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
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Friday, April 4, 2008
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?
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!
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!
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