[Tango-L] Retaining Men in Tango (Musicality)

[Tango Society of Central Illinois]

Much recent discussion has been devoted to the shortage of men in
tango. I live in a University town and in our tango classes and
milongas, we have tended to have extra men. This exists despite a
majority of women students at the University of Illinois (somewhere in
the 55-60% range). We teach tango in close embrace. Undoubtedly there
are some women who have fled our classes because they do not want to
be held close while dancing. The ballroom dance studio in town tends
to have extra women in their Argentine Tango classes, taught in an
open frame. One could attribute the extra men in our classes to the
fact that a lot of graduate students in science and engineering come
to our classes, but the highest rentention rate is for men over 40.
Men over 40?? Certainly a most unteachable lot!! While much of the
loss of younger men and women can be attributed to moving out of town,
dabbling in a lot of hobbies, and becoming consumed by graduate
studies, the high retention rate of men over 40 (about 3/4 continue
from Tango 1 to Tango 2) deserves some evaluation. How can we retain
older men at a high rate?

The key, I believe is in what you teach. For example, we only teach
movements to the cross (in our case, the ocho cortado) in the first
month (our courses are 4 weeks) if we have a group that is progressing
at a higher than average rate. We don't teach forward and back ochos
in the first month (Tango 1) either. (Fundamentals of ochos - forward,
back, and cortado - are the core material in Tango 2.) So what do we
teach? We focus on walking to the rhythm and phrasing of the music
while adjusting to the close embrace. We add several varieties of
stationary and turning rock steps in both single and double time,
showing how they meet navigational needs while connecting to the
rhythm and phrasing of the music. Everything we teach at this level
fits a 4-count phrase and helps the men connect with the music. (Later
they learn more varied interpretation of the music.) They dance these
patterns to a variety of classic tango music - tango, milonga, and
vals. We stick to music with a clear beat - Di Sarli, Canaro,
D'arienzo, Donato. Almost all of the men are connected to the music.
The students spend most of their time in class dancing, focusing on
the rhythm and phrasing of the music, instead of trying to figure out
where the foot goes next.

Our approach to teaching beginners is based to a large degree on what
we have experienced Tom Stermitz teach in his visits to our community.
This method has helped us have a high success rate in retaining men.

Where we have had less sucess is with younger men and women who come
to class eager to learn ganchos, boleos, sacadas, and volcadas in the
first course. These are people who seek instant gratification and we
cannot offer them that. If they stay with tango at all they pick these
moves up by imitation (they're impatient about instruction), perform
them poorly, and do not learn about musicality and navigation.

When we started teaching tango in close embrace 3 years ago we had a
problem with retention of women. Now we mix more experienced men and
women in our beginner classes. Our rentention rate for women has
improved substantially so that we are close to gender parity at all
levels of classes. At our milongas we are also close to gender parity,
although the men in general are more experienced. The women love
dancing with the experienced men. The experienced men are attracting
more women to higher level classes and milongas.

OK, this is a different situation, in a population (largely graduate
students and university academic staff) that has more men to begin
with. However, even though men existed in surplus for some time in our
classes and milongs, their interest in tango and self confidence about
their abilities has kept them involved in tango and attracted women.
Now we are experiencing a higher retention rate for women as well.

There is a strong temptation to respond to consumer demand and teach
flashy steps and advance students at a rate faster than most are able
to learn. However, the most demanding students are also the ones most
likely to be disappointed and not stay with tango. Many of them quit
because the flashy moves they thought were so easy are too difficult
for them to do. The great equalizer is musicality. I believe almost
everyone can connect to the clear rhythm of classic tango music and
enjoy it. Besides, this is the essence of social tango.

Ron
Urbana IL