Alright. Let’s see if I can provide all of the relevant links here, so anyone who is not caught up on the Tribal Fest situation can get caught up, before I share my opinion.
On Sunday, this happened… although at the time, no names were attached to it: Public Statement Regarding Tribal Fest. Even without names attached, the people who were sharing it were people who I know and trust within the dance community.
Today, we received two separate responses from Tribal Fest, one from Kajira and one from Chuck (one of the perpetrators of the events mentioned in the Public Statement).
So my thoughts on this? I stand with the teachers and vendors who are pulling out of the event. I share their feeling of having their trust violated.
Regarding Kajira’s response, I believe her when she says she did not know about the secret group. I believe her when she says how upset she is. On the other hand, I have heard from multiple sources that she did not, in fact, reach out to them to apologize. Since I am not directly involved on either side, I cannot know for certain what happened, only what I feel in my gut.
My gut feeling? No one would pull out of Tribal Fest lightly, not when they had already been announced as a teacher, not when they had a years-long relationship with the event, not when setting up there as a vendor served as a large chunk of their annual income, not when being accepted to teach there for the first time next year was going to give their career a big leg-up. As such, I am choosing to believe the teachers and vendors when they say that the official response they received before going public was insufficient.
It has been promised that despite the number of teachers and vendors pulling out, TF16 will still continue next year. I want to make it clear that I am not going to judge or think less of anyone who chooses to attend, for whatever reason. However, I will not be joining you. Why? For me, Tribal Fest was never about the fact that it was Tribal Fest. It was not about Kajira and Chuck and Sebastopol. It was about the friends and teachers and vendors I wanted to see. The people are what truly makes an event. The people are why I go to LVBDI year after year even though I kind of hate Vegas. And the people are why I will NOT be attending Tribal Fest next year, because most of the people I know and love will not be there. An event is not a name or a place. It is a community, and that community can be relocated or renamed.
There has been some push within the community to go anyway, to support Kajira. They say it’s unfair that she should be punished for her husband’s actions. I agree. It is unfair. But that doesn’t change the fact that it is going to happen. Actions have consequences that reach beyond yourself. Chuck’s behavior hurt a lot of people, and in turn, a lot of people will be hurt as a result of those actions coming to light. Kajira will be hurt by the damage done to her event, as well as whatever emotions she is feeling personally. Local businesses in Sebastopol will be hurt by the smaller attendance at the event. The teachers and vendors who stay will be hurt by lower class enrollment and less shoppers. The people who choose to attend will be hurt by having less awesome teachers, vendors and performers. The photographers and videographers will be hurt by having less performers there ordering from them. And so on and so on.
Does it suck? Oh yeah. But that’s the way things are. Any bad action and its resulting consequences ripple far beyond just the perpetrator and the initial victim. That said, my primary sympathy is still with the victims.
Will I ever return to Tribal Fest? It’s possible. But not in 2016. I’m leaving it to other dancers to attend, and tell me how they felt. Did they feel safe? Did they feel welcome? Did they feel like all of the perpetrators of this hateful event were expunged? Do they feel like the event can return to its previous wonderful reputation? If they say yes to all of these things, then maybe a few years down the road I’ll feel willing to give it a second chance. But broken trust is not easily mended. In the meantime, I want to explore some of the other events I’ve heard good things about, and visit with other parts of the global dance community.
So that’s my .02. Again, I’d like to reiterate that I don’t blame anyone who has decided they want to continue to support the event, and I wish good luck to Kajira and any teacher, vendor, or student who chooses to be a part of TF 2016.
You are going to Waking Persephone, aren’t you? I know Tempest has asked Kajira to speak about this at that. I wonder if it will alter anyone’s perspectives?
ReplyI will be at Waking Persephone. Honestly, I’m not sure how that roundtable will go. I feel like by then, it will be almost a month after the news came to light, and while the furor will have died down to some extent, people will be pretty settled in their opinions.
ReplyAnother aspect that occurred to me last night is the that Chuck did this to an event that was highly important to his wife. Whether he thought about the potential damage before he did so, or just ignorantly went ahead on impulse, it is another unconscionable facet of the deed. He wasn’t just doing something that was abhorrent to the subjects of the photos and comments, whom he might have rationalized as more or less random strangers (that doesn’t excuse it), but he also did something that undermined his wife’s efforts, and of all people in the world, she should have been able to trust him to support her in something that was important to her.
Regardless of what happens to Tribal Fest, they both have to live with the consequences of that violation.
ReplyAlthough I agree with your post in general, I’d like to clarify one really important thing: The dancers he targeted were not more or less random strangers. Kajira doesn’t use the internet much, so Chuck served as the public face of Tribal Fest on FB. Most of us were friends with him, he answered our questions in the FB group, people gave him gifts at the event and took selfies with him. He was also trusted with our personal information when we sent in our performer applications, which means he had access to the real names and addresses of the dancers he harassed.
But yes, even if he didn’t know the dancers, he should have thought about how he was secretly tearing down the people who helped his wife’s event thrive (and the people who put money in both of their pockets!). It shows a gross disrespect for the community his wife is a part of.
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