in an effort to build our tango community, we did a small, informal, and
unscientific marketing survey. the sample consisted of young (plus or minus a
bit 17-21), likely dancers (already dancing something for the most part), male
and female. our hope was to figure out why there was a problem "attracting" the
younger dancers. before you jump to conclusions, many of our respondents have
been dancing since they were 4 or 5, so they understand working, basics,
levels, etc.
here were the responses, in no particular order:
1) icky music
2) boring
3) don't like to dance with people i don't know or don't like
4) stinky old men
5) too many rules
6) not fun
7) can't just do it (remember, these are people who already can dance, just not
tango)
8) boring practice
9) too slow
10) not "cardio" enough
11) creepy
12) need special shoes
we also attempted to contact people who had "dissapeared" after one or a few
lessons
the majority reflected the above answers, but also commented on feeling
"berated" by people trying to "teach them" during a practica environment. there
were alot of negative comments related to well meaning but less then competent
people (my words) "teaching" during practicas, and either 1) making it no fun
2) making it confusing 3) teaching things that were kinisthetically incorrect
(this was from real dancers, with good credentials, but not in tango). and
finally, one that really floored me, "the people that i saw dancing were not
doing a dance that i want to do", this was a comment on style, not tango.
i tried really hard to "let them speak", in fact, many of these responses were
via text messaging, so i had little back and forth interaction with the
respondents.
i believe that somewhere in these responses are the answers to many of the
questions that have been asked in the past ie: why no men? retention? no young
dancers? no growth in the community? no growth compared to salsa, etc?
thoughts?
The Tangonista
Sponsered by P.E.T.A. (People Expressing Tango Attitude)
NOTICE - no cats were injured in the making of our music
_______________________________________________
Tango-L mailing list
Tango-L@mit.edu
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
