Tango Kelowna * Three Minutes Of Intimacy p2 * The Breath of Dance * Argentine Tango * Dance Cafe Kelowna

Tango Argentino Art Print Alvarez, Pedro

In the dance community several years, I've seen great dancers, good dancers, dancers with steps but no style or technique, and many people trying because they just love it - these make me feel happiest.

I've also noted great technique with little passion, no life. Granted, focus is key in learning - but letting the music take you should kick in at some point. Cubans I spoke with say we look like ballet dancers when we dance latin!

It is rare to experience a truly passionate dancer who allows the music to move through soul, into sinew and limb in lead and follow with the strains of rythm. I've had the opportunity very few times to dance this way, often with men untrained in structured dance.

(Now I am not without flaw here! I often find myself focusing on steps and technique. I would much rather be finely tuned intuiting energy, lead and music.)

A European man from out of town came to a tango lesson with his lovely Latino wife. He danced with passion clearly apparent in his demeanor and frame, which was only discernable as his energy permeated the embrace of the partnership - in every movement and with every woman he engaged. He was beautiful to dance with, while not necessarily being a technically correct dancer. His style is not at all an intimate betrayal of his wife, as clearly they each understood the passion of tango and that it should be danced just that way.

Relating a common love of letting the music lead and take you is rare. Few l-o-v-e it so passionately to express it that way. A man with whom I am barely acquainted but who loves to dance - and I sense adores the engagement of energy between two people, said, "I want to dance with you. I want to dance close ..so close that you feel my breath on your neck..."

His unexpected statement, startled me and I unfortunately diverted the conversation. Ever just kick yourself when you miss a great moment that could be creatively explored? That was one of mine I realized later. But in retrospective thought, my imagination went exploring the nuances of the image that broadsided my reserve in ...a rather provocative way.

In Three Minutes of Intimacy p1, I explored how the form of dance in our culture especially, is so far from the intimacy being portrayed by it. We are removed from the very intimacy acted out in our own movements. Yes it is still a way of honoring intimacy in life, even though we tend to disconnect from it.

Back to the gentleman - at least I hope he is! We haven't danced. But I realize my immediate thought was of a slow dance, which I usually associate with an intimate partner. The image I had was perhaps incorrect, at least limited.

Tango Argentino II Art Print Alvarez, Pedro

Exploration of the lingering provocative statement twigged me to more closely consider breath in dance, slowing down in my mind, the nuances of tango engagement. One hardly thinks of the breath, as each is involved with lead and follow, moved by the music. Through music and motion, and when allowed, a new energy is created. Taking over, it breathes life into the synchronsitic movement.

In intimate embrace, he leads with stealth, the walking steps, like a panther, they describe it in Argentina. But since the dancers are focused on intuiting the music and the dance, is the breath even noticed? Perhaps not by logical thought, but yes there it is. Almost subliminal through passes, turns, leans, ganchos, the 'ether' of the breath registers somewhere primal as it grazes a cheek, whispers over a bare shoulder, down the hollow of a nape.

Argentine Tango engages sensual connected energy. It begs to be danced no other way. The fine tuning of paying close attention in the nuances of lead and follow create the art of intuiting and interpreting the energy of the other in the flow of synchronistic motion.

Therein is the Magic - and oh my, the magic we forsake!

So few are the times I've let myself go with connected energy in dance. Yet it is truly what I dance for! So before I die, on my bucket list, is to dance, abandoning all reserve!

As with breath, Tango is life...

Want to Tango in Kelowna?? Sharon Sebo teaches every Sunday evening - all levels, singles and couples welcome! For details www.tangokelowna.com

Three Minutes of Intimacy p1

"There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." -- Albert Einstein

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