The reason I dance tango.

Dance is one of the most primitive forms of art. It expresses our life
experiences and our personality in movements of our body.

Tango Argentino facilitates our emotional, social and physical integration.
It increases self-esteem, improves relationships, broadens the possibilities
of movement, favors introspection and it is effective in managing stress and
depression.

Its music is a mixture of melancholy, emotional altitude, transcendental
expression, anxiety, anger and frustration, it wraps you as it  floats in
the air with a beauty that moves the heart and shakes the soul.

Its lyrics are poems, the brush of a painter leaving on the canvas images of
the city, the neighborhood, the street where you grew up, played, loved, and
suffered. Mother, friends, lovers, cafes, cabarets, horse races, triumphs,
failures, frustrations, peace and turmoil are the matter from which they are
shaped.

Tango does not require any preconception, you have a different experience
with each partner, you learn more about yourself through the transient
association with the other dancers. It refers to two human beings, wrapped
by a music full of passion. Two entities that are introspected but fused in
one. One could say that the dancing couple is a creature with two heads,
four arms, four legs and only one heart.

The invitation to dance is an invisible connection , a silent dialog of eyes
and gestures.

I meet my partner on the dancing floor, stand in front of her. I offer my
left hand and receive her right with a smile;
place my right hand around her back, I bend slightly my knees and take a
deep breath as I stretch my chest upwards.
I cradle her in my arms for a moment as I feel the changes of weight of her
body...I concentrate in the beat, let the music invade my body and my heart
and start dancing my emotions, my joys, my sadness, my hopes and my
frustrations. I feel free, I feel my life, I float in the air and glide
away. When the music stops I hold her in my arms for a few extra moments,
I contemplate her dreamy eyes full with gratitude, I smile and then
walk her back to her sit.

That is the reason I dance tango.

Sergio

(Source: “TANGO-L” List Server TANGO-L@MITVBA.MIT.EDU –31–10-03)