Image by Joe Mad via Flickr
It has been two years since I started this blog…where did the time go? Here is one of the original posts. Enjoy!
Sometimes I need to go back to the beginning to re-examine and re-define why I dance tango. I have to feel the excitement and immense mystery in that moment of discovery.
I am always curious to hear how people found tango or what that first time was like for them. I fondly remember my initial tango experience.
Rewind to my hometown, a small community, and a weekend workshop with a visiting teacher from Buenos Aires. I had taken a few classes that day and went to the milonga that night wearing chinos and Doc Martin boots (yikes!). My Docs were the only shoes I owned that I could pivot in.
I watched this brand-new group dancing and thought, ‘Wow!’ , ‘Holy cow!’, and ‘Where have I been?’ The music stirred my soul and I thought the dancing was magical. Then the Teacher asked me to dance and I, in a panic, said, ‘No, no, no. I will just watch.’ But he replied, ‘the only way to learn, is to do.’ So off I went for my first real tango dance while wearing casual chinos and black Doc Martin boots with purple laces. I am pretty sure I was horrendous but my teacher suffered through it with grace and elegance. I couldn’t have asked for a better introduction.
Since that day, over ten years ago, I have not stopped learning and discovering. Tango has given me a beautiful community and has enriched my life. But to be clear I haven’t danced in my Doc Martins since! 
When was the first time you saw/heard/experienced Argentine Tango? What was that experience like for you?
Nice story, I can just picture you in chinos and Docs
My first tango experience was in my sister’s kitchen, dancing with my brother who had started taking tango classes 6 months earlier. I actually “danced” with him and when we stopped I had no idea what just happened! Very corny but I guess that’s when tango picked me (sometimes I feel like tango is picking ON me but that’s another story…)
Beautiful. Thanks for sharing. Love is a corny thing at first.
Sometimes tango is such a bully, another post perhaps.
That’s a hard one… I saw tango on TV: no way I’m dressing like that! I heard Shakira’s tango song: loved it! I watched the movie “Take the lead”: oh, well, maybe I should try it just once… Watched the newspapers and fretted when tango classes clashed with life. And then… Kirra’s class! Tom floated me around the Fallen Alders’ Hall! Yes, please. May I have some more?