We are past the point of no return
We may wonder what we would otherwise be doing in the time we spend in the pursuit of tango, but it mattereth not because we will never need to find out. Whatever it would have been, this is better. Our life has forever changed and we are ever grateful.
Who knew that one day we’d be rationalizing expenditures for private lessons in “walking” or buying shoes that could pass for mini-stilts?
Who knew we could be serious and have fun at the same time? And where was the flyer that said that we’d have countless opportunities to experience and then recover from a shattered ego?
Songs we may or may not know the names of play over and over in our head. We get a little cranky when we don’t get our tango fix. We’re considering a trip (or another) to BsAs even if it means refinancing the house, driving the same vehicle another year or postponing sending the offspring to college.
Friends and loved ones glance at their watches like clockwork when tango is mentioned, but we’ve come to expect that and learned to let it go. As long as they accept us at social gatherings, even if we need to leave early to attend a (shhhhh!) milonga, we’re good.
We are privileged to belong to a dance (it does own us) whose poets, lyricists, musicians, conductors, composers, singers, tangueras y tangueros and fellow enthusiasts have created the wondrous path that we now follow. We honor the contributions of those whose names will never be known, for helping tango live through us and through those who will follow us.
We look forward to sharing a tender embrace in our golden years when other dances have passed us by. We will continue to grow each time we please a partner, learn a new skill, share a special moment, or finally understand a concept that we first heard perhaps months or even years ago.
We’ve evolved from being entertained or amused by mutated versions of our dance on television and in movies, to being annoyed and even insulted by them. It is no longer important to try to explain our passion, or whether folks understand. We dance from within, with or without a partner, can create our own music, and can create a delightful experience in a solo-tango way.
Not all who are curious will follow the same journey as we have, of course. Those who give it a whirl and move on will never know what they have passed up while those of us who join the ranks of “Tangoid” have become blessed in ways we never dreamed possible.
First, tango was “just a dance.” Then, it was “more than a dance.” Now, it is “life in a dance.”
Polly's Tango Talk 