Protectionism and power

(Three track tandas VII)

Perhaps the milonga organiser who favours for instance, three track tango tandas wants to deter good dancers who are not the organiser's own class students.  Indeed, such dancers may not support a teacher-organiser's exploitative class model. I know of of one outfit so “closed” to social dancing it does not have a milonga, nor even an open practica.  The practica it has is limited to their own students.

It is telling that their contact details are: Mister and Doctor. I have always found it curious when people make use of their titles in ways or contexts that are unusual - like the man who introduced himself to my mother at school sports day as Councillor <forgettable>.

Speaking generally, where people like or need to exert a lot of control I notice that the crutches for insecurity to self-inflation are used more widely. So, teacher demos will go on for a long time because they emphasise how important the teacher is. The teacher will talk a lot instead of letting people dance and try things out. The amount of teacher-focused time is likely to be disproportionate to the amount of time students have to practice/work. I have seen efforts to protect the teacher even extend to the sinister demanding of “loyalty” (which of course, is not, but blind, unthinking devotion) from students. I think that is relatively rare though. More commonly there are self-promoting blurbs or acolytes extoll the virtues of a teacher for them. None of this is real power though. Real power doesn’t need to do any of these things. Real power - or perhaps rather strength - doesn’t need to advertise itself and is respected without coercion, without even a word.

I know another outfit which used to run a milonga attended only by their own students or ex-students and now seems to run none at all.  It is easier to just run classes than not to have to deal with the hassle of running a milonga (or to outsource it to students) when you are not actually that interested in students dancing socially and especially when you might have to deal with non-students showing up.

If you are used to a liberal environment and to milongas that are attended by a cross-section of people not at all “belonging” to the same teacher then suspicion and hostility from the teacher towards people who are not that teacher’s students turning up to a largely or wholly class-group milonga will likely - happily -  be a strange and alien concept to you.  I think you have to have seen and experienced it for yourself.

Perhaps though the organiser does want to attract good dancers but just doesn't realise the sorts of things that put them off. Having good dancers attend a milonga though is less critical for teacher-organisers than having profitable class dancers who don't question what they are told and moreover who do as they are told: dancing to three track tandas without a murmur and obediently changing partner.  Besides, good milonga-dancing dancers turning up at a kindergarten milonga show up bad class dancers who complain about not getting invited. How much easier if good dancers are put off and if new dancers stay within a teacher’s class clutches and the local teacher-controlled milonga. Then they would never get to hear about four tango tracks to a tanda and start to get ideas above their (class) station.