[TANGO-L] Community Development

[Stephen Brown <Stephen.P.Brown @DAL.FRB.ORG>]

Over the past few years I have discussed with a number of people why they
have stopped dancing tango or are dancing tango less frequently.  The
recent discussions on Tango-L encouraged me to be a bit more aggressive in
pursuing such information.  Here some lists of reasons that people gave
that are composed mostly from memory.

Among more experienced dancers I have received the following responses:

My new boyfriend/girlfriend does not dance tango.

There are so many more women than men at milongas, so I do not get to
dance very much, and rarely it is with the men with whom I would really
like to dance.

There are so many more women than men that I am expected to dance all the
time, and not necessarily with the women with whom I would like to dance.

I grew tired of dancing memorized figures, but that is all anyone seems to
know.

I grew tired of being pulled into a close embrace with just anyone,
particularly people whose grooming/cleanliness/hygeine could be improved.

I realized that the ability to express myself in the dance was greatly
limited by the skills that my dance partners brought to the dance.  Only a
few partners in my community dance well enough and in the style I like for
me to express myself.  The others are boring.

It seems like many of my potential dance partners hurt me physically. When
I started being choosy, I realized how few people I really wanted to dance
with.

There are too many milongas and practicas, I can no longer go to one
knowing that everyone that I want to dance with will be there.  They may
be going another night.

Among beginning dancers, I have received the following responses:

I just didn't connect with the music or the dance.  Other activities are
more fun.

There weren't enough people (of the opposite sex who are my age).

After 4, 6, 10 weeks I didn't see any real progress in my learning.  I
still wasn't really good enough to dance yet.  I was able to dance salsa
after only a few lessons.

Only a few of the more experienced dancers would dance with me.  The few
who did quickly showed me how little I really knew and I really felt left
out.

I do not want to be pulled into a close embrace by just anyone.

It seemed like we spent all of our time learning step patterns, but the
minute I tried to dance at a milonga, none of those step patterns worked.


With best wishes for 2003,
Steve

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

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