My Tango Diaries

Or, the hows and whys I became an a tango advocate . . . “When someone begins he can be dazzled by things that are external; the things of Tango are internal… A dancer arrives at the roots of the Tango when he falls in love…” - Eduardo Arquimba For those of you who already tango, I'm pretty sure this will be "preaching to the choir". For others who have not yet started tango, this is a bit about my journey and a bit more about what others are doing and saying about tango and pain management. Since I started this blog, I've had a dilemma. How much do I share of what is most personal about tango in my life. How much will my readers even care to know? After some discussion with a couple people in the tango community I've decided to share some of my personal experience as well as a few resources regarding how tango can have the power to change lives in one very specific way - in the management of chronic pain. Dance and music have always played a large role in my life...

As I was in class last night, I couldn't help thinking of the martial art style "Push Hands" as we (the students) were learning about giving and receiving energy, force, resistance etc. DJ and I have had some small experience with Push Hands, or Pushing Hands, and the feeling of the tango embrace reminded me so strongly of this, I had to look it up again. From Wikipedia: " Push hands allows students to learn how to respond to external stimuli using technique from their forms practice. Among other things, training with a partner allows a student to develop ting jing (listening power), the sensitivity to feel the direction and strength of a partner's intention." Sound familiar? Obviously, the bit about actually fighting should probably remain off the dance floor. But the idea is still very interesting. Here is a beautiful demonstration of the style: