[Tango-L] Wall St Jrnl: Banker Now Regards $15.4 Million Lessons As a Serious Misstep

[Kace]

Stories like this often give people from the West the idea that Asians 
are filthy rich
and can afford to spend at crazy prices... 

But the fact is that most of Asia is not rich.  The financial crisis a 
few years ago
knocked down many middle-income families, and wages have yet to recover.
The main reason why Asians appear to have more disposable income is that
the cost of living (basic food, fuel, clothes) and taxes and insurance are
under control.

Ironically, the super-rich appear to not be affected by the economy. 
Maybe they
live in an alternate economy, or maybe they are earn their money from 
the West
while living in the East.  Who knows?

We often have to rein in the expectation of foreign instructors who come to
Asia to teach, after they have been suggested to visit by people they met.

-  Those who cater to teaching the rich tatler set focus on private 
lessons,
   debutante balls, pro-am vanity performances, and accompanying  them to
   holiday in Buenos Aires. 
- Those who cater to the "man-in-the-street" concentrate on group classes
   and organising milongas in cheap bars.

Only one of these is the real tango community -- but professionals go to
where the money is. 

Constantly we have to try to find ways to distort the natural laws of
economics --- but that is a challenge that only local instructors will meet.

Kace
tangosingapore

Nitin Kibe wrote:
> More on the Hong Kong banker and her instructors, lessons, fees, etc etc on 
> Thursday's Wall Street Journal front page, the daily "human interest" story. 
>   Included is a little aside from a HK AT teacher who charges a mere $70 per 
> hour.
>
> Best to all.
>
> NK
>
> Wash DC
>
> PS: I am still not sure whether the numbers in the article are in HK$ (8 HK$ 
> = 1 US$) or US$, but the WSJ normally qualifies $ if it is not US$.  In any 
> case, it's still large numbers.
>
> ******************
>
> Banker Now Regards $15.4 Million Lessons As a Serious Misstep --- Ms. Wong 
> Sues Dance Coach Who Called Her 'a Cow'; Pursuit of Ballroom Glory
>
> By Kate Linebaugh
> 1247 words
> 3 August 2006
> The Wall Street Journal
> A1
> English
> (Copyright (c) 2006, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)
> HONG KONG -- As the top Asia private banker for HSBC Holdings PLC, Mimi 
> Monica Wong knows how to make wealth last. But these days, she is better 
> known for the millions she lost perfecting her rumba.
>
> Two years ago, Ms. Wong agreed to pay $15.4 million for eight years of 
> unlimited Latin-dance instruction. About half of that sum she paid up front, 
> in cash. The 61-year-old widow recently said she was "looking for the last 
> bit of glory in life."
>
> But the arrangement soured even before it took effect. Now Ms. Wong is suing 
> her dance instructors in a Hong Kong court seeking the return of her $8 
> million pre-payment. The instructors, 15-time world Latin dance champion 
> Gaynor Fairweather, of the U.K., and her Italian husband Mirko Saccani, are 
> countersuing for the $7.4 million outstanding under the agreement.
>
> Hong Kong has no shortage of big spenders. Home to some of Asia's great 
> fortunes, the city of about seven million boasts the most Rolls-Royces per 
> capita in the world. Yet even here, the equivalent of $5,000 a day for eight 
> years is a lot to pay for dance lessons.
>
> "It's just ridiculous," says Keith McNab, an Argentine tango instructor in 
> Hong Kong who charges about $70 an hour. "No one could actually take enough 
> lessons to make it worth it."
>
> In a letter to a local newspaper, a Hong Kong civil servant said such sums 
> could inspire a career change. "Ladies, I am now available to give dancing 
> lessons," wrote John Shanahan, a senior officer at the city's anticorruption 
> watchdog. "Payments are accepted in advance. Pole dancing costs extra."
>
> But for many women in high-society Hong Kong, dancing is serious business. 
> At glitzy charity balls, Chinese tycoons sometimes turn into wallflowers as 
> their wives dip and twirl in the arms of a paid partner -- often a younger 
> Western man. Among this crowd, it's not uncommon to fork over $500 for an 
> afternoon social event called a "tea dance."
>
> Hong Kong has "some of the craziest prices in the world," says Walter Wat, 
> president of the Hong Kong Ballroom Dancing Council.
>
> The sums approach the stratosphere when a dancer hits the international 
> "pro-am" circuit, where aspiring amateur dancers, mostly female, take part 
> in competitions with professional partners. Daily lessons are necessary to 
> master the five dances that make up competitive Latin ballroom -- cha-cha, 
> rumba, samba, jive and paso doble. There are also travel expenses, entry 
> fees and the cost of costumes for two.
>
> It was this kind of dancing that grabbed Ms. Wong. She rose to the top, just 
> as she had in private banking, and she loved it. "It's like, you know, 
> winning Wimbledon," she said in a recorded conversation with a friend that 
> was referred to in court. Ms. Wong, Ms. Fairweather and Mr. Saccani all 
> declined to comment for this article.
>
> Off the dance floor, Ms. Wong has an impressive resume. A graduate of 
> Columbia University, she worked her way up HSBC, the world's biggest bank by 
> assets, to become head of its private banking business in Asia. The daughter 
> of a Hong Kong shipping magnate, Ms. Wong is known for her composure, 
> elegance and perfectionism at any cost.
>
> In 2000, Ms. Wong began taking lessons from Ms. Fairweather, who ruled the 
> Latin dance world for 15 years with her then-partner Donnie Burns. The pair 
> is credited with injecting a new flair to the form, and for slowing down the 
> samba to allow for more swagger, according to Hong Kong dance teachers. For 
> their service to dance, each was awarded an Order of the British Empire, a 
> lesser honor than knighthood.
>
> Under Ms. Fairweather's tutelage, Ms. Wong increasingly devoted herself to 
> dancing. Often she would dash away from work at lunch for two hours of 
> lessons, only to put in two more at the end of the day, according to 
> statements made in court. Ms. Fairweather would labor over her student's 
> dress designs, drawing floral patterns and hiring seamstresses to affix 
> hundreds of Swarovski crystal beads, she testified in court. "To me, she was 
> everything," the 49-year-old Ms. Fairweather told the court.
>
> After two years of instruction with just Ms. Fairweather, Mr. Saccani became 
> part of the package. According to court statements, Mr. Saccani instigated 
> longer-term contracts with Ms. Wong for greater and greater sums, paid well 
> in advance. After he began instructing Ms. Wong, according to court 
> testimony, he bought a Ferrari.
>
> In 2002, Ms. Wong paid $135,000 for a fixed number of lessons and 
> competitions. Shortly afterward, she shelled out $1.3 million for a two-year 
> package of unlimited lessons until 2004.
>
> The work paid off. With Mr. Saccani as her partner at the 2003 Emerald Ball 
> Dancesport Championships in Los Angeles, Ms. Wong won the title of "Top Gold 
> Lady."
>
> On top of what she had spent already, Ms. Wong then agreed to pay $15.4 
> million over eight years for exclusive access to Ms. Fairweather's and Mr. 
> Saccani's services.
>
> Ms. Wong swallowed the high prices because "she was desperate to continue 
> and could not bear to throw away all her hard work," according to her 
> closing statement to the court.
>
> What upended the multimillion-dollar dance partnership was an incident on a 
> Wednesday afternoon in August of 2004. At the Li Hua restaurant, a favorite 
> afternoon dance venue, Ms. Wong and a group of other women were taking part 
> in a mock competition.
>
> That day, the banker was heavier in her step than usual, according to 
> statements in court. In front of fellow dancers, Mr. Saccani shouted at her 
> to "move your arse," and called Ms. Wong a "lazy cow," according to court 
> documents.
>
> Other dance teachers testified his verbal abuse contained threats of 
> physical violence. Instructor Philip Redmond told the court he heard Mr. 
> Saccani say, "If you do it again, Monica, I'll smash your head against the 
> wall." Mr. Saccani denies having said anything beyond some "motivational" 
> language, though he admits to shouting expletives at her.
>
> Two days later, she cut short another practice session. That night, in the 
> taped conversation submitted to the court, she told a friend that the money 
> involved was "stupid," "crazy" and "completely out of hand." The two sides 
> fell out further over the following days and Ms. Wong quickly won a court 
> order to freeze the bank accounts of her instructors.
>
> Ms. Fairweather and Mr. Saccani say they remain ready to fulfill the terms 
> of the contract. "It's not fair to have such love and work put into a person 
> and one day she's not there," Ms. Fairweather told the court.
>
> The publicity around Ms. Wong's case hasn't been good for a private banker, 
> a job that prizes discretion, other bankers say. However, HSBC stands behind 
> its banker, and after a brief leave of absence to attend the two-week 
> hearing, she is back at work helping Asia's wealthy plan their financial 
> future. A judgment in the court case is expected later this summer.
>
> At night, there is still the cha-cha. Ms. Wong has a new instructor, whom 
> she is paying, according to statements in court, $21,000 a month.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Tango-L mailing list
> Tango-L at mit.edu
> http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
>
>