Random Thoughts and Poems
"When I took my first classes in tango, there was no one knew anything
real about tango. To me it seemed that every instructor was one of the
group of blind men each trying to describe an elephant. My very first
instructor used only the most complex music imaginable, I imagine to
give his class real authenticity. It drove me nuts, I stuck with it
just like the boy who was shoveling away at a pile of horse manure,
convinced that with all this shit there must be a pony somewhere."
-Conrad Mandt
"Let me close for now with the thought, that simple is best, with enough
of the more challenging thrown in to appease the occasional need so
assuage a need for the exotic."
-Conrad Mandt
TANGO
- an interplay by strangers,
and a little bit of beauty.
Momentary happiness,
worth the risk of lost illusions.
Occasional connection or maybe not
-what on earth do we do wrong?
A joke in the kitchen,
wiped tears, infectious laughter,
and silent moments at the stairs
in an early sunny dawn.
-Tove Albinson
WHY DO YOU DANCE TANGO?
I need to know because I need to know what to give,
And what to receive.
Maybe this is my job as a teacher --
To show you the different sides of the dance
And then let you decide for yourself.
Do you want the tango?
Does it call you in the middle of the night,
Or is it just a way of killing "free time"?
I don't want to help you kill your free time.
I want to help you find kindling to fuel your fire.
I want to show you how to gather the wood
Rather than smother the coals with an abundance
Of things that you don't need,
And don't really want.
-Anonymous
Sex, good looks, the ex gets angry because we laugh at her new (newest) boyfriend.
Confused feelings, dreams set aside for others. A plane ticket, a train ride through the
Alps. Forgotten futures and distant pasts that are not so distant. A private lesson,
a burned CD, Pugliese in the background making me remember, making me feel my path
and not to diverge to keep chasing unknown things, but to press forward with what I need
to do. The bakery on the corner. Streets covered in snow. An Italian haircut, new shoes,
little sleep, and above all, thoughts of tangible dreams.
-Alex
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