Tango

Up until 2001 I had been doing some Latin dancing at Rio Rhythmics in West End, very much along the styles of Salsa, Bolero and Lambada which you’ve probably seen them around occasionally. Then I decided to do a little Tango. Wow!

argentine-tango-couplesI still remember and to this day, the two most impressive dances that I’ve had were in 2001 when I danced with Madeline and with Wolfgang. There was a grace I felt in dancing with Madeline that I have yet to feel again and with Wolfgang I felt for the only time the strength and passion that can be expressed through the lead from the man.

I did a few months of Tango and stressed out a great deal over it along with some major personal crisis at the time including the death of my sister in a horse riding accident. The personal issues led me to reassess my life, move to Sydney to work on Matrix 2 & 3 ultimately dropping out of Tango.

Although I meet some wonderful people in 2001 I lost contact with most of them as happens, however I decided in 2007 after some more changes in my life to re-enter the fray and have another crack at learning Tango. So I contacted Wolfgang and he directed me to Ross and Sandra who run Friends of Tango and I started lessons as a beginner again.

Six years later I had forgotten everything and had to start from the basics again. however this time it felt different. It was actually harder. Now that I have more experience I realise that Ross and Sandra are teaching me at a much higher standard than I was being taught before, understanding the subtleties of a dozen things at once making it was much, much more difficult. Now we were moving towards excellence instead of just dancing. Good Tango like the very best of things in life are challenging and can only be appreciated when done with an attitude of excellence.

I’ll go into more later but suffice to say this is one of the half dozen of the most difficult things that I’ve done in my life and it’s required dogged determination all the way. Only now that I’ve move through a transition do I feel that I can write about it.

SocietyFast 1.2 Illusions

Seven days I’ve been doing what I can not to buy into the societal expectations that are out there that sometimes cause me to beat myself up.

You know, things like, by this time in my life I should have X amount of property and Y sort of career with specific goals and pathways towards the future… All that sort of stuff. Well as I said I’ve been doing what I can to just stay present and make my daily life as much of a meditation as I can. I admit, I don’t feel that I’m very good at keeping the noise quiet but as Eckart Tolle infers “just doing any of it and every moment that is present is more and better than doing the usual mind chatter”.

So, I feel good. Life hasn’t changed in any huge ways but I’m more settled than I was lastillusions week and despite the fact that financially things haven’t changed I’m not stressed about it. In this moment all is pretty damn okay.

So I’m just going to continue doing what I’m doing. Not buying into what is expected and staying as calm an meditative as I can. Practice, practice, practice.

During the week I was talking to a good friend, Brett, who reminded me about ourĀ  favourite book and the opening passage from it which I’m going to retype here as an exercise in reminding myself of the importance of these words and consider that ultimately this is the only valid way that I can live my life. With thanks to Richard Bach from Illusions, The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah.

  1. There was a Master come unto the earth, born in the holy land of Indiana, rased in the mystical hills east of Fort Wayne.
  2. The Master learned of this world in the public schools of Indiana, and as he grew, in his trade as a mechanic of automobiles.
  3. But the Master had learnings from other lands and other schools, from other lives that he had lived. He Remembered these, and remembering became wise and strong, so that others saw his strength and came to him for counsel. Continue reading