Sunday, June 29, 2014

Milonga Ohne Worte

Link to the English version: Sacred Silence at the Milonga

This was my first blog post in German (below).  Articles, like this one, will from now on be found on a separate blog: "Tango Therapeut."  My blog features a translator on the right margin.  That helps those who are reading in English as a second language.  I do the same, when I read Spanish, German or French before going back to the original.   If German is a second language for you, as it is for me, you can use the quick translator to read this too!
 
Thanks,  Mark, (a.k.a. the Tango Therapist).



Stell Dir vor: ein Tanzabend ohne zu reden.

Ich muss es mir nicht mehr vorstellen, Ich erlebte es neulich in Heidelberg, Deutschland.

Dieser Beitrag ist KEINE Fiktion, auch wenn er ein wenig surreal erscheint.

Der Tanzpalast Don Carlitos in Eppelheim bei Heidelberg hat eine angenehme, fröhliche Atmosphäre, aber vergangenen Sonntag war es etwas anders. Die Atmosphäre schien verändert, als ich rein kam. Üblicherweise findet die übliche Sonntagsmilonga einmal monatlich statt, aber diese war eine besondere Milonga an einem anderen Sonntag. Eine Rundmail machte deutlich: dort würde nichts zur hören sein als Musik, und davon abgesehen nur Stille. Das mag einige Leute abgeschreckt haben. Umso

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Obsessive/Compulsive Lane Changers


On my way to my first OCLC disorder meeting
I had a dream...  
I went to a meeting for Obsessive Compulsive Lane-changing disorder (OCLC disorder). You see I am obsessed with changing lanes, compulsed to change lanes--a not so rare disorder found at milongas everywhere.

It's my first time ever at the group, and like others before me, I stand and say, "Hi, my name is Mark.  I have OCLC disorder."  I sit down. Others look and me and smile with compassion that finally I can acknowledge my disorder.

I wake up.  Sweating.  Do I really have Obsessive Compulsive Lane Changing disorder?  I don't really believe that is the case, but maybe I

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Tango: Better than Sex?

Yes.

Is there even a question here?  Isn't it obvious?

Human need through normal sexual desire brings children into the world through the power of sexual attraction.

Yet sex is empty by itself.

Tango includes much more than "just sex" can.  Tango is clearly second to the wonderful mixture of a loving partner and a healthy sexual relationship.  ("Healthy" being a relationship that is similar to a healthy human body--a body capable of living on without dying soon and fully of happy hormones.)

As powerful and as wonderful as having a loving relationship, even with the perfect partner, one can lose this partner and

Saturday, June 14, 2014

One Leads, Six Listen

A continued series on the question of who is leading whom                                 en español


The bandoneonista plays with such passion,
I wonder if in ecstasy or pain.
He,
  the guitarist,
     violinist,
        pianist
          and we two dancers--
A sextette, on the pub's tiny floor.
In our collective hypnotic trance, four plus two,
Together we bring to life the dots on paper
Of a composer who wept as he first heard
His tango painted in the air, moving us to dance.
La Música had forced his hand to write.
Now he sees his art brushed with the violin's bow,

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Tango's Trademark Infringement

Ficciones en las Noticias
Lady Justice hears the facts, blind to opinion.
Tango lost in the court of common sense.

(The Unassociated Press)  The World Tango Federation!* recently attempted to patent the terms Leader and Follower.  However, the Unified Patent Court in the European Union has denied this attempt.  Other international patent legal bodies have followed with the UPC's precedence.  Through a patient lawsuit, the Ballroom Association Directorate (BAD), countered the WTF! attempt, and has won the patient for Ballroom teachers worldwide to have proprietary usage of the terms "leader/follower."  Tango teachers around the world have been ordered to stop using "leader and follower" when teaching the roles of tango couples by 2015.

Ballroom Association Directorate (BAD) unequivocally demonstrated that Leading and Following is