Help from established communities

Looking for help from my neighbors.

I live and teach Argentine Tango out of St. Louis Missouri. We have a well established community that begun probably 12 - 15 years ago by one or two individuals who discovered and fell in love with Argentine Tango. In the beginning we had maybe two instructors, at last count we have about six different places to learn tango (not counting the various dance studios). Among the different groups there are now ten different teachers all with different experience and ability, but all love Argentine Tango and they all put time into expanding the reach of Argentine Tango. In addition to the individuals who teach there are also a number of members of the community who organize and host tango events. For me the regular weekly and monthly events help the community grow and the large work shop events help to put the community on the national map. Both events are important to the growth of the community. The purpose of this writing is to try and get feed back from those community leaders out there that have been working to expand tango and to keep the community together with all events designed to support tango and unity.

What is the best way to reach the local community?

How do you get more dancers from other areas of your city?

How do you get college students involved and is this a benefit to the community?

How important is gender balance, or lead follow balance? Can you truly influence this?

What goes into your ideal Workshop event?

Should any events be closed?

Is there an effective way to evaluate the level of dancers for workshops?

I really would like to get some feedback from those of you out there that have more experience in these matters.

Thanking you in advance for your time and consideration.

I have been involved in Argentine Tango for a number of years and I do appreciate every aspect of Argentine Tango. For me, one of the most important aspects of this endeavor is our community and the social aspects of the dance. It is the people that make the community and each member contributes in quite different ways. I enjoy meeting people and getting to know them as individuals, facilitated through the dance of Argentine Tango. The members of the community are as varied as they styles of the dance. Professors, scientists, business owners, therapists, and students, all sharing the same love of tango. The varied backgrounds, the vast age differences (in the broad aspect) even as we are different we all work hard in our pursuit of Argentine Tango. We need to remember this! It is the basic LOVE of tango, followed by our individual dedication to understanding the dance, which unites us. Independently appreciating what Argentine Tango means and how this century old expression reaches each one of us in a slightly different way. We build strength in what we have in common, not by emphasizing our differences.

A consistent theme of conversation surrounding tango events is the state of our community; it usually involves discussing what is “wrong or who is to blame”, not what is right with the world!
I have been a part of these conversations far too many times and in the long run, I have contributed nothing constructive. I have contemplated the state of the community many, many times, with many different people, I have been a friend and an “enemy” with the same people and still progress is slow. In my examining our community and my involvement, I have come to this conclusion:

I can only be responsible for myself and my own actions.

With this discovery I have created my “Declaration of Cooperation” for Argentine Tango and the St. Louis Community. Please feel free to examine my statement. Comment on my thoughts or join me in your own declaration.

I want the world to understand that in St. Louis we have a strong, friendly, supportive community. Our shortfalls are very few and our conflicts generally insignificant. Like any family, we cannot agree on everything, therefore we should emphasize our commonality, The Love of Argentine Tango

I am proud to be a member of The Argentine Tango Community and the St. Louis Argentine Tango Community.

Respectfully,
Michael J. Flanagan
Argentine Tango Community
Declaration of Cooperation
St. Louis, Missouri


Argentine Tango Community Declaration of Cooperation St. Louis, Missouri

Let it be known that I am an active member of the Argentine Tango Community in St. Louis, Missouri. I enjoy and respect all things tango and I will do my best to promote Argentine Tango, continuing education, positive discussions and respectful relationships in our community.

My pursuit of tango is an individual activity in a community environment.
I pledge to respect each member of this community understanding that our individual efforts and focus may be motivated by different goals.

I will do my best to support the community while respecting my right to work toward my individual goals.

I will do my best to dance with as many individuals as possible while attending social events. If I am the event organizer, I will focus on the individuals who are spending more time on the sideline than on the dance floor. I will make sure that those who wish to dance have the opportunity.

I will do my best to respect the line of dance and the other dancers on the floor.

I will do my best to respect all types of music and styles of tango.

I will do my best to respect every tango event as each event is designed to promote tango and build friendships.

I will do my best to support new events to help the event establish its own following.

I will do my best to promote our community to other cities. When asked about our community, I will keep my comments positive and will make an effort to discourage negative comments and observations.

I will do my best to do my best to welcome new faces and to ensure they enjoy the event and meet new people.

I will do my best to keep my opinion to myself, while respecting my right to have a differing opinion.

I will do my best to be direct and respectful in addressing a conflict with other members of our community. I will not rely on rumor or third party comments concerning specific events. I will make the effort to get information directly from the parties involved.

In a word, “RESPECT”, very simple, yet very crucial in building any relationship. I will do my best to respect each member of our community while trying to establish new friendships as we together build our tango community.

These are my thoughts and I have decided to present my thoughts on how build a strong, well-respected community to the general population. I believe if as individuals we pledge our support publically and work hard to live this pledge one day at a time, we will continue to create a Tango community well respected by other communities.

This is not a recipe to eliminate conflicts and differences of opinions, however, it is the way to handle these conflicts and diffuse the expansion of conflicts. I will do my best to not to create negative comments and I will do my best to discourage negative conversations.

I am one individual that promises to do my best to follow this Argentine Tango Community Declaration of Cooperation.

Michael J. Flanagan, April 24, 2008
St. Louis, Missouri

Repairing a community

Find the common denominator.

Sounds simple, but I think it makes sense. The common denominator:

Argentine Tango, the dance.

No more no less, not open, closed Milongero, show, but Argentine Tango. You know lead follow, invitation and response. If I teach open embrace and you teach close, that is quite all right. Right?
Does it matter? If 20 people want to learn the close embrace and 10 want to learn open, is that not 30 new dancers? Is one group wrong in their pursuit? People find what moves them, however, if one group denounces the other, this creates the very damaging divide. There is no right or wrong and we should be open to all Argentine tango dancing. One can make his or her own selection of style and one has the right to have an opinion. We all have opinions, however, no one has the right to conclude one style is correct while the other style is incorrect. Never should one belittle another over their selection.

The problem becomes larger than life when the “leader” starts voicing an opinion, even worse when a so-called leader begins to knock any options but their own. There is no stopping the negative influence this creates and often the observations of the dance become the “leader”. It often happens that leader “A” is associated as “Golden Age” and Leader “B” is Nuevo. It can be very tough to make the separation of the music verses the individual.

Can we build on what we have in common?
Can we accept others and their contribution?
Can we keep the negative comments out of the public conversations?
Can we all just get along?

Lets solve this rift together. Every community suffers from miscommunication negative energy.

Any takers?

How to build a better community.

A Community Divided

Teacher “A” finds tango and decides that will be the focus. Less ballroom, more Argentine Tango. Teacher “A” connects with Argentine Tango “A” would like more to discover Argentine Tango and so the journey begins. Around the same time Teacher “B” makes a similar connection to the dance and creates a new path to tango. They both explore the opportunities of Argentine Tango and continue to create their own way. For whatever reason, they lead separately. Their efforts are never connected or shared, they make their own way independently.

Time elapses and “A” and “B” continue their individual path in Argentine Tango. As an outside observer this should be quite acceptable. Two people, they teach differently, but the dance is Argentine Tango. Unfortunately going your own way was not good enough for each of our leaders. Soon they began voicing their opinion of each other and it is never complimentary. Negative comments and energy became as important as the pursuit of Argentine Tango. Despite the conflict the community grows out of the search forf Argentine Tango.

The growth gives life to new leaders and teachers even as the division remains. New leaders have new ideas, new focuses, and new criticisms. Yet the community grows right along with the negative observations and comments. Sometime they seem to have a life of their own and they do not rest. Old ideas and complaints continue to walk among the dancers always looking for the right opportunity to provide the negative comments to anyone who will listen.

In the name of Argentine Tango, more get involved. Leader “C” has a different point of view about how things should be run, so “C” goes out and creates new events the "C" way. This is good, right? It should be. It is done for the community, to discover Argentine Tango, to get more exposure, to grow the community. But leader “C” has their own beliefs and thus their own rules. That’s OK, however, in the declaration of these new rules emerges a declaration of correct and incorrect. Doing you own thing, a perfectly legitimate endeavor, becomes tainted when organizers negate the other leaders as they explain their way is the right way and all others are wrong. Judgment creates another divide in the community.

Creating new options and opportunities is a good thing, it will only help the community to reach more people and expand the reach of the dance. The conflict arises when any leader knocks the efforts of another. Let’s applaud any effort to expand Argentine Tango. I do not care if it the old debate of open verses close, Golden Age music verses Nuevo; Tango is about the steps and the continued growth of a dance that was created by immigrants from a myriad of cultures to connect and make new friends in a new lonely world far from home. Please let us not forget that this dance was not created as an art form, Argentine Tango, the ever-evolving Argentine Tango, was created as a social dance to meet people and build a new community.

Complaining is easy, but how do we look past our egos and build a community where everyone supports Argentine Tango?

What do you say, any ideas out there? Alittle help here!

The Why

Why Argentine Tango? I found it accidently. I never heard of it, didn't know what it was, however, I went along for the ride.

My first exposure was through a ballroom teacher that though my dance partner and I could pick up this dance. I was unaware at the time that he did not dance the Argentine Tango and we were being taught a "routine" from videotape! We were duplicating a look with no understanding of the whys or wherefores. But we continued, and we danced and it worked. The next step was through a Tango couple who taught patterns. This was an improvement, however, I was not learning how to lead, just duplicating what I was shown. I took additional classes, went to workshops. I tried to get more.

Then I went to Argentina. That is when I realized I knew nothing about Argentine Tango. Time to start all over, and I did. More to follow.

Helping a Community Grow

Where do you start? What makes a community grow? What makes a true community?
Is bigger better? There is no correct answer. A community can be many things to many people so I am very interested in getting feedback on this topic. For me, community is like a family. We are all different, however, when push comes to shove, we support each other. In a family we do not hold a grudge, we learn to forgive and forget. At least that is how my family works. I may not like everything they do; however, I support them the best way I can.

For me a great place to start to cultivate the community is to be aware of new faces and make them welcome. I believe it is important for you go up introduce yourself and have a short conversation. My last trip out of town to a well-known Tango community, only one person came up to me and made me feel welcome. I am not complaining, however, it did make me look at what I do when there is a new face in the crowd. I did not look so good. I do better now. It is no fun being a stranger and it feels great when some one makes you feel welcome.

Conversation is good but dancing is better. What I try to do is when it is not my event; I dance with new faces early in the evening. Usually newbie’s arrive early so this allows me to meet and dance with new faces while still giving me the options to dance with my fav’s later in the evening. If everyone remembers what it was like to be the new kid, I believe more people would share their time.

The other important aspect is to do your best to eliminate all negative conversation from the Milonga. I know we all have opinions, boy do I know. I am the worst. It is very tough for me to bight my tongue, but I have gotten much better. I have two close friends I use to voice my complaints, and I never have those discussions in public. For me it is a big negative to hear community members badmouthing other members, music, dancers, what ever. I understand we are human, but nothing good comes out of it. It is magnified if the guilty parties are community leaders. Here is where we must stop and think and try to put ourselves in another pair of shoes.

The community is made up of Teachers, student, great dancers, not-so-great dancers, observers, and want-to-bees. Everyone has his or her place and each is a true member.

I have more to say but I will give it a rest…for now.

Building a community is the Midwest. Michael Giacona

Conversations on Argentine Tango

Hey There!
Since I always have an opinion, I decided to start writing them down. The conversations to be posted will deal mostly with Argentine Tango, community, music, and general opinions and observations. I am new to this and I am sure I will adapt. Please be kind. My comments will be generalized and not directed to specific communities or people. The idea is to create an interest in Argentine Tango and while having the ability to reflect on what can be done to reach more people and create a stronger community.

I also want to be able to create a forum where one may add their thoughts. This BLOG is not tied to any community and should allow for a free and open communication. The goal is to get positive information from anyone who wishes to share his or her time and thoughts. I hope that comments will remain kind and designed with a purpose. Help make this a “Go TO” Tango site.

Your help will be greatly appreciated.
I hope you will find this interesting and share this with a friend.

Respectfully,
M. Giacona