Hola List! I'm not a member of TC [Tango Colorado], so I can't post to their message board on Yahoo Groups- so I am posting this to Tango-L - because it concerns all tango communities around the world.
Tango Colorado is an umbrella organization in Denver and they are holding their officer/board elections soon. This is from Jeff Brenman's Candidate [for President] Statement on Yahoo's TCDiscuss Group. Jeff wrote (in part): "I would also like to see an affirmative commitment from our more experienced dancers to better mentor the newcomers. This will take a concerted effort, but it is something I believe would pay handsome dividends for all of us if it were to succeed." Jeff's words are important to all of us. In my former tango community, Aspen and Glenwood Springs (Colorado, U.S.) - retention of beginning dancers has not been good. It's a very small community - and retention is key for continued growth. In a very small community, three or four people can quit tango or move away and you have lost 25%-50% of your community - that is, the dedicated people who are showing up every week. One or two experienced followers can quit or move and you have lost 50% of your experienced (dedicated) followers. We all know the reasons/causes people don't stay with tango - there is the cyclical/random nature of tango (like all things in life); people quit for their own reasons - just giving up (too hard to learn), not "getting" (or not liking) the music, pregnancy, ski season, injury, not enough milongas, not enough good leaders, not enough good followers, kids & family, takes too much time and effort to learn or "get good", close embrace issues, too many work responsibilities (not enough time) - these are all actual reasons beginners in Aspen have told me they chose not to return to tango. People have their reasons and there is probably not much that anyone can do to make them stick with it. But, the real question is this: are we all doing everything we can for beginner "retention"? It is my belief that simply sending out emails announcing classes and events, or posting classes, workshops and events on our websites or on Tango-A is not enough. When I was (much) younger, I was involved in the Sierra Club - the environmental organization. Our local group had a phone list - wherein all of the members (and newcomers) of the organization were divi'ed up amongst a few of us - and we would call people about meetings and activities. This was in the days before personal computers and email and even cell phones! I like Jeff's idea of "Tango Mentors". Teachers, organizers, organizations (like Tango Colorado) and communities should consider the concept of "Tango Mentors" or some other name. It could be modeled similar to university sororities and fraternities - the big sister and big brother concept. Each "experienced" dancer could have two or three or four beginners "assigned" to or "adopted" by them. It would be that dancer's responsibility to call and email them about classes/practicas/milongas; give encouragement and advice; impart knowledge of codigos, the history of tango and tango music; help with technique and practice - you get the picture. Just a thought...just an idea. This concept would be a lot of hard work and commitment for those undertaking it...but I wonder how the world tango community would look after one year of these types of efforts. But then again, it is "just" tango, "just" a dance...and I suppose I have too much time on my hands right now... We have all probably thought of some version of this concept at some time in our tango evolution - but my thanks go out to Jeff Brenman of Tango Colorado for the originating idea for my post. Thanks Jeff. Happy Holidays to all! Alex _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
