Lasting Twelve Months

[UKDancer]

I was looking through some old Facebook posts this morning, and came across one of our local teachers joking that when he started off new beginners in classes in January & September each year, that he could tell, before the end of the first session, who would stick at the dance and join the tango community. He also commented that the majority lasted just two to three weeks, and mentioned fewer than 10% lasting a year.

Now, in mid-Febuary, presumably his latest new class is thinning out, as usual (mine certainly is), and it set me wondering how typical was this experience (ie very high initial drop-out rate, followed by steady attrition and just a handful, really, staying the course).

What are other's experience of bringing beginners into the dance (and encouraging them to stay long enough to find out whether it will really be for them). How best should teachers introduce the dance, and its customs to those who may know just about nothing about it at the outset? Can we do anything to improve the retention rate?

 

[Zoopsia59]

I think it's important to reassure students that the learning curve is rather steep in the beginning.

To be honest, I don't think it HAS to be steep, but it feels that way to most people. It would probably be less steep if people were taught differently and/or if they had more realistic goals.

Anyone who thinks they'll be doing the fancy stuff right out of the gate is probably going to be disappointed and give up.

I also think that tango isn't unique in having people give it a try and move on quickly when it requires too much effort. There is a huge difference between a hobby and a passion. People will give their all to their passion, but they expect their hobby to give to them or else why bother?

 

[UKDancer]

... I don't think [the learning curve] HAS to be steep, but it feels that way to most people. It would probably be less steep if people were taught differently and/or if they had more realistic goals.

What do you think are the main factors that give rise to the perception, and what teaching approach might help? Goals, you can't do much about...

 

[AndaBien]

...What are other's experience of bringing beginners into the dance (and encouraging them to stay long enough to find out whether it will really be for them). How best should teachers introduce the dance, and its customs to those who may know just about nothing about it at the outset? Can we do anything to improve the retention rate?

That pretty much reflects my experience.

When I began teaching I was (naively) teaching an 8-week beginners class series. By the end of the eight weeks there would usually be 3 or 4 people left, and 1 or 2 would continue on to the next 8-week series. I think the eighth week was just a convenient mile stone to quit. Of those who did continue, half would last 6 months and half of those would last an entire year. It was discouraging.

I began thinking almost anyone could learn the dance, but realized eventually that it took real devotion to become a tango dancer. I would tell the students to look for little, tiny improvements, because that was what they would usually make, and they had to appreciate them. I thought there was a correlation between capable tango students and people who had learned some challenging skill as a child: music, chess, baton twirling, a sport. People who knew about long slow growth were, I thought, more able to endure. It became my understanding that everybody wanted to dance tango, but few were willing to learn.

I still don't understand why it takes so long, although I realize that it does. My teaching evolved to focus more and more on tiny, little, subtle, simple movements, rather than big fancy stuff. Most of my students just seemed unable to figure out what I was talking about. There seems to be a natural learning path that just can't be shortened. I don't know how many years it takes for students to realize that the best dance, IMO, is found in the little, simple movements. They have to struggle with the fancy stuff first, and then maybe they will begin to explore the simple stuff.

 

[AndaBien]

... Goals, you can't do much about...

I agree. Most students see the razzle dazzle and are seduced by it. They rarely notice the old guy who's doing nothing but walking and rocking, in their perception. And I know why they don't notice - it takes a good eye to see the beauty of it.

 

[UKDancer]

Most students see the razzle dazzle and are seduced by it.

Oh yes, they want to do ganchos and high boleos, enrosques and sacadas, and straight away. I have even though, heck, why not give them a really flash 'move' - just one - in week one, and see what happens next ....

 

[opendoor]

..He also commented that the majority lasted just two to three weeks, and mentioned fewer than 10% lasting a year...
Can we do anything to improve the retention rate?

My observations:
In the first year new attendees will need nothing more than a stable group, fairly big, fairly interesting. The skills and qualification of the teacher seem to be rather unimportant. The chance to belong to that crowd let struggleing and striving take a backseat. Not until one year the skills of the teacher will come into the play.

Most students see the razzle dazzle and are seduced by it. They rarely notice the old guy who's doing nothing but walking and rocking... And I know why they don't notice - it takes a good eye to see the beauty of it.

I don´t agree. It´s not the experience, the knowledge, the eye. It´s the youth, the coolness, that makes beginners emulate the habits of their young role models. And of course the young girls! As long they want to dance high boleos and piernazos in the spotlight every new guy will try to do the same.

 

[opendoor]

@Andabien: Seems that the atmosphere in your community is quite different. Mine got more in common with the salsa scene. You have to be young, cool, and conceited.

 

[Gssh]

In my experience with lots of different activities it is normal for a large percentage of people dropping out relatively soon after starting anything - and that is a good thing - not everything is for everybody, and the way that something looks from the outside and what we want it to be is often not what it is going to be for us - for example i made a try at playing an instrument, and after a year i had to admit to myself that i just did not enjoy it - and stopping was a good thing for me.

So it is not the early retention rate that worries me about our community - it is the midterm retention rate; all the people who take all the classes, go to festivals, and become good dancers and enjoy it, and who just fade away after 2-4 years. They know what the community is like, they know what tango is like, they know how to dance it, and they don't see anything worthwhile in it anymore. In most of the other sports/communities i am involved in people seem stick with it much more once they cross that early threshold of "is this really for me?".

Gssh

 

[AndaBien]

... It´s not the experience, the knowledge, the eye. It´s the youth, the coolness, that makes beginners emulate the habits of their young role models. And of course the young girls! As long they want to dance high boleos and piernazos in the spotlight every new guy will try to do the same.

I suppose you're right. But sometimes the young girls like to dance with the old guys, and then they get a dreamy look on their faces.

When I was a young dancer I would not have believed that any dance could be better than the fastest, the most challenging and the most complicated. But then, I didn't have anyone suggesting otherwise, at the time. I had to get older and discover it for myself.

 

[AndaBien]

...it is the midterm retention rate; all the people who take all the classes, go to festivals, and become good dancers and enjoy it, and who just fade away after 2-4 years. They know what the community is like, they know what tango is like, they know how to dance it, and they don't see anything worthwhile in it anymore...

That, too, is an interesting question. I have faded from my own community. Apilado is the one style that I enjoy, and there are fewer and fewer partners who both want to and are able to dance it. Years ago it was the predominant style here.

I wonder if those dancers who attain the higher levels of tango, having worked so hard to do so, have a harder time finding it sufficiently often, and find it frustrating to not find it. It other words, they get spoiled.

Maybe they all move to Argentina.

 

[opendoor]

...it is the midterm retention rate; all the people who take all the classes, go to festivals, and become good dancers and enjoy it, and who just fade away after 2-4 years. They know what the community is like, they know what tango is like, ..

For me it´s kind of a bottleneck effect. A lot of girls back out because it´s getting too difficult to find appropriate dancers. In response a lot of guys quit because the girls are lacking. Of course it´s a subjective feeling, but thats all the same. (I remember many nights I turned on my heel at once, because of that surplus of men. Perhaps there were followers, but if, they did not belong to my clique.)

 

[UKDancer]

Maybe they all move to Argentina.

Well I'm not about to do that, but I derive very little satisfaction and no real pleasure from dancing tango in my local area. That midterm retention rate may claim me as a victim too. It's very depressing, actually.

 

[Steve Pastor]

I have faded from my own community. Apilado is the one style that I enjoy, and there are fewer and fewer partners who both want to and are able to dance it. Years ago it was the predominant style here.

I wonder if those dancers who attain the higher levels of tango, having worked so hard to do so, have a harder time finding it sufficiently often, and find it frustrating to not find it. It other words, they get spoiled.

Man, I could have written that. One difference, though; I can, and do, enjoy other styles. But to me, THAT AT is just another partner dance. And I have SO many more choices at the country western place where there can be five or six hundred people instead of maybe 50.

I get lots of positive feedback at the CW place, and although a got a bit of that in AT, what I remember most are the "Helpful Suggestions" from people who had less than a year of dancing.

I keep trying to talk people into going to the lesson at the beginning of a practica or milonga so I have a reason to show up. But that doesn't seem to be happening.

 

[dchester]

Well I'm not about to do that, but I derive very little satisfaction and no real pleasure from dancing tango in my local area. That midterm retention rate may claim me as a victim too. It's very depressing, actually.

Do you feel that as you get better, there are less people than you enjoy dancing with, or is it a different issue?