At Saturday night’s milonga, I danced with a follower who is a regular in my tango group class.  We broke all the rules about Argentine Tango being serious business and just silently expressing yourself and the music through the dance.  No, we had a three minute conversation  about peanut butter banana sandwiches while we danced.

For snacks at the molonga, in addition to the regular wine, cheese, crackers, fruit and such, someone brought ice cream sandwiches, ice cream cups, and frozen chocolate covered bananas.  The chocolate bananas were especially good and my dance partner had just finished hers before the tanda started.

Before we even embraced, I inquired if she had a peanut butter banana sandwich.  She had not and was very interested in how to make one, so I gave her all the details.  Being originally from Europe, this was all foreign to her as they mostly just have butter with bread.  We finished the dancing the song and ended the conversation talking about how these sandwiches were Elvis Presley’s favorite and then figured out that’s why he died so young.

For those of you that do not dance Argentine Tango, the parada or sandwich is when the follower leans back with her foot out and the leader sandwiches the foot between his two feet.  It is a stop or pause for the follower, and then the leader crosses over her foot and pauses while the follower takes a step.

Also at the milonga, I had good conversations with two other leaders in our group during breaks in dancing.  Normally, when I go to a milonga, I am usually quiet, have my game face on, and just enjoy the music and dancing.  My changed attitude I believe came from all my writing about Argentine Tango, so being at a milonga was very familiar and relaxing.     

Being that this web site is about relationships and Argentine tango, I want to inquire if you are taking paradas with people to build relationships as you go about your daily life.  I’m a single guy who is comfortable being by himself, so I can go about my daily routine without having a conversation and be perfectly happy.  I need to change my ways and engage people more.

It takes effort to stop and have a conversation with someone and build a relationship.  The thing about an Argentine Tango parada is it can be quick or slow, but it is still a stop.  For example, by taking short bits of time using snippets of text on Twitter, one is able to communicate with people around the world and slowly build relationships (my Twitter name: tangoleader).  Twitter is a fun and unique way to communicate over distances, but are we building relationships with the people we see regularly in our immediate vicinity?    

Micro-blogging and blogging has me thinking more about my relationships with people I meet regularly in my daily activities.  We all lead busy lives, but are we taking a moment when opportunities arise to build our relationships with others where we live, work, and relax?  We need to do more paradas in our daily lives.                                   

Tags: tango steps