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

[Robert Hauk <robhauk @TELEPORT.COM>]

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