Somewhere along the way in our tango journey we come to a fork in the road where we either accept that we will never be proficient and settle for so-so dancing or we surrender to our addiction.
For me that fork was when I realized that once a week lessons with a few locals was not ever going to get me where I wanted to be and that in order to get better, no, in order to get good I was going to need to step up my commitment.
I began searching the internet for resources, instructional dvd’s, workshops, classes and videos. YouTube proved to be an invaluable resource for my craving to see truly magnificent dancing. When I saw how incredibly proficient tango dancers can become I grew more and more anxious and fervent in my search for highly skilled teachers.
That’s when I learned about tango festivals and that’s when I decided to invest the time and money to travel to festivals and immerse myself in lessons.
It was at my first festival that I learned about an upcoming workshop that was to be held in Buenos Aires the following month. There would be 10 hour days of lessons for 2 weeks and I knew that I would be able jump start everything with that workshop.
The only problem was that I had just started working at a new job and it was not exactly going to fly if I should waltz in from my festival weekend and say “I’d like a month off to go to Argentina to dance.” Tango is a magical mistress though and to my shock and delight upon my return to work there was a memo disclosing that the person I was replacing had decided to stay for exactly “one more month”!
Oh yeah, I got right on the phone with the airlines and booked my flight and then announced to my employer my plan, they could fire me or not, but I was going to Argentina.
And that is when I knew that I was an addict, never mind all the slinky clothes in my closet, or my $185 tango shoe order that I was anxiously awaiting in the mail.
People who don’t dance usually go into a blank stare when they learn of the ends to which I’ve gone for tango, and no doubt they wonder what happened to me.
I was reading an article today and had to laugh when I got to this sentence:
So what happened and made her so addicted to tango?
How elegant and beautiful tango looks, might be what got her hooked first. Watching how two people can become so united that they look like one entity is truly mesmerising. As she watched other couples dance, she might have started to think: ‘I want to dance like this too.’
Then, as she progressed in her tuition, the challenge of learning tango might have appealed to both her left and right brain – the challenge of figuring out how to work with someone else, using only one’s body, to create a beautiful sequence of steps. She became determined to improve her tango technique, posture and balance.
Of course, she also enjoyed being able to express herself and show her emotions with her body. It was scary at first, but then she got to love the exhilarating feeling of being complete, of using mind and body.
via Beware the tango addiction! | Easier.
For me tango is so precious for all of the ways it benefits me as a human, as a woman and I know that flows naturally out to anyone who is in relationship to me. I’ve become more balanced (figuratively and literally) and allow my femininity to lead rather than my “I am woman hear me roar” persona of the past.
Have you noticed a change in you or someone you love resulting from an affair with tango? You are not alone, we are here to help, we know you are just one festival away from being a full blown addict. It’s a good thing – really, just surrender to your passion and come out of the “tango closet”.
Tell someone! If you don’t know who to tell, then use the comment form below. We promise to protect your privacy and cheer you on to the next festival, heck all the way to Buenos Aires, anything to share this wonderful feeling 🙂