Extracted (perhaps out of context) from what Jake Spatz (TangoDC.com) wrote on 21/07/2007: > > Most of us (I assume) can spot a > permanent dropout in 5 minutes. Why pester them
I think that's the problem I see: we actually cannot, reliably. And in fact many of the people I know who dance and love tango were initially put off by other aspects of their first encounter, not that they didn't like the dance. And the (slightly artificially constructed) welcome that they subsequently got, brought them in. BTW this has nothing to do with financial gain -- I don't get any money from tango. Its my time I'm wasting, all I might get back is more people to dance with; and I choose to use some of my time being welcoming to newcomers. I make an effort to take away some of those obstacles at first impressions. And that doesn't necessarily mean sending them to lessons, especially as the first thing. I can see how if someone is making money from teaching tango, and isn't interested in building this tango community, then they might be tempted to tout paid lessons even to people they know won't stick at it. I assume this happens in those ballroom studios that also teach tango. But, those teachers don't even come to practicas and milongas -- they are not part of the tango community. The teachers who are, seem to take actually helping people get on the dance floor pretty seriously, and with some success. But maybe welcoming people just matters more here, where there are so few of us. Eg here, there are maybe 40-50 tango regulars (of which maybe 20 are die-hards), maybe another 50 occasional attenders. And the next place where there is tango is 3 hours drive, and the place after that, 8 hours drive. So, if a couple of guys turn up at a practica and look interested, of course we try to bring them in! Whereas in a place where you already have plenty of dancers, plenty of good dancers, and plenty of choices of tango activities, there is no longer a need to maximise these opportunities. Maybe then you can rely on getting enough people in to keep things going, with only those with that heady mix of a driving desire to take up tango, together with abundant natural talent. I dream. Cheers Gary _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
