BREATH AND CONNECTION, (vulnerability continued)

The first time I was encouraged to breathe in a tango embrace and then invited to breathe in unison with my partner, my gut reaction was: Yikes!

What is it about breathing in an embrace that makes one feel so vulnerable?

Certainly, it intensifies the chest-to-chest connection. Depending on one’s comfort level with close embraces, this might be intimidating or exhilarating.

But more than this.

There is something intensely personal and vulnerable about the rise and fall of one’s breath. Ancient traditions define this primal motion as the drawing in and releasing of Spirit. It is as core to life as we get.

Consider watching the stomach of a baby fill and fall with that life-sustaining nurturance. Nothing is more tender and endearing.

As we age we become embarrassed by our bellies. We restrict the in and out with tight clothing and practice holding it in. Then we layer stress on top of self-consciousness, which further constricts our breathing.

To invite someone into the rhythm of one’s breath is to share one’s humanity at a vulnerable and intimate level. But then, this is what the tango is intended to do – to stretch one’s comfort level, to expand one’s boundaries, to challenge one’s inhibitions.

In my current dance practice, my dance partner and I give attention to our first breaths. Immediately as we enter into the embrace we synchronize our breathing. Then, at least occasionally during the dance, we realign our breathing at those exquisite pause moments.

Does this improve my dancing?

Perhaps not in terms of technical execution. But it does deepen my experience of the dance as an intimate connection.

Is that important?

My partner’s response: “ That is all I care about. What else is there?”