Re: [TANGO-L] Community growth...Teacher Challenge

[Robert Dodier <robert_dodier @YAHOO.COM>]

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


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