How to build a tango community?

[Captain Jep]

Blimey, you say that like it's easy...

A few suggestions:
- Marketing marketing marketing. You need to do a lot of this, it's a real art and takes a lot of time.
- Online communities; Facebook is your friend - especially considering the target audience.
- I reckon, to get a regular crowd of 20+ at a milonga, you'll need a community of at least 100 real participants.
- Sacrifice your principles, play the funky stuff (e.g. the new VW Polo ad) and similar music, at least some of the time to pull people in.
- Get a ponytail and a Spanish name

Last year I was running tea dances in a community that had probably 25-30 active social dancers. We'd get 80% of those coming along to the monthly tea dances. The alternative was travelling into London, an hour and a half away. So I think it's more a case of a) how cohesive is the current community and b) what are the alternatives.

We didnt find Facebook of much relevance. Email was somewhat useful. But most people knew about events from word of mouth.

It was good though to run the occasional workshop. People enjoy dancing with their friends, but they also need some new stimulus. And yes it helps if the teachers are visiting from Argentina

 

[UKDancer]

...blimey, 2 million people and only one small AT community?

Loyd & Sandra have been teaching in Birmingham for several years now, but there is more than one community. The University Group is quite active (particularly in term-time, inevitably) and Mike Isaacs, who also teaches in Leamington, runs regular classes and milongas.

I don't want to knock any of the local teachers either, but it amused me a while ago to be in conversation with one of the Uni. organisers, who pretended not to know that Mike even existed. As his classes and milongas are held at the University's own Catholic Chaplaincy building, that seemed unlikely. It is not unknown for one group to schedule an event, at short notice, to clash with another, even when that means having to wait a month for another opportunity to dance tango within the city limits. That's pretty silly.

I'd hesitate to say something generic like "Brummies don't dance", but I do wonder if there's at least some truth in that.

Oh, they do, but they seem to wait until they are 70+, and then go Sequence Dancing in huge working mens clubs. If you don't know the Sequence scene, you probably wouldn't want to, but it is a real issue for those of us that want to dance Ballroom & Latin that there are almost NO venues where the dancing isn't dominated by Sequence and the retired.

If we get one (ballroom) tango a night, we're in luck, and there's no real chance of dancing samba or much jive, unless you hire your own venue and dance alone.

 

[LoveTango]

The weird thing I've noticed, being semi-involved in parts of this game, is that the money you charge for attendance may have almost no bearing on the numbers who attend.

Last year, I ran a 4-hour workshop, £25 per person, there were about 25 attendees. The week after, as a "thank you" to people, I ran a free 2-hour practice session, where I'd be on hand to give advice and guidance. And the latter one - the free one - had 6 attendees.

Which still boggles my mind.

So, unless you're aiming at people who really are on low / fixed incomes (e.g. students), the pricing probably won't make much difference.

I'm not sure if that helps you much - the only advice I'd give is to minimize costs to as little as possible initially, but that's pretty obvious really.

I found myself trying to avoid milongas which give student discount.

 

[Ampster]

This how our community developed--> (Seattle Tango Topographies)

 

[Madahlia]

Loyd & Sandra have been teaching in Birmingham for several years now, but there is more than one community. The University Group is quite active (particularly in term-time, inevitably) and Mike Isaacs, who also teaches in Leamington, runs regular classes and milongas.

I have also wondered why Birmingham isn't a more congenial dance area, both for tango and modern jive. One of the tango groups caters largely for students - who never seem to meld with other tangueros that might be around. I suppose it's student insularity and that May/September (October, even, gosh darnit!) thing. I used to go over fairly regularly but rarely visit now.

When it comes down to it, I think that there are basic commodities that need to be provided by organisers to increase the chances of individual ventures succeeding.
*Teachers need to be seen to be friendly, approachable, pleasant, concerned about their students, be good dance practitioners and willing to help their students by working the room, not just dancing with each other or a small elite.
*Events have to be good value. I understand the need to cover costs but there will be no repeat business if people travel miles to find a very expensive but unwelcoming or poorly attended milonga. The moral, I think, is try to start off cheap and only charge the maximum price when a critical mass of dancers are likely to turn up.
*Where possible teaching should be offered at a variety of levels but with strong emphasis on training beginners well and making them feel part of a tango community early on.
*Hiring well-known teachers for weekends brings in new people and fosters a sense of serious learning.
*The very best organisers will also go the extra mile to create a special atmosphere at milongas and organise special outings and social events etc.

I don't want to knock any of the local teachers either, but it does seem to me that some do better at some of these factors than others.

It is not unknown for one group to schedule an event, at short notice, to clash with another, even when that means having to wait a month for another opportunity to dance tango within the city limits. That's pretty silly.

If this happened - and it can be difficult to prove - I would be disgusted with the organiser. It's destructive, and pointless. Two poorly attended milongas on the same night does no-one any good, either punter or organiser, whereas two well-attended milongas a fortnight apart benefits everyone.

 

[bordertangoman]

Werent the Javier&Andreas weekends there quite successful? And didnt Kicca travel up to teach there once a week? I'm surprised : I thought at least there was something of a scene, not one struggling to survive.

Those wekends were well attended, but the people attending were from further afield; the local core is still quite small.

 

[dchester]

Well, I started my weekly practica about a month ago, and it snowed every time except one.

Then I get an email from someone about how they'd like to learn to dance tango like in this movie scene they saw.



FML

 

[AndaBien]

... they'd like to learn to dance tango like in this movie scene they saw.

Oh, good grief.

I figured out that everyone wants to dance the tango - it's a cultural archetype. Problem is, learning how is not part of the dream.

 

[quixotedlm]

Well, I started my weekly practica about a month ago, and it snowed every time except one.

You mean, you don't allow Nuevo in your practicum?

 

[Lilly_of_the_valley]

Well, I started my weekly practica about a month ago, and it snowed every time except one.

Then I get an email from someone about how they'd like to learn to dance tango like in this movie scene they saw.
FML

Simple. They should form a group (or join an already existing one), hire a coach/choreographer, and enjoy practicing and performing their number at competitions and other events. There are people in my area who do exactly that, and are very happy with their endeavor.

As long as they do not attend milongas, there will be no problem whatsoever.

 

[AndaBien]

Simple. They should form a group (or join an already existing one), hire a coach/choreographer, and enjoy practicing and performing their number at competitions and other events. There are people in my area who do exactly that, and are very happy with their endeavor...

So true. When I hear requests like that I always ask how many hours per day they intend to practice.

 

[Asiatias]

I have also wondered why Birmingham isn't a more congenial dance area, both for tango and modern jive. One of the tango groups caters largely for students - who never seem to meld with other tangueros that might be around. I suppose it's student insularity and that May/September (October, even, gosh darnit!) thing. I used to go over fairly regularly but rarely visit now.

We have a Tango Studio in Sarasota, Fl that caters to college students and local Tango residents. It's membership based and all of the members practice togeather which helps intergrate students into the Tango community. The youth is the future to building our Tango communities. We want to inspire them they way Tango inspires us.

How the Instructors promote it and the local Tango community welcomes them is truely a big impact.

 

[nucat78]

A local couple started hosting milongas in their finished basement - minimal admission price and the hostess made great food. Attendance was largely generated by word of mouth.

They have parlayed that into renting a storefront for a tango club (remodeled with 100% volunteer labor) with a weekly milonga and practilonga and a monthly ballroom tea dance and monthly salsa night.

Two caveats:
This is in a major metro area with a large AT crowd.
They're from Argentina and bring in teachers from BA.

 

[tangomonkey]

Just wondering how your efforts have been going...

 

[dchester]

Just wondering how your efforts have been going...

It's still a work in progress. When it's not snowing out, my weekly practica is averaging 6 people. I also will be running a beginners class in a couple weeks, through the city's adult education program (assuming enough people register for it). Lastly, there are a couple different factions at one of the local colleges who are running milongas. Of course, they can't work together, or co-ordinate things (and they occasionally have issues finding a location for them).