It's A Matter of Trust

Dancing the tango, I mean. Among other things in this life.

Trusting enough to follow the lead of another, for starters. Having the confidence that the leader will take you through the dance, enable your feet and your moves to express your understanding of the music, and just let the spirit of the tango settle in your soul as you follow the lead.

Trusting enough to know what each light tap intends for you, where every step will take you, how to absorb and exhale the energy sent your way. Knowing what, where, how and when to flow and glide and yes, even muster the bravura to flaunt that oft-practiced boleo-gancho-caress signature.

Trusting enough to let the newest lessons settle into the psyche, waiting for the time when it will suddenly make sense, and the moves will just happen.

It is all a matter of trust, this tango I am learning. Without it, the bolkada will be an exercise in frustration, for there is the element of letting one's weight, and indirectly, one's self, go; relying entirely on the leader to take you on, and lead you to the next salvo.

A trust that also sharpens the sense of carrying one's weight, and the leeway within that intimate embrace to stand, to secure balance, to dance as one even as one remembers that the duet is possible because one is as always on your own.

Suffice it to say that aching feet, tired muscles and new cuts only make the dancing even more enjoyable. The synergy shows and the dance becomes more expressive as time goes by, and the trust grows.

It's a matter of trust, and as everything in tango, it must grow and deepen for the dance to take flight.