The Buddha Tango

Tango

[Una poema para mi amor] 

I am the sea. Full of emotion. Tirelessly swaying and swinging. I don't know where I am going. I blow strong against my own tide, attempting to hold on to something. Anything. But you. You stand strong and bold. You grab hold of my blowing mind. And I slip away. I no longer fight the movement. But instead, I close my eyes. I trust you, with all my heart. I follow. I follow the beat of your heart. I follow the movement of your feet. I follow the music. I let go and I be. I am that. That I am. I am still. I am free. 

I hold you and you hold me. 

      If there is anything I have learned from Tango it would be balance. I have been attempting the fit my life into a balanced state for a long time. I meditate and do yoga when I can and I've learned from them as much as I could have been able to at the time. These kinds of things take time, its not just something that you decide to do and it just happens. Its a process of finding yourself and sitting at the center of your life from a centered perspective. Relaxing is a hard thing for most people, most of the times you don't even know your not relaxed until you are forced to and then you see the difference. Tango for me is an exposure of who you are and all of your little tensions. 

     The first weeks of learning Tango our teachers told us, in broken english, the man is like a tree. He stands strong and firm and he leads. He knows all the steps and he guides the woman. The woman doesn't think. She flows with the steps always moving from one foot to the other. She shifts her weight and moves from point to point, but her mind is clear. At first we all were like, wait, women don't think!! Some of us had a hard time just going and not thinking, but I think thats what makes it so beautiful. I think women think enough for their own good, so its nice to have a break every now and then and just follow. 

Our very first day at tango. 

yes we are short one girl :) 

Nikul and Mandy more then halfway through the semester. 

   Our teachers told us recently things I think relate a lot to life, not just tango. Even though there is a lot of responsibility of the man to know all the steps and to lead, the woman needs to find her equilibrium. 

This is what they said:

The man stays strong. The woman leans slightly, so he can feel her weight on him. The woman doesn't just do what the man says. He is there to lead her, but she does what the music says. The woman needs balance and to feel her center. She goes "tuck, tuck, tuck" from step to step always finding her balance at each point. Tango is like Buddha. It is the way of the middle. It is always for both people an independent act. Both people need to be in control of themselves. The lean and use each other, but they have to be independently stable. The most IMPORTANT part of tango is the music. Paula said,  "Feel the music, it is the only thing that is important". 

this is actually them telling us that :) haha 

Paula and Julio attempting to tell us how to dance Tango in english :)
There is a lot of metaphors that go on because sometimes they don't know the words.

Paula our other teacher, she is an actress too. 

Its so sad, its our last day. The whole semester we would all go to this milonga called Catadral. Its a place to dance tango, but its really really laid back with a great artistic atmosphere. I think thats the one thing I really did here that I love and that I did often.

Julio, our tango teacher and owner of a dance company called Ladocieglo [blindside]. 

Our class :)