374  Our New Year's Eve Experiment, Lucile Krasne

Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2002 11:37:18 -0800
From: robin thomas <niborsamoht@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Our New Year's Eve Experiment, Lucile Krasne

> Dear All,
> Happiest New Year!!!
>
> This will be the first time I have submitted to the
> Tango L, but something
> so interesting happened this New Year's Eve that I
> finally think I must
> share what was an unusual New Year's milonga
> experience and open it up for
> more discussion. Forgive this length.
>
> My "Celebrate Tango2 partner, an elegant and serious
> NYC milonguera, Gayatri
> Martin, organized this New Year1s Eve Tango Ball
> with me. I sent out a
> good press release and happily got a response from
> Time Out New York,
> telling me they were interested in featuring our
> night.
>
> I realized this was both very good in one way, and
> very bad in another: How
> to keep a possible big throng of total newcomers
> from mucking up the space
> for the rest of us.
>
> This really called for emergency measures. And
> quick! We added an hour
> class pre-ball class which Gayatri would teach. It
> was added to the magazine
> copy.
>
> Last Thursday, when the issue hit the streets, the
> phone was ringing off the
> hook from the featured listing, and I felt this was
> a golden opportunity to
> do something different.
>
> I talked to my friend, Carlos Lima, who thinks a
> great deal about these
> problems. He has some excellent ideas for moving the
> totally uninitiated
> into the community and, indeed, even onto the dance
> floor simply and
> sweetly. I have wanted to get Carlos1 ideas into
> action. He immediately
> agreed to try his approach and create an instant
> 2-hour class.
>
> We asked Carlos to 3do his thing2Pto emphasize floor
> craft, connection and
> musicality. He did just that in one hour! He wanted
> to start earlier, but
> we had precious little time to notify the calling
> public, we did an
> emergency e-mailing on Monday afternoon to those who
> called for
> reservations, and we had maybe 40 people at 8:15 and
> maybe 80-100 by 9.
> Gayatri continued to add to the experience another
> hour, referring back to
> Carlos1 instructions to the group. So our mantra
> was really "line of
> dance, line of dance, connection connection,
> musicality musicality2---
>
> The results were amazing: integrating what swelled
> to well over 100 new
> people into such a scene without disastrous results!
> Total participants
> through the night was around 230. Carlos had mused
> in an early conversation
> that his teaching approach might provide us with a
> hundred total novices
> dancing more thoughtfully than many of the
> experienced dancers, for as
> wonderful as our dancers are here in NYC---and they
> are truly wonderful---
> we are not famous, as a whole, for being a community
> of dancers always
> observing the line of dance and other courtesies of
> the salon.
>
> The results permitted the experienced dancers to
> enjoy a fine, uncluttered,
> respectful dance environment. Actually, the whole
> thing was of-a-piece:
> thoughtful, beautiful moving and relating. The thing
> was that those new to
> tango felt it was in the realm of possibility to
> learn this beautiful dance.
> The number of people asking about classes was very
> heartening. Time will
> tell how many are pulled by this night to do more.
> At the very least all
> had an amazingly warm, friendly, properly respectful
> attitude towards the
> event, the material, and the participants. All was
> sensitively aided and
> abetted by the elegant d.j.ing of Robin Thomas.
>
> Many had never experienced such a thrilling and
> rewarding New Year1s Eve
> and expressed this to us. (Well, think back, how
> many of us were thrilled
> with most New Year1s Eve parties, dumb cocktail-y
> things, etc., B.T?
> Ah-haaa,---when I think back upon this, my very best
> New Year1s Eve and one
> of my life1s peak experiences, was seeing 3Tango
> Argentino2 l985/6 on
> Broadway!!!)
>
> Here we are, in a bizarrely top heavy, pitifully
> small tango community,
> with tons of events, teachers, classes. Something
> has to be done! A fair
> guesstimate of the regular number of dancers (those
> going out from 1 to 7
> nights per week) might be around 500--only a few
> hundred tango dancers
> within a metropolitan area of maybe 11 million
> people. This tango
> community, just counting up calendar listings, on
> any given weekend
> onlyPoffers us classes, practicas, milongas, special
> tango events, tango
> concertsP12 to 15-- and we1ve about every star and
> non-star coming to town
> to teach. You can do the math. Add on the studio
> classes, privates, 1-3
> milongas per night. Pretty tiny pieces of pie by
> now.
>
> And about 90% of this is going on in Manhattan. For
> instance, from my East
> Village apartment, I can walk to 10Pcount them-- 10
> Ppracticas or milongas
> within 15 to 35 minutes. Mind you, I am not
> complaining. I am so very lucky.
> I want them all, and the more the merrier, but we
> are coming to a point of
> diminishing returns. So what to do: Keep on
> thinking about enlarging the
> community! It is of course, happening. But so, so
> slowly!
>
> With Carlos1 help, we did a rash, smart thing:
> gambled on an idea and won. I
> think we must keep thinking! I have an idea I hope
> to share with others
> about this problem.
> But this is far too long. And you all have scads of
> experience to respond to
> this.
>
> Thanks for reading thisPthose of you who could hang
> in! Lucille Krasne
>
> --
> Lucille and Gayatri
> Celebrate Tango
> www.nyctango.com

posted by robin on behalf of lucile who is having
troubles posting.

Send your FREE holiday greetings online!

Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2002 17:24:59 -0600
From: Stephen Brown <Stephen.P.Brown@DAL.FRB.ORG>
Subject: Re: Our New Year's Eve Experiment, Lucile Krasne

Faced with a possible big throng of total newcomers
mucking up the space for the more experienced dancers,
Lucile Krasne talked to her friend Carlos Lima.

According to Lucile (as forwarded to the list by Robin Thomas):

>He [Carlos] has some excellent ideas for moving the totally
>uninitiated into the community and, indeed, even onto the
>dance floor simply and sweetly. ...
>
>He [Carlos] immediately agreed to try his approach and create
>an instant 2-hour class ... to emphasize floor craft,
>connection and musicality. He did just that in one hour!
>
>The results permitted the experienced dancers to enjoy a fine,
>uncluttered, respectful dance environment.

A more detailed description of Carlos Lima's ideas and approach would be
greatly appreciated.

With best regards,
Steve (de Tejas)

Stephen Brown