Consider Joseph Campbell’s daunting description of launching out on “the hero’s journey:”
“Over and over again, you are called to the realm of adventure, you are called to new horizons. Each time, there is the same problem: do I dare? And then if you do dare, the dangers are there, and the help also, and the fulfillment or the fiasco. There’s always the possibility of a fiasco. But there’s also the possibility of bliss.” ~ Joseph Campbell, Pathways to Bliss
Compare this to stepping out on the dance floor: the trepidation of dancing with a new partner, risking some new steps, finding yourself in a new community with no assurances that you will even get to dance.
Dancing tango is a hero’s journey. How many times have you heard someone say in awe and admiration, “You dance tango? I could never do that. I am too shy and awkward.” Who of us did not have those same misgivings when we took our first lesson.
My first dance with a local in Buenos Aires was almost my last. After repeated solicitations, a pink-haired senior took pity on me and accepted my offer to dance. About a third of the way into the dance she stopped and started yelling at me in Spanish. I knew less Spanish than I did tango so had no way of escaping her assault. I begged for pardon in my most desperate English and she again took enough pity on me to finish the dance. Fortunately it was the end of the dance set so I could escape without further humiliation. As I crawled off the dance floor Patricia greeted me with encouragement, “Well, at least you had the courage to dance.”
That is the hero’s journey. It begins with the courage to take risks and ends as a triumph or fiasco. But the hook is that seductive possibility of bliss.
Aydan Dunnigan
“Over and over again, you are called to the realm of adventure, you are called to new horizons. Each time, there is the same problem: do I dare? And then if you do dare, the dangers are there, and the help also, and the fulfillment or the fiasco. There’s always the possibility of a fiasco. But there’s also the possibility of bliss.” ~ Joseph Campbell, Pathways to Bliss
Compare this to stepping out on the dance floor: the trepidation of dancing with a new partner, risking some new steps, finding yourself in a new community with no assurances that you will even get to dance.
Dancing tango is a hero’s journey. How many times have you heard someone say in awe and admiration, “You dance tango? I could never do that. I am too shy and awkward.” Who of us did not have those same misgivings when we took our first lesson.
My first dance with a local in Buenos Aires was almost my last. After repeated solicitations, a pink-haired senior took pity on me and accepted my offer to dance. About a third of the way into the dance she stopped and started yelling at me in Spanish. I knew less Spanish than I did tango so had no way of escaping her assault. I begged for pardon in my most desperate English and she again took enough pity on me to finish the dance. Fortunately it was the end of the dance set so I could escape without further humiliation. As I crawled off the dance floor Patricia greeted me with encouragement, “Well, at least you had the courage to dance.”
That is the hero’s journey. It begins with the courage to take risks and ends as a triumph or fiasco. But the hook is that seductive possibility of bliss.
Aydan Dunnigan