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Tango Equality

I'm always thankful for new people on the scene because it always brings me back to the beginning. It's like being able to return temporarily to breaking down the dance again and again and viewing it through the lens of someone who is noticing things for the first time. Where answers and opinions have not been formed and set in stone through old habits which seriously bring new meaning to the expression, 'old habits die hard'. Also forces us to revisit our 'answers' that we've picked up through the years and see whether our points of awareness have changed or not. Sometimes I think I'm on my way to being a very confused zen-tango-taoist-master...tango is tango....tango is the silence...tango is in the in-betweens...of course the problem with enlightenment is bringing people with you because you can be enlightened all you want but what's the good in that if you can't teach it?

Sometimes I wish we all sat around more with mate under a willow tree and talked more about tango. It's so psychological.

(My writing has also gone to shits...stupid PPT presentations...)

Anyway, someone asked me today, 'it seems as though the guy does all the dancing (crafting the dance)'. I didn't have a good answer then because he was kinda right, yes the guy does do all the leading, but does he do all the dancing? Definitely not.

Leading seems to connote activeness while following is passive. Maybe this is where the roles and definitions need to be examined more closely. A good leader is someone who is also a good 'follower', in the sense that once you initiate a question, say asking the following to move a step to the right, you shouldn't be then shut off to how she is responding to you, where in that case, the ball is in her court and she is then the leader while you're 'listening' and shaping the next move. It's this interplay that, yes, does have its genesis in the male lead, but at its highest levels, tango for the follower is almost mind-bending in that she can almost shape and setup the next move without the guy even knowing that she planted it to begin with.

As Leandro said, the woman gives the guy the area of the canvas by her movements. Don't limit it for him. If I step 3 inches too little, or I don't give enough torque he's not going to be able to branch into the 5 possible steps that can occur from there, rather I cut it short at 3 maybe. So yes, the follower 'follows', but that does not diminish the fact that in this dance there is equality and it's not a lopsided power that it might seem on the outset. Of course we're constantly fighting on this balance beam of back leading and being like a wheelbarrow. In heels. Backwards. Don't forget that.

I am constantly reminded of my first time on that dang ski lift and fighting it to the point because, well, I am just that stubborn aren't I. That and the 2nd Tango lesson where pony-tail guy effectively told me to shut up , place my hands on his chest and follow. Surrender, yes, passive, nah. Surrender is sometimes fun. Let someone else take on the responsibilities for once.

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