aydan.tango

Getting Real at Christmas

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Warning: A decidedly non-tango Christmas Reflection, only for the spiritually strong at heart.

We cling desperately to the conviction that life should be pain free and all our misadventures have a happy ending and our wayward wanderings end at a Howard Johnson’s. We have problems with real, especially when it comes to birth and death and all the messy points in between. Which is why we attempt to rescript everything Bethlehemish. 

P.S. I could very easily, (and often do), draw a parallel reflection from the destitute conditions in which the Tango was born. Think about it.

Don’t Take This Personally

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“When you dance with a partner you are close and the dance is very suggestive, but it is not personal … “Close is what the music inspires you to become. The embrace looks personal, but what we are actually embracing is the music.” Carlos Gavito

L’École Polytechnique, Misogyny and Tango

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When I follow conversations like the ones marking the 30th anniversary of the L’École Polytechnique Massacre, I am encouraged that we are attempting to heal this gender friction that has crippled humanity for millennia. My experience on the dance floor reinforces this conviction.

A Brave and Startling Truth.

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November 25th is International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women25 November. As a guest blog, I am including a gripping poem by Maya Angelou, an American poet, singer, memoirist, and civil rights activist. Personally, I continually reflect on how men can internalize the message of non-violence but even further, how to embrace all of life with love and respect.

Non-Violent Tango

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November is Family Violence Prevention Month in Alberta, Canada. They don’t include learning the Tango as a therapeutic tool but I believe they could… Tango, danced sensitively, is the ideal medium for practicing these behaviours that are critical for all healthy relationships: respect, gentleness, sensitivity, trust, attentiveness, even reverence.

Dance and Spirit

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When we show up to dance, we need to first get still enough to hear what wants to be expressed through us, and then we need to step out of the way and let it. Dancing necessitates periods of quietude in which it appears that nothing is happening. We need empty spaces for musing and preparing, experimenting and reflecting. 

Tango Entanglement:

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How science informs our dancing.

My dance partner and I concluded a particularly energetic, free-form response to nuevo/ alternativo music. Neither of us knowing what the other would do or when. Yet, here we are rapid fire spinning and flicking with precision mirroring and timing? Catching our breath after the final flourish, my partner poses the question:

“How do we know how to dance like that?”

The Transition Game

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Space and togetherness – close and open embrace – are the essential elements of connection. You cannot have connection without both in balance. Two much of either is stifling or paralyzing. Too much togetherness leads to inundation or smothering, and may not allow enough room for individual expression. Too much space leaves one feeling abandoned with no sense of closeness or connection, or assurance of support and nurturing.

Same Sex Tango

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“Argentine Feminists Remake Tango” BUENOS AIRES DISPATCH/ New York Times/ October 5, 2019

All of the male power dynamics in Tango are being challenged (see above). Same sex milongas are giving women the opportunity to lead and men to follow. By teaching either role to both sexes, the numbers imbalance on the dance floor is instantly resolved. But even more importantly, both men and women are given the opportunity to learn the relational dynamics ensconced within the divergent roles.