for that matter)

For me, one of the best things about milongas that
play
golden age tangos is that the music and the dancing
style filter out the kind of people who like a lot
of ganchos and boleos (and lifts, etc), and like
dancing
to Piazzolla, etc. It's not a matter of age, but of
emotional depth and appreciation for subtlety.

I don't think tango will ever be really popular as
long
as it is rich, complex, and subtle, and for me that is
a
good thing. I think it is good to expose tango to
people who might be interested (like with the hit and
run milongas), but I think if you push too much for
growth you always have to dumb it down or glitz it
up to appeal to the masses.

"Ricardo"

--- Striker <auto_d20@YAHOO.COM> wrote:

> --- robin thomas <niborsamoht@YAHOO.COM> wrote:
> > looking for lots of suggestions
> >
>
> How about a little less "milonguero" and a lot more
> "nuevo"?
>
> Don't you get it? You need younger people, the new
> generation. How can you attract young dancers with
> this old and boring 2-degrees freedom of motion
> style
> of dancing plus the scratchy records from the
> 1930's?
>
> Face the truth: ganchos and boleos are what attracts
> new people to tango. Powerful and beautiful music by
> Pugliese and Piazzolla is a must.
>
> If that fails, then of course you can use someone's
> previous idea of topless milongas.
>
> El Duke.
>
> design software
>
>
> should be sent to
> send the
> LISTSERV@MITVMA.MIT.EDU.
>

Date: Wed, 23 Jul 2003 13:26:11 -0700
From: Trini or Sean - PATangoS <patangos@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: growing the community in nyc (or any city for that matter)

Been to Ann Arbor lately, which is strictly milonguero? Most are in
their twenties. Their milongas I've been to number between 60-100+
people. Great energy. Fun dancing. My own group, which mostly
milonguero, has a large number of college students.

Something I've concluded recently on why I enjoy going to Ann Arbor
(a 4.5 hour drive) just for their milongas has to do with their ages.

- Younger people (twenties, early thirties) haven't had the life
experiences to create baggage to bring into tango. Tango is for fun.

- Older people (60's & up) have figured life out and have learned
what's important. Thus, tango is for fun.

- Everyone else (30's-50's) are still trying to figure things out and
carry that baggage along to tango. Tango is not just for fun. It's
about personal issues, which rear their heads at milongas and
practicas.

Trini from Pittsburgh


--- Striker <auto_d20@YAHOO.COM> wrote:

> --- robin thomas <niborsamoht@YAHOO.COM> wrote:
> > looking for lots of suggestions
> >
>
> How about a little less "milonguero" and a lot more
> "nuevo"?
>
> Don't you get it? You need younger people, the new
> generation. How can you attract young dancers with
> this old and boring 2-degrees freedom of motion style
> of dancing plus the scratchy records from the 1930's?
>
> Face the truth: ganchos and boleos are what attracts
> new people to tango. Powerful and beautiful music by
> Pugliese and Piazzolla is a must.
>
> If that fails, then of course you can use someone's
> previous idea of topless milongas.
>
> El Duke.
>
>
>
> to
> LISTSERV@MITVMA.MIT.EDU.
>

=====
PATangoS - Pittsburgh Argentine Tango Society
Our Mission: To make Argentine Tango Pittsburgh's most popular social dance.
https://www.pitt.edu/~mcph/PATangoWeb.htm

Date: Wed, 23 Jul 2003 14:14:26 -0700
From: Captain Charisma <auto_d20@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: growing the community in nyc (or any city for that matter)

--- Trini or Sean - PATangoS <patangos@YAHOO.COM>
wrote:

> Been to Ann Arbor lately, which is strictly
> milonguero?

I am coming!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Get Off Ya Heels!
Change your style cause its time
Milongueros want me to rhyme pre-39
No-one can flow with Ganchos and Boleos, Most people
notice
But others just won't admit, They can't get over it
Rhymes I been known to spit, Mic's I been known to
grip
Makes me the Ultimate, Godfather over this
I'm just a ghost of rip
A soldier in this show business don't exist if he has
no defence
My opponents are so intent, not to show respect
They fret cause I'm a global threat
I'm so hard to catch, a cold with Caleb
I relocate so quick they can't close the net
I expose the close-embracers, dispose of the
closed-minded evaders
On the loose again nobody knows what's next
My nuevo-tango pulse infects
Every milonga with clandestine speech
Hey tangueros Get Off Ya Heels!

El Duke.