[Tango-L] Videos of Dancing at Milongas

[m i l e s]

All,

First and foremost let me notate clearly that I hear the concerns of  
the posters in question.

Secondly, I am sensitive to these concerns, and I have abided rules  
when they are clearly posted or stated to me directly.  Like for  
example, when at the Boston Festival this past week when the  
organizers stated AFTER THE FACT that videoing the PERFORMANCES was  
forbidden, after I had already shot 2 of them, I dumped the video  
immediately.  I could have quite easily posted it on YouTube...but  
that wouldn't have been in the spirit of things.  Event though the  
request came AFTER the video had already been shot.  And I thought  
the event was less than desirable, I still thought that people needed  
to see the performances.

Thirdly, I've posted on my own blog what I thought people would want  
to see of events. Most people visit my site because they know that I  
blog about these events.  Those that are far away and can't get to  
the festivals or events live vicariously through the video experience  
for 4 minutes.  Take for example this past weekend at the Boston  
Festival - while the event was a bust, about 4500 ppl visited my site  
in the last 4 days.  Or Denver, about 6700 in 5 days.  And just so  
you're clear those are *UNIQUE* hits, not page loads, and not repeat  
visits, all unique visits in a 7 day period.

Having said that...let me respond fully to the posters in question  
since I am one of those 'offenders', I'm going to chime in here.

I fall into the camp (considering I'm one the doers) of providing a  
rather necessary service to SEE and HEAR what an event is like.  Its  
a public place and you can do what you want, and unless otherwise  
indicated I shoot a video for an event that I haven't been to before,  
so that anyone else who wants can take a gander of the room and  
quality of the dancing.  I personally don't mind being video'd. I  
would tend to think that anyone running a milonga would WANT  
publicity and having a review of the event is one thing, but having a  
video of the event is another!  It shows the room, the atmosphere,  
the style of the dance that's in the room, the quality of dance  
that's in the room on that night...etc.  A picture is worth a  
thousand words.  A video is worth a small essay on the event.

Those are all good things as far as I'm concerned....

If someone doesn't want to be video'd, there's a simple way to not be  
video'd, don't be in the shot!  Another is to approach said  
videographer *ahead of time* and ask not to be included.  Simple.   
Because these are public places, the legalities of the public spaces  
comes into play.  Its just like a news team taking footage of a  
public event and the laws around that experience are rather clear,  
its public domain.

I hate to disagree with my esteemed posters, hoping to bait me into  
an argument here, but the simple fact is that public domain law is on  
the videographers side here.  And these events because they are  
publicly noted, they now become open to the public, and are therefore  
NOT private events.  We can debate this singular issue till we're  
blue in the face here...and I strongly suspect given this group that  
you folks will.  For my part in it I'm taking myself out of the  
discussion....I've said what I needed to say here.

On a personal note, I've had many organizers come up to me after I've  
posted about their event and THANK ME for the free publicity!  At the  
same time, I've got hundreds of emails in the last 7 months that I've  
been blogging about my experience as a dancer, that have thanked me  
for the 'service' I provide.

M i l e s