My Tango Diaries

Last night I had to face how out of balance my life is right now. In the midst of learning tango, I've forgotten, or been unwilling, to take the lessons that tango teaches and apply them to the rest of my life. For me, and I suspect I'm not alone, tango has been, among the many wonderful things, one less desirable thing (at least when it comes to having balance in my life) - an escape. I think most people go to milongas because it relieves a lot of stress in our lives - but it can go beyond that so easily. The milonga (and classes, and festivals, and practicas) becomes a place to run to when the rest of our world seems too overwhelming to cope with. The tango world can, surprisingly, be a very orderly place in contrast to lay-offs, money worries, and home pressures. It's so much easier to find connection and feel valued at the milonga that it is, for instance, in my job where we just finished a round of "justify your job" meetings. It's that way for a lot of p...

“Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.” Henry David Thoreau Last Saturday, the milonga at Esquina had a few more beginners than usual. This is always exciting of course - we love to see new addicts, err, I mean, faces. It does make the floor a little rougher though. The line of dance is more uncertain, the pace of dancers doesn't come together as easily. So those that were comfortable enough to do so, tended to dance milonguero. This, of course, was wonderful for me. A tanguero whose dancing I enjoy very much, asked me to dance. It wasn't until he said something in between the first and second song of the tanda, that I noticed he had been "only" walking. This particular dancer does know quite a few fancy moves, and enjoys leading them. He leads them carefully, deliberately - and he waits. Even if I have no idea in advance how to follow the step, he guides me through it. Tonight he was keeping it simple, closer. He...

Recently I wrote an article for another blog about balancing my life with my tango addiction. It was a difficult post to write. My life is not in balance. And truthfully, at times, I don't want to balance it. I want to revel in the milongas and avoid the world outside for as long as I can - the world of money problems, job stress, health issues. When times are tough economically (especially in our work relationships) it can become an "every man for himself" atmosphere and you feel that no one "has your back." Turning on the news is no help at all. There's so much uncertainty in our lives. The milonga is refuge from that. When the rest of my life makes me feel exhausted, like I'm barely able to tread water, the milonga feels like a life raft I can rest in for awhile. It's hard to give that up when the time comes, and go back to the outside world. To balance that, I have to remember the treasures I have outside. My husband, my family, my friends (amazi...