THE TANGO PHILADELPHIA STORY: A MIXED-METHODS STUDY OF BUILDING COMMUNITY, ENHANCING LIVES, AND EXPLORING SPIRITUALITY THROUGH ARGENTINE TANGO A Dissertation Submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By Elizabeth Marie Seyler January, 2009 © Copyright by Elizabeth Marie Seyler 2009 All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Title: The Tango Philadelphia Story: A Mixed-methods Study of Building Community, Enhancing Lives, and Exploring Spirituality through Argentine Tango Candidate's Name: Elizabeth Marie Seyler Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Temple University, 2009 Doctoral Advisory Committee Chair: Joellen Meglin, Ph.D. Tango invites communication and creativity, it offers growth and community, and, in Philadelphia, it draws a unique cohort of dancers. What forces have driven growth of the Philadelphia tango community, who exactly are its members, and why do they dance tango? This qualitative and quantitative study recounts the community’s history, reveals the people at its core, and explores what the dance means to them. It is a mixed-method, multi-layered integration of dance history, community profile, and individual narrative. Twenty-six instructors and event organizers provided data on the community’s history. More than 100 dancers participated in a survey that gathered descriptive and demographic data, and nine dancers gave interviews on their lived experiences of tango. The community grew steadily from 1991 through 2006. Early local entrepreneurs modeled an ethos that placed a premium on tango’s community-building capacity. This ethos remained a central force in the community’s growth, drawing a unique cohort of dancers. Compared to Philadelphia census data, tango survey respondents were fifteen years older on average, more likely to be divorced or to have been born outside of the continental United States, better educated with higher incomes, and more likely to work in the arts. Ethnographic, quantitative, and mixed methods analysis reveals how tango may serve these unique cohorts and how many dancers perceive that tango enhances their physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social lives. Phenomenological inquiry explores dancers’ concepts of iv spirituality and how some made spiritual meaning from tango experiences. Four central themes that emerged—tango music, tango dance, interactive experience, and internal experience—can be theorized to intertwine in a cycle wherein tango invites human interaction that leads to internal growth, which improves one’s capacity to dance tango, thus creating a more satisfying interactive and internal experience. This research represents the first comprehensive study of tango in Philadelphia. It documents the creation of a popular social dance community in a major U.S. city and offers new data and theories on community building. It is also the first study to explore intersections between spirituality and tango and offers new insights into how tango improves adults’ health and well being. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS With deep gratitude and appreciation, I thank my immediate family—Everett and Judy Seyler, Judith and Dan Christian, Martha Seyler, Annie Seyler, Paul Seyler, Suzanna Miller, and Jess Wilson. Your love, humor, support, and belief in my abilities meant the world to me. I would not have enjoyed this dissertation nearly as much without the consummate skill and compassionate guidance of Joellen Meglin, my advisor, mentor, and friend, who inspires me daily to live out my destiny as a scholar, dancer, and citizen of the world. I heartily thank Karen Bond for introducing me to the world of phenomenology, encouraging me to tackle mixed-methods research, and providing insightful feedback at many stages along the way. To Elaine Yuen I offer thanks for her thoughtful review of draft chapters and for modeling the grace of daily meditation. I thank Beth Bolton for her constructive critique of my quantitative analysis, which will help tremendously in turning this opus into a book. With tango shoes on and a nod from Shirley, I thank Rob Connaire, whose love, affection, dancing, hot meals, and incredible massages kept me extremely happy through two years of doctoral toiling. To my research participants, thank you una y mil veces for your honesty, sincerity, time, and enthusiasm as you traveled down the path of inquiry with me. I thank all my wonderful tango friends in Philadelphia, Burlington, VT, and Montréal for dancing and laughing with me. You made the solitary hours of writing possible (and bearable). And finally, I thank Bonnie Farrow for providing a nurturing place to finish writing; dear michi Mowzer, who appeared on my doorstep just when I needed her little spirit and purring the most; and the new people, places, and opportunities calling me hacia el futuro. vi Dedicated to souls dancing everywhere. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. vi DEDICATION .................................................................................................................. vii LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... xvi LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................ xvii POETIC TRANSCRIPTIONS ......................................................................................... xix VISUAL REPRESENTATION .........................................................................................xx CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................1 The Research Problem .................................................................................1 Research Purpose .........................................................................................5 Research Questions Addressed Through Mixed Methods ...........................5 Building a Pyramid: A Visual Model ..........................................................7 Significance of the Study .............................................................................9 The Researcher in the Research ...................................................................9 Heritage and Educational Background ............................................9 Employment History ......................................................................11 Dance Background .........................................................................12 Spiritual Path ..................................................................................15 Personal Goals for the Research ....................................................17 Biases and Assumptions ................................................................18 Conclusion .................................................................................................20 2. RESEARCH METHODS .................................................................................21 Introduction ................................................................................................21 viii Delimitations and Limitations....................................................................21 Characteristics of Mixed-methods Research .............................................22 Rationale for Using Mixed-methods Procedures .......................................23 Type of Mixed-methods Design for this Research ....................................25 Data Collection Methods ...........................................................................26 Questionnaire for Tango Instructors and Event Organizers ..........27 Creating the Questionnaire ................................................27 Questionnaire Description .................................................29 Questionnaire Participants .................................................30 Ethical Issues .....................................................................31 Phenomenological Interviews ........................................................33 Interview Questions ...........................................................33 Interview Participants ........................................................37 Conducting Interviews .......................................................38 Ethical Issues .....................................................................38 Survey of Tango Dancers ...............................................................40 Survey Creation Process ....................................................40 Survey Description .............................................................44 Survey Participants ............................................................45 Survey Limitations .............................................................47 Ethical Issues .....................................................................48 Other Primary Sources ...................................................................49 Data Analysis and Interpretation ...............................................................49 Qualitative Data .............................................................................49 Quantitative Data ...........................................................................53 Mixed Methods ..............................................................................54