Why People Quit Tango

Seldom we see people quit tango because of tango. Most often we see people quit tango because of people. When we dance tango we dance with people, and people are much more complicated than the dance itself. People have different interests, needs, style preferences, skill levels, phylosophies and attitudes, which are not easy to accommodate. People can be nice, kind, considerate, friendly and encouraging. Yet they can also be selfish, inconsiderate, rude, mean and discouraging. People can be as open-minded, tolerant and acceptant as they can be opinionated, discriminative, arrogant and snobby. And people have egos. They are easily hurt and difficult to forgive. It won’t take many misbehaviors to damage a tango community. To be a social dancer, one in fact has more to learn about people than what one has to learn about tango. Yes, it is important to improve our dance skills. But it is even more important to improve ourselves as persons, our skills in dealing with each other, and our dance community on which our tango experiences, whether good or bad, depend.