During The Gold Coast Wintersun tango festival a seminario was held on the topic Secret Mens Business. As presenter I thought it might be helpful to survey the local followers to convey to the men a clearer idea of what the women were really looking for in their dance. The responses from the women were unexpected and alarming. Michael Adam-Smith suggested during this seminar that I should include the results in a post as a record of the survey. The followers were asked to finish this statement... The best leaders are the ones who.... While the question courted a positive and shortish answer the women in most cases chose to contribute long and detailed responses which often included more negative characteristics of leaders. The similarity of responses was remarkable given the limitations of the question and the fact that all responded in isolation from each other with no knowledge of the purpose of the survey. I had hoped to include as many local followers as possible. In the short lead up to the festival I was able to calculate results from forty two women of varying experience. Sometimes respondents listed multiple attributes. LEADER ATTRIBUTES Consideration 54% (23/42) Absence of ego 45% (19/42) Absence of pushes and pulling 40% (17/42) Connection 38% (16/42) Musicality 38% (16/42) Skill 36% (15/42) Allow time 36% (15/42) Nice embrace 26% (11/42) Good hygiene 21% (9/42) Steps & vocabulary 0% (0/42) I am not an analyst nor a statistician and am only reporting the responses from what was an informal curiosity. That being said, I feel its important to note that these results would probably have been worse if the respondents had been specifically invited to supply negative attributes. I also included two other questions in the survey. Respondents were asked for ideas to improve our community (unrelated to this seminario). They were also asked a question relating to being injured or dropped. These results (immediately below) were equally alarming... Followers injured 36% (15/42) [33% (5/15) requiring medical attention] Followers dropped 24% (10/42) Followers injured by another follower 62% (26/42) [Note: 63% (10/26) of these attributed fault to the followers leader]. For people reading this post from elsewhere I include this comment about our community. While typical of many tango communities there are some peculiarities. This community has an elevated tendency towards the more dramatic steps. These mostly incorporate forceful technique solutions as substitute for mastery of authentic principles which possibly explains the high number of drops and injuries. We have comparatively more space at our milongas with order and floor craft both comparatively weak. Perhaps not surprisingly we currently have less of a man shortage than other communities. The quality of the teaching varies hugely but I would describe the top end teachers as very good. This community is approaching its second decade. The interactions within it are generally harmonious. Readers unfamiliar with tango should note that these results are unusual because the attributes of connection and musicality would be expected as top responses in such a list. The fact that no followers listed tango vocabulary (fancy steps) as an attribute belonging to the best leaders would come as a surprise to many. Any reader of this post should not be too quick to criticise the leaders within this community. When this alarming pattern began to emerge I sought to compare responses from other local and overseas communities where follower friends were invited to respond to this survey also. Those numbers while small have indicated that this must be a hidden problem common to many communities. While most respondents to this survey wrote a great deal I was particularly moved by one respondent who completed the survey statement in just two words: The best leaders are the ones who are considerate. When asked whether she wanted to expand on that response she replied... Be considerate to their partner, considerate of the music, the composer and musicians. Be considerate to the couples around them, of the line of dance and of the whole floor. Considerate of the feelings of others within their community, to newcomers and organisers. Nope, thats all... the best leaders are the ones who are considerate!
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 21:29:21 +0000
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