TIME FOR RESOLUTIONS

Another year went by, and the new year is moving in at a frightening speed. If history repeats itself, we are now well into the second half of another one of tango’s forty-years cycles. Which means it might be downhill from here on. We’d like to say it ain’t so but who are we to tamper with time and fate?

The current cycle in tango’s reemergence as a worldwide attraction, began roughly in the 1980’s, rising up from the ashes of tango’s decline at the end of its prior forty years cycle, which peaked during the Golden Years. The musical Tango Argentino is credited with getting the current cycle going, and soon after, city after city, country after country, new generations of people began to fall under the spell of the tango and its power to bring people together. Same as before, at first there was a wave of romanticism, militancy and a genuine appreciation of the priceless contribution of the elder dancers from the previous cycle. Then the music of the Golden Years became available on CDs, and gradually displaced the madness and pretentious sounds of a tango that didn’t want to sound like a tango but demanded to be recognized as tango.

Eventually, as the dance reached this point, it also became the subject of divisiveness as opportunism and a desire for instant gratification unleashed an entire new cadre of “promoters, teachers and musicians” proselitizing entire communities. Even those, who intently chose to ignore the deep roots, solid trunk and rich sap which constitutes the body of tango traditions, have fallen under the inexorable truisms recorded in hundreds of lyrics by dozens of well known authors. That is perhaps, why we are not surprised, much less disappointed, at the freelance insensitivity, selfishness, chicanery and unethical behavior coexisting alongside mutual respect, bonding friendships, camaraderie and sincerity.

Just in case the end is near, if we are to believe that the tango indeed rises and falls in forty year cycles, it behooves us to make some resolutions far and beyond the ending of the Eight Count Basics. Over the last couple of years, this publication has failed to adhere to its self-imposed monthly schedule. Blame it on the traveling, blame it on the teaching, blame it on the dancing, blame it on the enjoyment of a new home base and blame it on a desire it to do it all without being able to stretch the twenty-four hours constraint of a given day.

Rather than trying to delude ourselves into believing that the world of tango needs us to do it all, we want to focus on the areas which we enjoy at being at our best. Teaching and dancing are at the top of our list. Creating opportunities for others to share the fruits of our teaching and partake in the enjoyment of dancing together, follows right in line.

Although writing has been part of our contribution to educate, the time and costs involved in putting out this publication are excessively inefficient in achieving its original purposes. The creative juices of an artist can not be turned on and off at will, so as inspiration strikes, a couple of book projects may now have a chance to be brought from the back burner to fruition, along with an largely overdue series of instructional videotapes.

Even if we are to be moving into a down cycle now, enjoying this moment and this tango should have the effect of riding the wave so we can be ready and full of experiences should a new cycle begin in the foreseeable future.

SOME LIKE IT TOUGH

Diversity is a pleasant consequence and an important ingredient that contributes to the enjoyment of social tango dancing. It allows a social milieu of cultural, racial and religious backgrounds to converge into a shared activity that primarily requires strangers to embrace.

Tango dancing is a discipline that is learned. In the one hundred plus years of its existence, nobody has been born knowing how to dance it. The dance itself was not born, but begotten and conceived over almost forty years by a generation of men who seemed interested in bragging rights, territorial street warfare and chauvinistic control of socially marginated women.

Today, all that and what followed for the next hundred years, form part of a series of rituals embodied in a set of traditions which tend to influence the way we dance, the way we interact and the way we learn. Since the tango lessons are the initial activities where we all begin to venture into the tango world, participants from all sorts of life will benefit the most if tolerance, respect and integrity are high among their behavioral attributes.

Tolerance must be mutual to avoid conflicts that arise when people feel entitled to be tolerated no matter how questionable their behavior might be, while at the same time can’t tolerate suggestions that would make their presence pleasant and enjoyable for everyone else.

Mutual respect is fundamental to make the class environment and the social dance floor friendly places where everyone can enjoy their participation without affecting negatively the participation of others. This is a most difficult goal to achieve since it involves behavior, and behavior cannot be legislated, in spite of a society bent on imposing the whims of a few on the free will of the rest.

Integrity, as in honesty, is a quality that calls for the adherence to a code of moral, artistic or other accepted values. From a teacher’s perspective, integrity along with tolerance and respect, embody the necessary qualities to stay focused on the task at hand, the “I’m here to teach,” attitude hopefully to be matched by a learner’s “I’m here to learn” attitude.

Unfortunately, there is an abysmal difference between ideal settings and the reality of day to day interchanges among diverse human beings. From a learner who sends the message, “I’m not here really to learn,” to the teacher who acts as if saying, “I’m not here really to teach,” there are many unfortunate situations where struggling for control and dominance seem to dominate the tango agenda of many communities. Nothing positive can be derived from attempts to control people with guilt trips, sugar coated lies or false pretenses.

Personally, it is sad to hear second hand that some people consider being treated as adults a tough proposition, and use the smear in an attempt to discourage others from finding out what hundreds and hundreds of people keep coming back for. In the realm of becoming good tango dancers, some like it tough.

THE GIFT OF TANGO

Standing in the living room, we formed a circle and held hands. One by one we introduced ourselves. Some came from Texas, others from Chicago. Then there were the hosts, the family who owned the farm surrounding the home where the ritual was taking place. We were from California, and the words “traveling tango teachers” sounded awkward and somehow out of context with the spirit of the moment. Suddenly, and all at once, they began to sing a harmonious hymn that filled the room with sounds of purity, love and a heartfelt appreciation for the joy of being alive, surrounded by friends and family. Then, we sat down at the dinner table and celebrated Thanksgiving in the heartland of America.

We’ve been traveling quite a lot embracing our chosen vocation of preserving and fostering the development of new and established Argentine tango communities. We bring along our passionate love and dedication for the music, poetry and dance, empowering the force of knowledge to free the minds, to encourage the bodies to accept the closeness of other bodies for engaging in enjoyment of the music and joyful sharing of the dance. Returning to places we have been, where the Argentine tango already has a established presence, we have also discovered new fledgling hamlets. There, the desire to dance the tango is only surpassed by the energy and passion with which the people go out of their way to reach out, grasping as much tango as is humanly possible.

In retrospect, our intuition, our confidence and our faith in people has allowed us to establish a presence for the tango as far north as the city of Anchorage in Alaska, and as deep in the south as the city of New Orleans. Along the way, we met great people in Winnipeg, Canada, and found ourselves a family in the heartland of America. So, when Thanksgiving caught us wandering through the prairie, we never felt away from home. We never paused to question what does a traveling tango teacher do when the moan of the bandoneon and the whine of the violin, are replaced by the call of the turkey on Thanksgiving day .

We found ourselves holding hands with our new friends and their families, saying grace and feeling thankful that our lives are so blessed with the gift of tango. We are thankful for the possibility of sharing that gift with warm, gentle, generous and caring human beings who had morphed from total strangers to affectionate friends in the brief time it takes to embrace and walk a few times around the dance floor.

This is the kind of rewarding experience that reminds us about the quality of life that Argentine tango can bring to those who dare to be close. There is nothing like the shared intimacy of a sound, a scent, a gesture, a look, a smile, a tear. Intense moments that soothe the soul, energize the heart and make us feel alive, vibrant, inspired, and above all thankful. We have connected, we have made an everlasting impression, and there is a part of us that forever will be special. Step by step we keep navigating the dance floor of life. As we go around, there is always something or somebody who reminds us how important it is to be at peace with ourselves, to give each other the gift of tango, to hold hands, to embrace, to love the music, to absorb the culture, to teach by learning and to learn by teaching.