[Tango-L] Gender Imbalance

[Tom Stermitz]

On Jan 3, 2008, at 10:24 PM, ceverett at ceverett.com wrote:

> Tom Stermitz had a nice post on TANGO-L about this sometime in 2006 or
> 2007.  The crux of the matter seems to be selling the possibility of
> being the master of a situation: rather than being swept off their  
> feet
> by passion, they are the ones doing the sweeping.
> ....
> Christopher

Yes, the important thing for the guys is that they feel successful.  
Like they have achieved mastery of something, and have the knowledge  
and confidence to lead a beautiful woman into a dance.

In tango nothing happens without the guy coming up with an idea and  
then executing. This is the crux of the "performance anxiety" problem.  
And in tango you are expecting him to succeed or fail in front of a  
woman, which loads it even more.

You want to retain men? Leave them at the end of each class confident,  
with the new ideas well-integrated with things they already know. For  
a beginner, that might just be walking.

The business strategy of "teach something difficult so they will take  
privates", doesn't succeed with men. They'll just quit. Maybe they are  
cheap; But really they feel unsuccessful and frustrated.


Tom Stermitz
http://www.tango.org
Denver, CO 80207