Sex, Taxes, and Coronavirus

(March 5, 2020)

I've discovered a topic that's taboo in the west coast swing community. You too can discover this, by raising the topic yourself. You will not make friends this way, I'm warning you now.

I'm writing about it because we are facing a situation here where the entire viability of our community is threatened, and none of the outcomes - even on a temporary basis - look good. The threat is temporary -- but temporary as in, maybe a year? Year and a half? Till vaccines are widely available? Who knows how long this might last. I sure don't, and no one else seems to either, as of this writing.

But we are threatened because we are fragile as an economic community.  We - the West Coast Swing community - live hand-to-mouth. Money comes in from privates, local dances, workshops, longer events - and goes out again just as fast as it comes in, to support (just barely) our travelling teachers and our event organizers. Any interruption in this flow will be devastating to us, even in the short term.

And as we all know, dancing demands so much of a person's life that those who make their living teaching it rarely have second jobs, or even the training and credentials to obtain second jobs.  This is a known risk that comes with the choice of dance as a career.  You only choose this risky career because you can't not choose it. But you're always aware that in some sense you're living on the edge. And now here we are, facing an edge.

I don't see the way out. Things may change and the outlook may look brighter, or, I could just be wrong and misreading the whole situation.

But it looks to me like dances will have to be cancelled, events will have to be cancelled, international and domestic flights will be hampered, hotels may be restricted from holding gatherings (or may have to be used as makeshift hospitals or quarantine areas, like those in Seattle just bought for this purpose.) In other words, all the pieces we rely on to make our dance community run smoothly are going to be interrupted and interfered with.

In my opinion (I'm already taking heat for bringing up the subject at all, and I know I'll take more heat, again, for not just shutting up please) but this is my strong opinion, and I want this opinion out there, in the mix, as the topic finally does come up for discussion privately and publicly) - in my opinion, it is grossly irresponsible to hold dance events during a global pandemic of an extremely contagious infectious disease.

I don't have to explain the spread of germs to anyone reading this - every dancer knows how and why our ballrooms are petri dishes. What we do is physical, and, it's social. In our world there is no "my germs" and "your germs."  We're a partner dance, so all germs are "partner" germs. Our problem is that we keep changing partners. If one wanted to think up a way to spread an infection fast and widely, one could not come up with a better idea than to hold a dance event. In a hotel. With international attendance. And sleep deprivation.  And shared bathrooms.

What is an event director to do? I know well, and love as family, many of these people. They're good people and longtime personal friends. I'm worried for them. What are they supposed to do? Not all, but many of them, are forced to go out on a limb financially year(s) in advance, to make these events happen. This is an awful position to be in. As Daniel de Kay says in the piece I posted yesterday,

"As an organizer, you are basically fucked in this situation. Medically, and under societal expectations you feel obliged to cancel the event. As a dancer, organizer, and tango lover, you don’t even want to think about disappointing your guests. [...] Let’s not even think about aspects of liability. What happens if someone gets infected at that event, and dies? Who is responsible? Who will be at fault? And even if legally there is no fault, will the organizers, or the participants be able to deal with that? "

So what are we to do? I got nothin'.   I have no ideas.

A kickstarter campaign to offset the costs of cancelling an event? An international community-wide relief fund? More use of online video coaching during a period of restricted travel?

We are a community of creative types - some creative person out there can surely come up with a clever, creative way to support our fragile infrastructure so that we can emerge on the other side just as vibrant and involved in community life as we have been in recent years.

Any ideas? Any smart business types out there, or economists? Anyone?

Meanwhile ...

Don't touch your face.

Good luck with that. I've discovered my nose really itches.

Also - keep dancing. No suggestions from me on how, or where, or with whom. But I do know that dancing keeps my soul alive. So I will be dancing, somehow, somewhere, some way.

Liza