On Friday I went to Tango milonga. On Saturday I went to West Coast Swing dance party.
I'm going to dance parties like going to gym. I usually get good dances in social parties. When I get good partners (i.e., technically efficient dancers), I get great dances.
Dancers are a type of musicians. They are a part of the music, with their bodies and their partners as instruments. Naturally, there are few Stradivarius and, well, many violins in the making.
On Saturday party, two professional ballroom dancers and a visiting fusion dance instructor from Dallas for workshops showed up. I enjoyed great dances with them. Lucky me and thank you.
Each of these professionals is owning (or belonging to) her studio. In other words, they are central figures for their dance in their cities and their dance "communities".
That led me think of what dance "community" is.
Following is some of my observation mainly in OKC from past 20 years.
Especially in small cities or towns, "building dance community" is listed as a central goal, or an ideal, by the people who is involved.
In OKC, West Coast Swing dance community was built mainly by then-director Paul and his volunteering students in OKC swing dance club since 80's. Paul retired and passed. Although I see "aging" in the community, which is concerning, there are still parties with good turnout.
Tango community in OKC has been small. International dance studio's Hazel started having regular classed around 2005, for which people came and went. Later, a group of people held their own house milonga for a while, rotating 3 host houses. It died down some years ago, due to passing of some people and due to losing hosts.
Martha and David Wells came to the OKC Tango scene about 5 years ago. They are now based on south part of the city, holding their classes and working to increase the size of the community.
(There are Salsa/party Latin communities and Ballroom communities, along with small group of Lindy dancers. I'll skip explanation here.)
Common to these "communities" is that they have (a) a central place (studio, house, university, etc), (b) a host, who is usually a teacher, and (c) regular parties to which community members can attend and enjoy the dance. Only then, you may see a group of people who dance the dance. In rare cases, (d) a sponsor (like college faculty with passion and some budget/time or art grant) may exist.
Most of the community members are not professionals. Each of them is at their own skill level. Even for "professionals", they come in many levels as a dancer. Just think if your "professionals" can dance on Broadway. Simply put, great majority of social dance-based communities are amateurs.
Few people, who host and/or teach, are usually the center of the community. When they are gone for whatever reason (passing, graduation, moving, loss of interest, etc), the community may dissolve.
Hosts are, primarily, teachers. They may not necessarily be show dancers or performers, although some are. From business standpoint, classes and party revenue are main income, which are usually meager for a budding community in a small city.
Here is a little conflict of interests. From members' standpoint, classes may not hold as much importance as hosts/teachers want it to be. They want fun, and not all can draw fun from learning process. They may not prioritize classes and may not regularly show up.
(In truth, there are a few students of different type. Beginning students who will become good dancers will find place and materials to practice no matter what. Work outside of classes is actually a better indicator for how good they will be. ..I digress.)
From host/teachers' standpoint, large class attendance and big parties are great. Yet, students have their own reasons to attend or not to attend regular classes.
People come and go. If you see it as a school business, it is natural turnover. Hosts and teachers may need to have both a little dose of resignation and a lot of hope. Then pour your passion. You are irrigating a desert, with a vision and a hope of green field. Yet, sometimes you may need to define success in your own terms.
There are traveling teachers who can provide great demos and customized advice to individual student (private lesson). In my opinion, they are like doctors. You can use their help when you need it and when they are here. (Of course, you can take privates for experience purpose. Learning something from the best can be a memorable event.)
How much they can help in building community from ground up? ...I'm not sure. Their performances may be inspiring and their classes may be fun. Their visit can serve as planting seeds. Yet, if they can catalyze any immediate change,.....it is up to your preparation and luck, and probably not up to them.
Personally I am wot working hard to build a dance community at this moment. There should be other, more willing people. I'd be enjoying myself as an individual dancer for the rest of 2019 at least. I'll plan for next year later.
