Skip to main content

A Writer's Tango

(I actually wrote this a couple of months ago, after missing a gancho lead and 2 boleo leads. In my defense, I had not actually learned either of those. This lovely leader was, after reading my blog, very excited to dance with me - and I with him. But I didn't have the chance to tell him how much of a beginner I was before we started dancing. He was sweet, and very polite - if not a bit puzzled by my performance.)

To my latest leader after our awkward first tanda:

Don't worry. I have to explain this all the time. My writing, in its quantity and emotion - seems to give the impression that I am an experienced dancer. I'm not. You could not have known that before we danced. I am an experienced listener of tango music - but not an experienced tango dancer.

I am a tango blogger, a tango reader, a tango pusher . . . because I am a tango dancer. I was a writer first, so I put everything I can't dance into words - and everything I can't write, I put into my dance.

Unfortunately (for my dance anyway) I write a great deal more than I dance. I wish that were not so at times.

I'd rather be dancing.

Everyone knows writers are peculiar. We take risks. We don't look both ways. We run with scissors. We go outside in the rain. We count our chickens before they're hatched.

We never hedge our bets.

And we never look before we leap - or how would we have the nerve to write anything?

We fall.
Truly. Madly. Deeply, we fall.

We open ourselves up to as many new and different lives as we can. We want to see from other eyes - different eyes.

Following, in this way, is perfect for me - so I can see the dance through your eyes. Through your body, your skin. I still see my dance - our dance, the dance we make together with the music and the floor and the dancers around us.

But in our connection, I can see a little bit through you.

A writer's dream.

Thank you for the dance.

Comments

Anonymous said…
The connection; what writing and tango are about, whether with ourselves, another, the music, the subject? And the better the connection...
July 8, 2009 at 2:39 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tim Ferriss and the Myth of Tango Mastery

Dear tanguero, I feel I should explain my reaction to your comments about Tim Ferriss. It touched a nerve and I didn't really explain my apparent hostility. It was certainly not meant for you. Several people have brought Tim Ferriss to my attention over this past year. I can usually make it a month before his name pops up again. For readers who are unfamiliar with him, he's the author of "The 4 Hour Work Week". He set a Guinness record for the most consecutive tango turns and has competed with his partner, Alicia Monti, at the Tango World Championship . As a social dancer the idea of a tango competition seems absurd. I don't think I will ever understand how something like tango could be judged - or why anyone would want it to be. But I digress. I think the most crucial detail of Ferriss's history, as I relate it to tango, is his winning Wired magazine's "Greatest Self-Promoter of All Time" . If there is any concept more out of synch with social ...
6 comments
Read more

"Proper" Tango Shoes

Periodically someone, usually a man, will be bring up the topic of "proper tango shoes." If he's referring to the problem (and dangers) of trying to dance in flip-flops, or mules, or platform shoes etc., those are definitely valid, and very helpful points to be made. The likelihood of damaging your feet is very high without the proper support of high quality shoes. My problem comes with the idea that the *only* proper tango shoes have 4" stiletto heels on them and fetish-worthy embellishments. (Okay, I'm pretty keen on the embellishments myself.) "goofy ballroomy shoes are a turnoff... get rid of them..." - Alex Tango Fuego (granted this is from 2007), http://alextangofuego.blogspot.com/2007/10/to-dance-or-not-to-dancebrutally.html And, in the comments on a blog post, Anonymous said... " This is a controversial one. If a follower isn't wearing tango shoes then it's usually a good sign she's not particularly good." From Ms. Hedgeh...
24 comments
Read more

Ganchos . . . again . . .

(Image courtesy of Emilie Boudet: http://www.emilieboudet.com) From the Facebook comments on my "Expressing the music or dancing for tables" post: "But adornments can become problematic when they interfere with something I'm trying to do. (I have enough trouble as it is). Some of these are basically harmless and don't really bother me that much. Like some ladies insist on doing a gancho whenever I lead them to step over my leg. I'm mostly amused by this. Some girls just like their ganchos and will seize any opportunity to do one." Predictably, I have several problems with the above behavior. First of all, they aren't "their ganchos" ! The gancho for the follower is led. It is my (nearly fanatical) opinion that it should never be an adornment or something the follower just decides to do on her own . As someone who is now attempting to learn to lead, the last thing I want to see, or heaven forbid feel, is a stiletto heel near my crotch ....
31 comments
Read more