December 30, 2008

Notable Differences Between Tango in Buenos Aires and Chicago

In Buenos Aires, a couple never starts dancing immediately when the music begins. They listen to it first, to recognize it, to sense the mood, to let their bodies absorb the feelings and emotions evoked and thereby to inform their dancing. In Chicago, many people start dancing on the first note without even considering these or other variables as if the bell had rung to commence the next round of boxing.

In Buenos Aires, the entire dance floor starts moving at the same time, when the prelude has concluded, like a well-rehearsed collective exhale. In Chicago, people begin without order, without a unifying effect and without even letting the song's introduction complete.

In Buenos Aires, people follow the line of dance and the etiquette of tango. In Chicago, people don't know how to follow or stay in the line of dance, and perhaps don't even understand the concept of the line of dance or tango etiquette and why they exist.

In Buenos Aires, the lesser experienced dancers with undeveloped navigation skills flock to the center of the floor, leaving the perimeter for the more experienced and careful dancers. In Chicago, some dancers prefer the limelight of the center presumably to showcase themselves, for acclaim or disdain.

In Buenos Aires, people do not constantly enter and exit the line of dance. In Chicago, people do so willy-nilly thereby making it dangerous and difficult for those who adhere to the line to navigate around or away from the zig-zaggers.

In Buenos Aires, people understand the difference between salon tango and performance tango and no one dances performance tango during a crowded milonga. In Chicago, many people only know how to dance some diluted form of performance tango without ever learning or attempting to learn, understand or appreciate salon tango or its fundamentals.

In Buenos Aires, even highly-experienced and trained professional dancers don't lift their partners off the ground or execute jumps or other dangerous stage moves at a milonga except when the salon floor is almost empty and there is plenty of room between the remaining couples. In Chicago, those who don't respect the other dancers on the salon floor grotesquely and inconsiderately perform such stunts as if the rules and etiquette of tango don't apply to them.

In Buenos Aires, people wait for sufficient space to merge into the line of dance after the song has begun. In Chicago, people enter the line of dance without even considering the effect and possible dangers on the other dancers already in motion.

In Buenos Aires, the greatest compliment a tango dancer can receive is that you walk well. In Chicago, people don't know how to walk to the music, and sadly for the most part they don't.

In Buenos Aires, they understand that the embrace is the foundation of connection between partners. In Chicago, a tango embrace barely resembles a resolute embrace between a man and a woman, let alone sufficient for dancing in close proximity together.

In Buenos Aires, the experienced dancers don't just dance for themselves; they dance for their partners and to present their partners in the best possible light. In Chicago, there is too much dancing for oneself, without enough emphasis on one's partner and the underlying connection between them.

In Buenos Aires, even those professionals who have heard and danced tango music since childhood, continue to practice and improve their skills and take lessons and instruction and constructive criticism from those with more or different experience and knowledge. In Chicago, too many dancers overestimate their skills and are unwilling or unable to critically analyze their abilities and shortcomings, let alone listen to or learn from those who have been through their same experiences before and who sincerely want the overall quality of tango dancing to improve in Chicago.

There are many other differences between tango in Buenos Aires and Chicago, too numerous to recount. But, the most important one, which is obvious to anyone who has ever visited there, is that the tango and its music, and the lineage of its patriarchs and disciples, are part of the Argentine culture and lore, a source of national pride. That, of course, will never be true in Chicago or anywhere else in the world. However, we can continually try to incorporate some of the knowledge and wisdom that the Argentines and their tango progeny have garnered over the past century living and breathing tango. Not only as a sign of glowing respect for the wonderment of tango, but also as a sign of our own maturity in the recognition that there is so much more to learn about tango by everyone in the Chicago tango community.

December 23, 2008

The Cult of Celebrity and Bernie Madoff

From legendary investor and trusted advisor to scam artist and thief in a New York minute. How did Bernie Madoff -- a man with star-studded connections and a venerable clientele -- pull off the biggest Ponzi scheme in recent financial history, one that has virtually destroyed fortunes and cratered scores of philanthropic organizations without anyone suspecting? In a phrase: the cult of celebrity.

A simplistic answer, perhaps. But the main earmark is there: the willingness of intelligent and sophisticated people to suspend belief that someone like Madoff could ever possibly do something like this. Someone with his reputation and history and character demonstrated over a career spanning decades.

"And Madoff is an honourable man."

Yes, in many ways, Madoff is a modern-day Brutus. One who "appears" honest and trustworthy but who hides under that cloak. The lies and larceny that must have been committed by Madoff over the years reveal a character devoid of protracted decency. A self-aggrandizer, a poseur, always with malevolent intention to perpetuate his scheme regardless of his avuncular veneer.

People were fooled because they wanted to believe that their friend and trusted advisor was who he appeared to be without really scrutinizing him as they would anyone else with whom they had entrusted their financial security, status, wealth, charitable legacies and lifetime of work. One doesn't do that lightly. In fact, one doesn't do that except with someone you would entrust your very life.

For some, greed may have been a motivating factor. The consistent and inexplicable out-sized returns. For others, the status of being worthy to touch the cloth -- to be privileged enough to invest with Madoff. For the majority, possibly some of the above, but mostly an abiding faith in the goodness of Madoff.

The Consequences of Madoff Cultism

When we elevate anyone to nearly cult-like status, when we treat celebrities, athletes, business leaders, politicians, religious advisors and others in an exalted manner and when we lose sight of rationale thought, we are planting the seeds for the Bernie Madoffs of the future to emerge.

Madoff took more than peoples' money; he took a part of their souls and humanity and their fundamental belief in the virtues of trust, honesty, integrity and friendship and in the goodness of people.

December 21, 2008

Chicago's Short-Sighted Snow Removal Policy Comes At Steep Cost

It's been snowing all week with nary a snow plow in sight. Chicago has a new snow removal policy and it's illogical and ill-conceived at best. A knee-jerk political reaction to a budgetary crisis that promises to do more harm than good.

It used to be that Chicago was well-prepared for winter storms and its citizenry could depend on a swift reaction from Streets and Sanitation to clear the highways and roads and generally to keep traffic moving apace. Things are different now that Chicago and virtually every other governmental entity in the country are experiencing unexpected budgetary shortfalls. No one could have expected this result only a few months ago. But, then came the financial crisis and the TARP and the loss of jobs and anticipated tax receipts.

How has Chicago responded to this crisis? By cutting back on virtually all non-emergency governmental services, including snow removal. The justification for which is that, like many other governmental services, it can still be adequate with less capacity and frequency. (Remember, we are talking about winter in Chicago, not Las Vegas.) While it is true that a reduction in expenditures for snow removal will save costs for that budgetary line item, it will not result in overall economic savings for the City. Nor will it buttress the budget. Rather, it will come at a steep and incalculable price and a net economic loss for the City.

Here we are the weekend before Christmas, typically the busiest shopping weekend of the year and we are beset not only by freezing temperatures and incessant snowfall, but also by transportation gridlock. What should be a last minute surge of holiday shoppers with money to spend is turning out to be one big traffic headache, that is if one can even navigate the roads at all.

And here is the problem inherent in the type of short-term thinking leading to the ill-conceived government policy of which I speak and for which government is so notable: Oftentimes it actually achieves the exact opposite result intended on a macro-economic basis. As noted, the City will save some snow removal dollars but to what end? To leave the streets unpassable and cars immobilized from heaps of snow. To discourage City residents and suburbanites from journeying to Michigan Avenue and Downtown and elsewhere in the City for a final holiday shopping spree. To find stores and other retail outlets of every kind with substantially fewer customers than projected in the final days before Christmas. Did the policymakers even consider these consequences when they effectively allowed Chicago to be snowed-in?

The economics of Chicago's snow removal policy will become abundantly clear in short order. Retail revenues of all forms will be substantially lower and, consequently, so will sales and other tax receipts. Emptier stores, restaurants, movie theatres and service stations necessarily leads to this inevitability. Hence, from a macro-economic point of view, without even considering the increased safety risk to people and property from a laissez-faire snow removal policy, Chicago gambled on a mild winter and so far has lost.

In the end, the taxpayer will be on the hook. More taxes and fees will be demanded because the budget shortfall will be worse than forecast as a direct result of the unsound snow removal policy. A policy that was economically flawed at the outset. A policy that only considered the short-term political benefit of saving relatively meager budgetary dollars as compared to the staggering loss of tax receipts, not to mention increased business hardships and loss of jobs -- the ultimate sources of Chicago's tax base.