2891  HOW TO KILL TANGO IN YOUR COMMUNITY

Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2004 11:01:36 -0700
From: Trini or Sean - PATangoS <patangos@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: HOW TO KILL TANGO IN YOUR COMMUNITY

Hi everybody!

I find these posts about how to kill a tango community
particularly disturbing. I must be very fortunate
because I ve personally never met someone who wanted
to commit tangocide. If these people really exist, I
don t think it s wise to write a handbook to aid their
nefarious cause.;o)

Obviously (I hope), no one is trying to aid and abet
the destruction of tango communities. If you accept
that premise, then the subtext of these posts is more
destructive than the content. I don t believe that
these complaints have been made by representative
members of a community. They sound to much like
rhetoric adopted by competing promoters.

The complainers have strung together a bunch of
(minor?) incidents to make them seem like an
anti-tango campaign. Some of the incidents might be
true, and some are clearly embellished, but all are
taken out of context. The complaints just don t
support the anti-community conclusion. I can see two
specific flaws in these attempts at logic:
(1)There are at least two sides to any dispute. No
attempt is made to present the other side.
(2)The complainers conveniently ignore all of the good
things promoters have done to build their communities.

I don t think that anyone should identify the
communities described in these posts. It can t do any
good, and will probably do a lot of harm. I would
guess that the people who posted these criticisms will
make sure that those being criticized get the message.


Without exception, all of the tango promoters that I
know have been drawn into this lifestyle by their love
for the dance. Most do not have formal training in
running this sort of a business. They are learning as
they go. Those that are human have made some mistakes
along the way. The best recognize and learn from their
mistakes. But I think one of the biggest mistakes a
promoter could make would be to take these complaints
to heart, and forget the good they ve done for the
community. In my experience, the good that promoters
have done to build tango communities far outweighs any
mistakes that they have made along the way.

It is healthy to accept criticism and try to learn
from it, even though that can be especially difficult
when the criticism is clearly biased and mean
spirited. But it is not healthy to forget all of the
good that you have accomplished because of the
complaints of someone who barely understands your
business.

To those who are using this forum to air their
personal grievances: I think that you are doing far
more damage to your tango communities than those
against whom you rage. If you want to solve disputes;
approach the other concerned parties in a conciliatory
manner, (and maybe even acknowledge your own
mistakes). If you want to destroy your community, then
broadcast divisive, one-sided complaints to the rest
of the world.

Sean
(The mostly silent half of PATangoS)


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