Re: [TANGO-L] Why students stop dancing.

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

Lois Donnay wrote:

>I just had a student stop, and here's some of his reasons.
>He is a good ballroom dancer.

I have come to believe believe that the Argentine tango and ballroom
communities are essentially separate/incompatible communities that attract
different people.

Very few ballroom dancers seem to make the transition to dancing Argentine
tango.  More swing or salsa dancers seem to make the transition.

Clay Nelson, who helped launch the Portland (Oregon) tango community, has
similar observations.  Although Clay has a ballroom background himself, he
has commented that one cannot expect to attract many ballroom dancers to
Argentine tango.

Tango and ballroom dancing have different esthetics.  As Lois' student
remarks:
>Other dances allow a fair amount of open work, with the potential
>for more zip, flair, and interaction.

Tango emphasizes an inner connection between partners.  Even the more
theatrically oriented tango dancers must have this inner connection if
their dancing is to have any meaning.

>... I need to learn to adjust to the process of learning tango...

Ballroom dancers already have developed a set of skills that allow them to
dance a number of different dances, but it seems as though they that those
skills are not a great advantage in learning and dancing Argentine tango.
The ballroom experience may also lead people to have unrealistic
expectations about how long it will take to learn Argentine tango.  In
addition, Nito Garcia has commented that dancing many dances makes it
difficult to develop a good knowledge of tango.

>Another smaller matter is that I really don't greatly enjoy one-dance
>evenings as much, be they centered around west coast or tango. Variety
>is preferable to me.

In most Argentine tango communities, most of the the dancers only know
tango, vals and milonga.  A few know salsa, and a few know a form of
swing--West Coast, East Coast or Lindy.  A handful of people know the
ballroom genre of dances.  Consequently, at a milonga, a dj might play
some salsa or swing, but probably no ballroom music.  There will not be
enough dancers.  In addition, for most people who dance Argentine tango
going to a ballroom dance will mean sitting most of the night, and perhaps
dancing to one or two American or European tangos the whole evening.

With best wishes from Texas,
Steve

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

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Send "Where can I Tango in <city>?" requests to Tango-A rather than to
Tango-L, since you can indicate the region. To subscribe to Tango-A,
send "subscribe Tango-A Firstname Lastname" to LISTSERV @MITVMA.MIT.EDU.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------