This is NOT a New Year’s resolution! Why? Because, if you are like me, those only last until about February. Instead, I like to think of this as a focus for my tango for the year, a theme or topic to help me improve slowly throughout the year. This year, I have two goals: a personal/dance goal, and a community goal.
Personal dance goal
My goal for the year is to strengthen my core. I recently discovered that I have several muscles that were not contributing to my balance and core, probably from a difficult pregnancy and no PT afterwards. So, twenty years later, it’s time to integrate them back into my body.
What does this mean for my dance? I must rebuild my body map. I must adjust my axis and how I use my body, which is hard after so many years of feeling my body without those muscles. However, I am already starting to be aware of them after two weeks of work, and my sense of where my body is in space is already improving.
I am grateful to my excellent trainer, Blaine Brignell, for making me do things I don’t want to do! I am not a weight-lifting, workout kind of girl, and I would never do this without help. I am also grateful to my lovely husband, who wanders in and asks, “Are we working out now?” despite my answer being a groan each time :-)
Quantum entanglement/building community
My second focus for this year is to build our community. In ancient times, back when the community started in the 1990s, there were not enough dancers to splinter into subgroups. Gradually, the older and younger dancers divided; newer dancers received less of a welcome because most people thought, “Oh, they are someone else’s problem.”
Since lockdown, tango has struggled to attract new dancers. Many dancers from before did not return to dancing. According to my son and his friends, young people have chosen to stay home and play on their phones instead of going out to dance. Those of us who returned to tango need to take responsibility for the health of our community and recruit new dancers. So, my goal for the year is to invite my friends who don’t dance tango, to try it out; and to dance with more beginners.
Bring a friend to class!
One of my tango students invited me to West African dance class. After a 25-30-year break, I got back out there. In a sea of people, I struggled to see the teacher. In a class that was crazier than usual (the teacher’s 50th birthday), they covered three dances instead of the usual one dance. My body vaguely remembered tiny bits of the dance from a few decades ago, but . . . ack. I am deeply thankful that there were no mirrors!
I am so proud of myself that I made it through the class! I am proud of myself for knowing that I looked awful but doing it anyway. I am proud of myself for jumping in. I would never have made it to class without a personal invitation and prodding.
To build community, we need more dancers. In an age of sitting on the couch, scrolling through Instagram and TikTok, we ALL need help to get out there and try something new. What one friend do you have who you would love to see out on the dance floor? It’s a numbers game: ask ten friends and one will come. The more friends you have out there dancing, the more YOU will feel like dancing too!
Happy New Year! What is YOUR tango goal? I would love to hear about it!
Please share your goals!