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Showing posts from August, 2010

The Tango Cure

I hate it when there is something on my mind, something I really need to convey - but I can't get at it for some reason. The idea is too tangled in other things. I had another 3 nights in a row of tango. How I love the weekend. A weekend of music and friends and the comfort of connection. Yet, just as I get back into the tango groove, I'm facing another work week. A coworker asked me a few weeks ago, why I dance tango - why tango in particular . I was exhausted and stressed, so I answered only half thinking, "to feel human". My answer was met with a knowing nod. To be treated like a human being. To be allowed to treat other people as human beings. A little context . . . Last week's university newspaper finally confirmed what most of us on campus already knew - even more cuts are coming. With that another round of "please write down how you spend your work day. How much time do you allot for each task you are required to do? Would you say that your department

A Chance to Help

This year, our tango community lost one of its most cherished founding members and my family lost a wonderful mother (and aunt) to Pancreatic Cancer. If you're in the Austin area and are able to participate in PC Action Network's 2nd annual walk/run in September, please join me and follow this link to sign up: Pancreatic Cancer Action Network Purple Stride Austin 2010 NOTE: dogs are welcome ($5 each) and if you're not available for the run/walk, you can support the cause by making donations at the same link. They're looking for volunteers for the event as well.

What is Tango Bliss?

Picture courtesy of Morguefile There's a debate going on (frequently) over at Dance Forums about what tango bliss/trance is, and how we can create the conditions for it to happen. I think Sharna Fabiano puts it far better than I have (or can): "I felt I was truly in the present moment. We tango dancers strive for this above all else, a zen-like state in which you feel as though the tango is animating your body, that you are effortlessly there with no past and no future. When you are only in the now, you are as purely yourself as you can be." (Thank you Joy-in-Motion for sharing such a wonderful resource!) It doesn't get much better than that. Now how to get there, well... the debate rages on the forum...

Around the Tango Web

I wanted to give some love to a few fabulous tango blogs I've recently uncovered thanks to other well-informed tango bloggers out there. Give them a read when you get the chance, there's beautifully written content out there. Gonzalo David Orihuela - http://gonzaloorihuela.blogspot.com/ La Milonga Del 126 (Honolulu/Buenos Aires): http://lamilongadel126.blogspot.com/ TangoBora's All About Tango: http://tangobora.wordpress.com/ Beating Tolstoy, mostly a blog about proactivity, with some tango thrown in - wonderful stuff: http://beatingtolstoy.wordpress.com/ Christina and Ladybug of TangoDurians: http://tangodurians.blogspot.com/ There are probably a few more, but I've lost track of which blog I added to the blogroll when, so those are the most recent ones. Enjoy!

Need more money, honey.

Ever decreasing funds and limited time (hello, back-to-school studying) have me re-evaluating how and where I spend what little discretionary income I have on tango. Prices are going up for everything - food at restaurant milongas, gas, and the entrance fee has gone up at one of the milongas. I understand the cost of things (floor fees, utilities etc) all go up and organizers/teachers can't absorb that cost. Unfortunately, I can't absorb that cost either. :( So now I'll be dancing less which doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would. I've been having some absolutely wonderful dances and I'm constantly enchanted by the warm, wonderful community I'm lucky to be a part of. What I'm lacking in quantity, I'm more than making up for in quality, I think. But still . . . it requires a bit of planning and prioritizing to figure out my dance schedule. Calculating the Tango Budget First and foremost I want to support our tango musicians we're so lucky