Skip to main content

Mirrors

If we could dance with ourselves. If. That would be good, because then you'd know how you're initiating movements, how you feel, how you embrace. I mean, people have been very lousy at describing you to yourself right? After all, it passes through their judgement, their comparison filter, their physicality, their thoughts before arriving back again to you.

But I guess just as we can never see our own image, in the same manner, can we never really know how we are like when we are dancing. How we are reacting to someone else. This is where the good teachers differ from the not so good teachers, because they are able to accurately explain your issues and more importantly, what to do as a result of that.

This weekend I grasped a palm in my hand, and I could feel his heartbeat. That is what's amazing about this dance, the stillness and calm that occurs allows for a connection that we just don't get in life often, save between you and your loved ones. We connect on that level with a stranger, whom we do not share speech, culture, nationality, background with, and yet are able to find common ground in an embrace reserved for those nearest and dearest. In the process, able to discover things about ourselves and everything about them. How they react to a setback, how they express themselves, how they treat you as a person, how they treat others around you. Are they self-absorbed? Generous? Caring? Protective? Body language says a lot about us on an innate level, and none more so then when you have to take this body language and translate it into an action.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Tango Diaries: Lesson with Alejandro Gée and his partner, Joujou

My Tango Diaries: Lesson with Alejandro Gée and his partner, Joujou : From Alejandro Gée's studio - more pictures and info from his website here: http://tangoalejandrogee.com/ The Lesson with Alejan... 1.) Sink into the standing knee first instead of stepping/falling straight back into the back step. (I've heard that before - not sure why I can't seem to remember to do that.) According to Alejandro, basically the sequence would be: 1. Sink the weight into the floor through the standing leg (here’s where the knee bends slightly in order to be able to push the weight of the body back in the next step), while straight,   free leg extends backwards   caressing the floor with no weight on it and torso reaches towards the partner.   The standing hip is strong and grounded, the free hip is relaxed and opening backwards as a natural continuation of the leg. The knee is straight. 2.   Weight transfer: heel of the leg extended backwards goes into the floor and ...
2 comments
Read more

Simple

After the countless videos, watching the performances by passing Tango teachers, performances by stage Tango dancers, sitting and absorbing Milongas, the one couple that sticks in my mind has to be T and his fiance who met through Tango in Argentina. Their seamless blending, the fact that she didn't even need to be wearing shoes and their swapping of roles. Even though I was exposed to this early on the clueless beginnings of Tango, you could already appreciate the intimacy between the two. In hindsight after a bit more experience, it becomes even clearer that, that would be the ultimate Tango experience. It's like staring at something without the tools to understand it, then later when you come back with the tools in hand, it hits you, "ah hah!" that's what it is! It's like being told, "this will be useful in life later, trust me", and staring at math sets that have no correlation with your life, until later when you're facing a job assessme...
2 comments
Read more

Stages

It's funny how I often think of topics to write at moments where I have nothing to write them on, which results in me typing a one-liner in my sms column as a trigger which later when I go back to refer to tends to make absolutely no sense to me! But yes anyway, Tango stages! 1) You have entirely NO idea what the hell the dance is about and walking seems like the most impossible thing to do. You jump up and down inside when you finally manage 5 meters w/o crashing into each other and are elated when the instructor comes over and leads you in a way that you actually feel like you know what you doing. You go away completely and utterly motivated to want to know more. 2) Basics are handed to you, ochos! impossible things! Molinete's! wtf, my legs can do that....omg leader why are you a beginner too! 3)Sacadas and ganchos and all the other good stuff. Now we're talking. 4)After getting to know the community and everyone around (obviously Tango isn't just a dance, ...
Post a Comment
Read more