Social
The false promise of self-improvement
Become the best version of yourself. Invest in yourself. You are your greatest asset. You don’t need anyone else to be whole. You have probably seen or heard these, or similar, motivational messages encouraging self-improvement. From physical to psychological and social aspects of life, there is no shortage of content pushing us to upgrade ourselves.
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It’s not for the community we have…
I’m not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions, but last year I actually made one. I told myself: “Let’s try to start a YouTube channel… something for new or future Tango dancers. Something that connects Tango life with real life.”
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It’s not the steps you teach
A few weeks ago, Dimitris wrote a post about tango teachers complaining that “the level of Tango is declining.” His point was simple: maybe teachers judge the level based on the events they attend. Events that are often poorly curated and therefore not representative of the wider tango community.
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Self exploration
It’s not the milongas you go to
In my previous post, I talked about how absence creates or highlights presence. That was about three weeks ago. Yes. I took a break from writing (or at least from posting) for a while. But the idea behind this post has been waiting patiently for three years to take shape. So… what’s three more weeks,…
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Leaving home
I still remember the feeling of leaving my parents’ house and living alone at 18. Do you? I had spent time away from my parents before, but in most of those cases, I wasn’t truly on my own. There were always other people around in case I needed help. Living alone for the first time…
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Frodo, Sam and the power of Tango
In the last post, I described how the Ring from The Lord of the Rings can symbolise Tango’s power and how it amplifies what’s already inside us. I used the relationship between Gollum and the Ring to show how Tango (The Ring) can twist us when we dance to escape ourselves (like Gollum used the…
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Musicality
Selfdriven followers
When I was in Greece I had to drive myself every morning to the office and this drove me crazy. I always dreamed of having a fully autonomous car that would just get me to wherever I wanted while I could be sleeping, reading, etc. What does this have to do with trust and musicality?…
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A game with no winners or losers
Have you ever noticed that dancers who emphasize musicality tend to enjoy their dances more than others? Regardless of their partner, it seems like they are most of the time happy. I have observed that in myself as well. From the moment I focused on developing my musicality I was getting more joy out of…
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The benefits of limitations
A couple of posts ago I wrote about my limitations in vocabulary and how I don’t see them as actual limitations since I invested in expanding the other parameters of communication. The main point is that vocabulary is only a small part of our communication both in normal spoken languages as well as in dancing.…
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Connection
Why is Pugliese hard to dance
I believe that, since Pugliese’s music goes to the extreme, it requires you to go to the extreme too, to really enjoy him. His music doesn’t ask…. it demands from you to open up your soul, rip your heart into pieces, and expose and present yourself to your partner in a way that makes you…
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The missing link
I often wonder what is the difference between a good tanda and a magical one. You know… the one that you don’t ever forget. After the quote of El Flaco Dany in the comments of my previous post, I think I realized what it is. The second link of the chain he mentions. The heart.
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Sharing sorrow and happiness
There is a Greek saying that describes this process quite accurately… “A shared happiness is growing to double and a shared sorrow is lowering to half.”. So this conversation… this sharing of your feelings is actually softening your sorrow or doubling your happiness.
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