Tango Touch

But the older I get, the more intrigued I become with the basics …

walking in unison,

holding my partner in a supportive but expansive embrace.

touching another person.

We don’t do that – much. Not in our culture.

Touch, I mean.

We have rules and prescriptions against

inappropriate touching, abusive touching, unprofessional touching,

(all very necessary).

 But where do we go to get descriptors for

appropriate touch,

pleasurable touch,

nurturing touch?

What does that look like? What does that feel like? How do I know when I have it right?

ENTER TANGO

Tango is a practica par-excellence about how to touch and maintain physical contact with someone other than your intimate partner, in a pleasurable, non-sexual, socially acceptable manner.

We need this in today’s world!

Men seldom touch men outside of sports. Men and women seldom touch without it evoking a romantic or sexual overlay. Seniors waste away in institutions without so much as a pet to warm their laps. Our techie generation spends more time touching keyboards than something tactile or responsive.

We take virtual vacations. We live in sanitized, thermostatically controlled worlds. Indeed we are more concerned about the risks of germ transmission through touch than of the atrophy of the human spirit when we don’t.

In tango  – we touch!

(That has a certain ring to it, doesn’t it? It should be posted on Argentine currency.)