Learning how to walk again.

I passed! It's all about the gold stars and recognition for me! I've always been an over-achiever. It's kind of a pain, actually! In any case, I'm clear to move on to Level 2. I'm also quite keen but I don't know when I will get my next week in. Mendoza is looking likely though.

I had lunch 'on stage' today. Literally. So cool! Movies and theatre came up today on the break between classes. Margaret mentioned that there's a famous old theatre that's been converted into a bookstore. I couldn't resist checking it out. And it's FABULOUS! Have a look:

The cafe where I had lunch is the stage:

Some of the old light switches behind the screen:

Fabulous details everywhere:

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I don't know why more men don't dance. The dance floor is the place where the men are completely in charge! It's good for them, but it's killing me!!! I'm not supposed to lead, I'm not supposed to anticipate, I'm not supposed to rush. Bah!!!

The tango isn't a sequence of 8 steps over and over. No dance is really, but tango is the only dance that is SO varied in terms of the timing of the steps. It's a little of this and a little of that. It can take 8 beats to complete one single step. Men have a lot of work to be creative and improvise. I have a lot of work to do to turn my brain off and LISTEN!

I had a serious sense of humour loss in my tango class tonight at 19h. It was major deconstruction work today. We tackled walking foreward, backward and side to side. Simple, but not! It was exactly what I needed after the milonga last night. Sometimes you need to go back to basics to improve.

As soon as I was partnered up though, it was a disaster. It was if I had never danced before! I felt defensive and angry, symptoms of me feeling stupid. I had to have a little pep talk with myself: Quit taking yourself so seriously! Quit trying to control things! It takes years to perfect tango, chill! There's likely a breakthrough just around the corner!

I think slowing down, letting go and accepting imperfections are things I need to work on in tango AND life. I never anticipated the parallel but it seems like a compelling reason to keep at tango. It's likely cheaper than therapy and a much better workout!!! ;o)

After class Margaret and I went to dinner in Palermo. We found a nice restaurant on a funky square at a respectable dinner time in Argentina, 22h30. While I fed mosquitoes, we shared a pizza and a bottle of vino. We have a lot in common and she's really easy to talk to. It was a nice evening and I had to pinch myself saying "so...here I am...in BUENOS AIRES!!!". It's all pretty cool.

We were both beat after a long week though and since she's got an apartment fairly close to me, we shared a cab back. I think I crashed around 2AM! Nice! I didn't even turn into a pumpkin!