Lessons from tango

Before we all go and check the Superduper Tuesday Carnival of the Insanities, here's a tango report:

Yesterday I had the pleasure of participating in the Tango for Parkinson's fundraiser. I ended up learning the first steps and danced for a total of four hours. It was so much fun I could have stayed for an additional four hours if I hadn't had family obligations.

Loved every minute of it.

I learned a couple of things:

• You're never too old to tango, but you probably can be too young for it.
• You don't get tired while learning the tango.
• Never judge a guy by his cover: Young long-haired hippies, chubby old guys, nerds with thick eyeglasses and shy guys with thick foreign accents all are stars of the tango ballroom.
• The most beautiful woman also does the best tango. Yes, life is so unfair.
• Argentine tango is challenging because you need all your concentration.
• You have to concentrate in what you're doing but at the same time you have to be totally focused on how the guy leads you.
• Regardless of its image as sex-in-the-ballrom, acquiring the body memory to get to that point requires all of your mental skills. Tango might have originated in the brothels of Buenos Aires but it takes a sharp mind to get it together.
• It does take two, but you have to practice your technique on your own, too

I took a couple of pictures with my new camera phone; once I figure out how to download them I'll post them here.

For those of you who want to know, I was wearing the right shoes. See below.

Here's a Reuters report on tango tourism in Buenos Aires


Here's Sally Potter:


That clip is from Potter's movie The Tango Lesson, which is the fantasy of every middle-aged woman who's had to do extensive structural repairs to her home - she gave the keys to her contractor and left for Argentina to learn the tango while the work was being done (and the work was miraculously finished - and done the right way - when she got back):


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This week's shoes, for tango practice:
Two of the girls who danced very well wore dansneakers

I wore the classic Capezio character shoe with a Dr. Scholl's innersole for the whole four hours, and could have lasted another four hours. There were at least ten other women (including two instructors) wearing these:

If I ever progress beyond the clunky-beginner stage I'll be looking at these, or perhaps something from FeatherLite:


Many men wore the Capezio oxfords

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This week's WSJ's Five Best books on conspiracy theories, selected by Mark Holland:






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