[Tango-L] Speak up if you're uncomfortable

[Lois Donnay]

Oh, this is SO the wrong way to think of this! Tango teachers know that every other tango 
instructor is a benefit - their marketing means more students coming into the community. 
All you have to do is be a good teacher with a good reputation, and others in the community 
will recommend you. A bigger community alone can create more buzz, which means more people 
interested in starting tango, which means more students for everyone.

However, a teacher who is sleazy will cause people to drop out very fast. Some will try 
another teacher, but most will just go away, and further the myth of tango being a sleazy 
dance full of sleazy, groping, stalking men. The ones who stay aren't mentioning it, or if 
they are, it is only to very trusted teachers or their closest friends. Those people cannot 
warn anyone else, or if they do, it is limited and never changes anything.

I too enjoyed Chas's posts and I also enjoyed dancing with him.  However, I am glad that 
the woman who was uncomfortable said something. I'm sure she wasn't the first, and has had 
a difficult time. Many people in Denver knew about the situation for some time, but could 
do nothing. This negative publicity will be hard on the Denver tango community for awhile, 
but it will recover and be better for it.

Loisa Donnay
Minneapolis, MN


>
> In my eyes, it is a question of "What would a someone do who is planning to
> establish himself as a tango teacher in a community where there are only so
> many potential tango students to go around? What are the motives of someone
> who publically defames someone who runs a business in the form of a
> reasonably successful tango studio? Is that person maybe trying to help
> someone who has an interest in taking over that teacher's students and does
> not feel confident enough in using his teaching credentials only and needs
> to resort to methods like these when the opportunity offers itself?"
>
> These are the questions that come to my mind in a case like this. And it
> would be an important  reason for me to avoid that teacher who tried to take
> advantage of such a situation.
>
> purely hypothetical of course, I do not live in Denver but this whole affair
> got me thinking...
> Astrid