[Tango-L] How to foster sustainable and unified communities.

[Amaury de Siqueira]

Hello folks,

 

The following email show the exchange among dancers in anAmerican city.  I have anonymzed clues in the message that could identifypeople and places to avoid further dissention.  

 

My question are for the veterans that have spent yearsand great effort creating sustainable and unified communities.  How can weas a group continue to thrive when dancers have such blunt disrespect for others?

 

I ask this question to the list for a simple reason:  thecontent of the message below indicates problems that could deeply divide andhurt a community?  

 

I don’t think this problem is unique to oneplace.  On the contrary such blunt animosity may very well be the normrather than exception.

 

Constructive comments anyone?

 

Respectfully,

Amaury

 

 

 

 

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One last time for those who may be "sitting on thefence" so to speak  ...

 

This weekend, I am offering a series of 5 classes whichare tailored for  the tango communities in and around xxxxxxxxxxxxx.

 

Some people are tempted by the workshops of xxxxxx xxxxxxxxand xxxxxxxx  xxxxx, which happen to be in part coinciding with myclasses. You can  see all the details of that program, as it was posted onseveral yahoo  groups, which I copy for you for easy reference, at thebottom of my  email here.

 

If you are considering taking their workshops, I suggestyou take a good  look at the way they dance on one of the several videosposted on  youtube, and while you are watching the videos, make sure themusic is  loud enough to hear, because they are supposed to be teachingsome  workshops on musicality, too. I suggest also that you payclose,  careful, objective attention to the choice of the titles they havemade  for their workshops. I suggest you ask some questions fromyourself  about these titles in connection with what YOU think our tangocommunity  needs, and what you yourself need in your tango dancing. xxxxxxand  xxxxxxxx and the organizers won't do this for you; you have to do itfor  yourself.

 

I was hoping that after he visited our community the lasttime, sometime  last winter, xxxxxx xxxxxxx will offer somethingmeaningful this time  around. So, I have read and read again theannouncements about his and  his partner's upcoming visit, looking for aclue as to what their  interest is in our tango community beyond provingthat they have some  talent for the dance, and a need for money. I waslooking for a clue as  to a genuine interest on their part in the growthof our community's  UNDERSTANDING of the tango. Unfortunately for xxxxxand xxxxxxxx and  for those of you who will be spending your time andmoney and energy  with them, I have found no sign whatsoever of anysensitivity or respect  for the makeup and the needs of the tangocommunity here in their  proposed upcoming visit. Par for the course.

 

Straight to the point, there is no doubt in my mind thatanyone who is  receiving this email and who is going to miss my classes infavor of  their workshops, is going to lose on three fronts:

 

1) missing out on what I have tailored for this community

2) learning material from xxxxxx and xxxxxxxx that isgoing to be  largely if not entirely useless, and that will add to theconfusion that  comes with the deluge of this largely useless material.

 

We will be losing too: For the next few weeks or months,those who will  be confused, and who may have a thick enough skin to readall this, and  still come back to our classes, will come in and askquestions generated  by this unnecessary confusion, that will take timeand energy to try to  answer. We will of course answer, but even the mostlogical answers will  encounter some resistance as I describe next: pleaseread on, because  the next part is the most important part.

 

There is another dimension to the loss to those who willwaste their  time and money and energy with xxxxxx and xxxxxxxx:

 

3) once you submit yourself to the process of trying tolearn what they  will try to teach you, you will have invested more thanmoney, time, and  energy. You will have invested with your feeling andemotions and  aspirations and hopes. That investment is priceless. Youwill want to  see that investment pay off NO MATTER WHAT! And for thatreason, you  will be in a position to question even the most logical andsensible  explanations of tango offered to you if those explanationscontradict  what you learnd from xxxxxx and xxxxxxx.

 

If you don't believe this, I offer you (anyone) who willtake xxxxxx and  xxxxxxxx's workshops, to come to one of my classesafterwards, and show  me what you learned, and be ready to answer somereally, really tough  questions, and prove me wrong if you can!

 


       
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