Tango Is The Path

               It is difficult to figure out what the right path is in life. Before I started dancing I used to lament over my mistakes with such frequency that they ate away at my insides. I found it very difficult to live with my blunders or even to learn from them. Tango teaches a dancer not to dwell on the mistakes. When he trips the music doesn’t stop playing. He needs to keep listening, to continue to choreograph, navigate and communicate to his partner. If he stops, so does the dance.

               In 9^th grade I was a prolific reader. One book more than any other influenced my path in life: ‘Cup of Gold’ by John Steinbeck. After reading this book I planned to run away from home. I didn’t get up the courage until my second semester of college. I kind of felt I lived in a world that was not much different from the one inhabited by the main character, Henry Morgan. One day he would leave home for a seaport where he would be forced into slavery and eventually become the greatest pirate ever.

               Oh how I longed to be  ‘the greatest pirate ever’ in my own time, in real life. When I finally made that giant leap into the vast ocean of life, I discovered how woefully unprepared I was. I usually had to be satisfied with just keeping my nose above the water. There were many painfully humbling experiences.

               Whichever fork in the road we decide to take, we will inevitably stumble; the trick is not to fall when we do. In hindsight I’d say learn to dance before you lose your footing, don’t wait until you’re fifty-two, like me.

               Tango also teaches us not to allow negative energy from a misstep to enter into our embrace. Applying that same concept to our lives means directing your frustration out into space and not at other people. If you allow irritation into the connection with your partner, she may inadvertently kick another couple who may fall and topple the remaining dancers like dominos. So too in life, if you take out your annoyances on others they may do the same in a way that repeats and compounds itself, rippling exponentially throughout the general population.

               I lurched through life and hit bottom many times. Until I took up tango, I carried the weight of all my failings. As I acquired new skills and began to move with my partners as one, in harmony, not just with the person within my embrace, but also in accord with the universe, gradually I began to let go of that heavy load.

                Dancing is such a great metaphor for life. We do what we can with the time we’re given, with the song God plays for us. We can march with the crowd or we can chart our own course, either way, in the end, nothing will be left but the memory of us in the minds of those we leave behind. To be memorable it is imperative to dance well.

 Note: For an in-depth look into the mind of the Kayak Hombre, read his book, available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/River-Tango-perri-iezzoni/dp/1453865527/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369366756&sr=1-1&keywords=River+tango