Shut up and tango!
Last week, our Party Planning Committee dished out a real gem of a Christmas party. And it all started with a tango lesson that taught us copy people a lot more than fancy footwork.
It taught us the importance of knowing how to communicate without words.
For the last dance, we had to move in complete silence. It wasn’t easy, but our moves (at least mine) improved dramatically. And it was even better with eyes closed. Imagine what a challenge that was for people whose jobs depend on language!
Our very cool instructor, Linus Aabye, made fun of us a bit to get us going. “You walk around and say ‘Did you feel that?’ or ‘Was that OK for you?’ and apologizing for every wrong step. But on the dance floor, in a competition, you can’t do that. If you trip up, you have to keep going, keep reading your partner’s signals.”
Admittedly, it was hard and a bit odd to suddenly be so close to our colleagues - yet not be allowed to say a word. I felt a bit rude, even - but then just gave into it and realized that the tango world is on to something with this silence. At work and at home, we constantly hear how important it is to use words to communicate. Not physical language - words. But maybe we’ve gone a bit extreme with all that talking. Maybe some things are best expressed without our voices.
Be that as it may, I’ve got to admit: in the Sing Star karaoke competition that followed the tango, it was our voices that ruled. What we had to give up in silent dance we gained right back with the mics in our hands.
December 21st, 2007 at 1:42 pm
A nice piece AP.
Linus used a nice metaphor during our class. He said that tango is like a language: you have the vocabulary (the steps), the grammar (the technique) and the tone and style (intepreting the music). When you dance with someone who ’speaks’ the same tango language, it can be a wonderful moment of communication.
As an experienced tango dancer, this is one of things I find most attractive about the dance. In the tango halls, you have the chance to dance with someone you don’t know, perhaps you’ve never exchanged more words than ’shall we dance?’. And suddenly the two of you are in an embrace, moving wordlessly to the music.
In some cases, you find yourself dancing with someone and you just understand each other. You ‘click’ and those three minutes of dancing can be wonderful. But then again, you can find yourself dancing with someone you don’t understand - and then those three minutes are painful, choatic attempts to get yourself understood - it’s like shouting in a foreign language.
They say tango is a romance of three minutes. I must say, it’s not always a romance, but it is a short opportunity to experience another form of communication with someone.
And congratulations to our organising committee for arranging a great party.