[Tango-L] Tango Mentors and Retaining Beginning Tango Dancers

[Alex]

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