[Tango-L] Marketing Survey

[Sandhill Crane]

--- On Thu, 2/3/11, Gordon Erlebacher <gerlebacher at fsu.edu> wrote:

> What constitutes elitism?

Well, having watched various forms of snobbery in action,
I think that the root cause of it is the intensity of
tango, when it works.

>From what I can tell, once people get a feeling for
what tango can be, they want to dance only with the
people that they know for sure can help them have that
beautiful experience. They're just not willing to chance
it with someone else, who might mess it up for them.
The result is that groups form, such that people dance
within their group, and there isn't much cross-over
between groups. 

As it happens, I believe that more experienced dancers
should break out of their cliques to dance with others
(perhaps from other cliques of experienced dancers, or
from the default catch-all newcomer clique).
They should do that, not only because it's good for
those other people (it is), but because it's in their
own self-interest. People who maintain cliques are
missing out on many wonderful experiences they could
be enjoying with the people whom they are busy snubbing.

Let me temper this all-inclusive sentiment with my
own little confession, that I don't dance with
every woman in the room. I can make it work with a lot
of women, but not every woman. Sometimes it's just too
frustrating; I am trying to become a better leader,
in part so that I'll be able to make it work with as
many women as possible.

If everyone adopted a more generous attitude toward
those outside their clique, it would improve the tango
scene as a whole; there would be more people in it,
and each person would have more good experiences.