The Pause


"The thing is, what we find if we're not used to sitting quietly with ourselves, not used to meditation, not used to having any inner solitude in our lives, we find that we're very threatened by nothing happening." Pema Chodron, author "When Things Fall Apart", in her interview with Bill Moyers.

Sometimes, when we do nothing, we open the door for everything to finally find space within us. We empty our cups.

In tango, in the milonga, so often it's the next step, the next step, the next step, what now? What now? . . . Then the tanda is done and where did it go? Lost in the steps.

The pause, a breath . . . the time to connect to each other, listen to each other, hear the music through each other's bodies. Suspended, floating, in the space between one moment and the next. In that space, in that moment, are all the wonders of the dance and the music - the duende, the energy. Entrega happens here. Not just the surrender to our partners, but to the moment. Entrega total.

Can you feel it?

"The secret of tango is in the moment of improvisation that happens between step and step. It is to make the impossible thing possible: to dance silence." Carlos Gavito
(Picture courtesy of morguefile.com.)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beatiful. I´ve been dancing for a little while now and i can say that i started "choosing better" who do i dance with. It has nothing to do with ability or level... it is just that some people dont want to hear anyone else, then how is it possible to dance?

Love your blog, never care fot others people comments. And if they criticize you for something, well, keep on doing it, cause that´s who you are.

Take care, Juampi

Marika said...

Thank you for visiting, and for your encouraging comments, Juampi! Happy dancing! ~m

Mark Word said...

Steps: Tactical tango.
Pauses: Strategic tango, the way tandas are won. ΓΌ

Marika said...

Mark - clearly, with a title like that, there should be a workshop! ;)

Hotta tango said...

Dance silence,move in silence,be moved by the music,not dictated too by the music only let the music inspire inspiration.

Hotta tango said...

Dance silence,move in silence,be moved by the music,not dictated too by the music only let the music inspire inspiration.