SLO Tango -- important possibilities

[Charles A. Jordan]

Hi Laura and Rich, and to all of those who have been or are in our
position...

My wife (Judith) and I are ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS!  To respond to your
suggestions from a beginner's viewpoint --

#1. The semi-private lessons sounds like a good idea, and once we get some
level of competency, we would be interested in doing that.  For the time
being, we would probably get more value out of the beginning-intermediate
workshops that you mentioned -- when are they?????

#2.  As a novice "leader", I would really appreciate all possible
opportunities to dance with more experienced "followers", and I know that
Judith gets a lot of practice when she dances with more experienced leaders.
So from our perspective (and I'm sure that other beginners are in the same
boat), we want all prospective volunteers to know that their help and
donations of time and experience, even just occasionally, will be greatly
appreciated.  And maybe someday we will be the ones to pass on our
experience to the next crop of beginners.

#3.  Having milongas to host the visiting instructors is an excellent idea,
as a way of expanding on what the instructors have to offer.  We would
participate if available.

Now, having said all that, I would like to comment on some of the same
thoughts raised in Tom Harrington's response.  One of the attractions to SLO
Tango for us has been the unbelievable sense of inclusiveness that we have
found.  It is not usual to find an established group, of any sort, that is
so welcoming and forgiving of klutzy newbies.

We haven't seen any issue about "levels".  Rather, what we have observed is
us, who don't know anything, and you, who have varying degrees of
competence, getting together to have fun without exclusion.  Our first
milonga was spent just watching and enjoying the social atmosphere.  For our
second, we danced a little, and learned from our failures and enjoyed our
successes.  At no time did we see anything like "levels" -- there were
differences in styles and abilities, but our observation was that those
differences were an accepted part of this group.  Assuming that our
observation is accurate, it would seem that having guest instructors of
different degrees of advancement, and having them pass on some of their
experience to whatever part of the group is able to participate, would not
by itself create a strata system within the group, so long as the vast
majority of the group does not want that sort of result.

Judith and I want to thank all of you for welcoming us so warmly, and we
look forward to the day when we can stop worrying about what we are doing
and just relax into the music and the dance.

Chuck Jordan