[Tango-L] Tango-L Digest, Vol 25, Issue 28

[Brick Robbins]

 From: Stephen.P.Brown at dal.frb.org
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] Gender Imbalance in Tango

>I think there are some communities where the students end up sorting out
>among the teachers--with one group of teachers teaching the basics Tom
>describes and another group to teaching fancy figures and long sequences.

As far as the gender sorting goes, here is a quote from one of the
Argentinians in our community: "They may have more women, but tell me, do
you actually WANT  to dance with any of them?" I know it sounds mean, but to
a certain extent, this view is held by many of  the  men in the community.

It seems to me that this particular studio follows the "Arthur Murray"
model: They have a "steps" syllabus, a "teachers training program," a line
of videos, a performance "dance company," student showcases, social oriented
group classes and lots of internal social dances, so the students never need
to leave the studio. And they Sell tango.

It works for them.... Or at least it seems to pay their bills. There are
other teachers in town, but no other dedicated "tango only" spaces or
studios.

>One interesting question is to what extent a tango community only has one
>shot any given newbie.  If someone first goes to a teacher who doesn't
>suit his/her learning needs are they inclined to drop out or move onto
>another instructor?

I think this depends on how much of a connection they have to the people in
the community. If they are a friend of a Tanguero/a then they are likely to
stay. If they just walked in off the street then probably not.