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Tango: Massage for the Soul

10/27/2013

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tango interlude #5: review of workshop by Ney Melo and Jennifer Bratt. Hosted by Casa Tango Edmonton, October 24 to 27, 2013. By Aydan Dunnigan.


My measure of the master tango teacher is someone who can identify the foundational elements  of dance and communicate them in a way that is simultaneously profound and simple. And if you can work a sense of humour into the mix, you have what it takes for a transformational tango class. Ney and Jennifer have it.

Foundational element # 1. Tango is hugging - technically speaking: embracing. Get this right and you are on your way.

The difference, according to Ney and Jennifer, between a lover’s hug and an embrace, is what you do with your arm. If you extend it out to the side, you have a tango embrace. If it starts slipping down the back to never-never land (another technical term), then you have a lover’s hug.

Excercise #1. Man (lead) stands with hands by his sides. Woman (follow) saddles up and drapes a warm embrace over his shoulders. Ney is cheerleading in the background, "I want to see love! Make me believe!"

I haven't had this much fun since my hippy love-in days. I like this. Alot. Massage therapy for the soul.

Foundational element # 2. Apparently, it is the follow’s responsibility to complete the embrace, adapting to body shape and size, comfort level and dance style.  The lead has to be clear, straight, solid well positioned, grounded, maintaining balance at all times and from this tower of stability the follow then has the freedom to embellish, dance, spin and basically play.

According to Ney, this a no-brainer in other parts of the world. But in North America, apparently, we are more about  consensus, shared responsibility, mutuality, meet in the middle. North Americans do a 50-50; the follow makes the approach and then the lead accommodates by adjusting posture and completing the embrace. (Is this more about being non-committal or gender-confusion?).

Raised in the generation of the sensitive New-Age male, I personally am a little reticent to buy into the clear delineation of male-female roles. But there are two things to keep in mind. One, the lead and follow are not necessarily male-female (although typically so and true for me). Secondly, whether or not this translates well into relationships, it does make for better dancing. Tango doesn’t work without role differentiation, a  clear delineation between lead and follow.

Excercise #2. For the rest of the lesson we continue with different exercises designed to reinforce this learning, e.g., walking around the room with the follow pulling down on the lead’s neck, forcing him to focus and expend some energy in maintaining a correct posture. More fun.

For me this is a sandbox for life-play, a practica for relationships. This is much more interesting than learning more steps. Simple but profound with a little humour worked in. I like it. Congratulations master tango teachers, Ney and Jennifer.

For more tango interludes, go to www.traumatotango.com/blog.html

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the church of tango

10/2/2013

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The Church of Tango: a memoir by Cherie Magnus

Review by Aydan Dunnigan, 2013/09/28

For the  tango devotee, all roads lead to Buenos Aires. However, immediately upon joining Cherie Magnus on her pilgrimage to tango’s birthplace, the realization strikes the reader that no two paths are the same. The path is often twisted and treacherous and certainly not for the faint of heart. Each is as intricate as the individual walking it and each step taken unearths both treasure and trauma.

To put it bluntly, Cherie's journey is shocking. It is almost inconceivable that fate would inflict one gentle soul with such calamity. Propelled from her comfortable home, marriage, and affluent lifestyle in Los Angeles by the devastating death of her beloved husband and soon after afflicted by cancer herself,  Cherie sets off on her search for a sanctuary for her soul. This quest takes her over three continents, in and out of failed love affairs, betrayal and abandonment by her closest friends, and unrelenting financial peril, (not counting the ordinary everyday mishaps like being assaulted or robbed).

Nonetheless, as a reader I was continually taken aback that my feelings for the writer were never those of pity but rather admiration for her indomitable spirit. I became enthralled by the prospect that all this turmoil could somehow, someday find its healing balm in tango and that Cherie and her dancing will be richer for her trials.  Tango is of course the quintessential dance of pathos and melancholia and the reader shares the secret conviction that from the grief and despair Cherie will rise as a virtuoso tango artist.

I was not disappointed. By the end of book, when Cherie has settled permanently into her long yearned for home in Buenos Aires, she has nursed the wisdom and soul-depth captivated in the following words:

After years of running from illness, loneliness and loss, I at last knew where to find peace. Sitting at a table drinking sidra with friends, sometimes going to tango heaven with a remarkable dancer, stepping - sweaty and spent- into a waiting taxi at five a.m. and driving home through the quiet dawn, climbing into bed with that sweet body and soul exhaustion that connects me to the universe - I didn’t want more than that…. What a blessing to be dancing in this “chapel” of fellow believers.... It was a miracle that my twelve years of journeying towards the light put me just here, just now. Maybe I made mistakes, maybe I’ve had to pay for them, maybe I’ve had bad luck and loss, maybe I’m not young and am alone, maybe my loved ones are gone, but I am here and dancing, dancing, dancing, blessed and happy.  

For anyone who has ever danced tango or aspires to do so or shares in any small way the heart of a dancer, Cherie's work is a thrilling and inspirational read.

Aydan Dunnigan, author, Trauma to Tango: dancing through the shadows of unforgiven dreams.



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    Aydan Dunnigan, Author of trauma to Tango, Social Worker, former Lutheran Pastor.

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