Dance community building with Clay Nelson
Portland stands as an example of how to run a successful dance community. Tango in Portland is arguably the most vibrant, cooperative, and inviting dance community in the US. Even blues dancers that I’ve talked to in Seattle are impressed. So what’s the secret to their success? Clay Nelson, founder of the Portland tango community, has written the ultimate guide to community building.
Synopsis and comments:
Clay lists the major qualities of a dance scene as: quantity, dance level, and cooperative spirit.
For quantity, Clay mentions recruiting. Recruiting includes classes, which he feels are easiest held at community centers, city park districts, and universities. He emphasizes that everyone should be involved in teaching, and I feel it’s fun and educational to teach, no matter your level. As my friend Wesley says, “If you know 50% more about a subject than someone, you’re the expert”
Extending Clay’s views on ads, I feel that free ads, flyers, and google adwords are the way to go.
In order to keep things going, new dancers need evening dances, and solid dj’ing. What’s the point in getting good at social dancing if you can’t go out and enjoy being social?
Clay gets very specific about tango in his section on how to help foster quality dancers. To generalize, it makes sense to teach dancers what they need to connect, and navigate on the floor, before a series of steps. Having weekend workshops can be a major motivational factor, and out of town teacher visiting can inject more excitement into a community.
In my opinion, his final section on cooperation is the most important one, particularly for existing dance communities. To start, its important to allow people to have a sense of contribution for their community. If they want to DJ, decorate, host people, or even become professional teachers, it should be encouraged. In my personal experience, one surefire way to make a community implode is to have fear of new teachers and infighting. It’s important to realize the bigger a scene gets, the more everyone benefits. It’s a positive feedback loop. As a side bonus, the longer you’ve been teaching, the more your reputation will help despite what fresh blood might do.
Everyone should be encouraged to participate, even in small ways. Clay’s example of students copying cd’s that a teacher brings to a class is a prime example. When people join the dance community, they don’t know the rules, so why not help foster cooperation from the beginning? Clay also talks about the importance of accepting people doing their own thing. Dance is a personal thing, and so if there’s a clique doing something “exclusive” it’s ok to tolerate and even encourage this.
A final and important point from Clay is to not accept toxic behavior. After reflection in a small group, find consensus. If that includes action, gently confront an individual’s behavior. If need be, more persistent and forceful over time, and shun as a last resort.
Something Clay discusses that’s part recuiting, and part cooperation is e-mail lists. E-mail is still THE best way to keep in touch, as long as people opt-in to your list. Weekly or monthly mailings of what you’re up to helps keep active. I fully expect Dancehop will help in this task. Something interesting he mentions: Sharing your e-mail list. I would agree the occasional guest e-mail or message in your e-mails will help tighten up the community. Remember, pay it forward.
Quoting Clay: “Keep in mind that although tango communities are extremely devisive in general, when I started in portland, no one else danced argentine tango. Thus I was starting from scratch–which is quite different then most cities with developed or existing communities.” Still, I think the principles he’s laid out are valid, and there are some great ideas here that community members may not have thought of yet.
