Inspiring

I have this red t-shirt that says Inspired on it, but it's nice to know that I'm also inspiring to others as well. A couple weeks ago in class, a guy told me, "You and your dance partner are inspiring to more than half the class." This past Sunday night at Alberto's milonga, I got several compliments from both leaders and followers; from people I danced with as well as just observers. I like to try to connect with whomever I'm dancing with, and one guy I'd danced with a few times at other milongas commented on that and told me, "Don't ever lose that." I enjoyed dancing a couple tandas each with Vijay and Francis, and many with Martin. It's weird because both Martin and I feel like whenever we get back together dancing together towards the end of the night after mingling with others that we feel even better together. We had some "on" dancing Sunday night as well as last night. Of course I am still learning how to say "no" or say "thank you" before a tanda has ended with someone I am having an absolute horrible time with, but I view tango as an arena for all dancers to share and have fun together. I've met some colorful and good people during my tango journey thus far who have been abundantly kind and generous to me and I hope to reciprocate. I also feel I can tell the difference between someone I'm dancing with who is a beginner but is working on the basics, like just walking, versus someone who thinks they're hot shit, when they aren't and kind of taking me for granted as a follower. I will definitely have lots of patience with the former. After all, I was a beginner not too long ago and still am! When I described this brief moment I felt last night to Martin, he said that was the zone. It was weird, because usually things are very clear in my head, and I'm very much in my head concentrating and focusing. When I had this moment, things became unclear and like I had lost control, and was just moving but not fully conscious. I let myself do that for a short amount of time, maybe 20-30 seconds and then took over control and focus again. It is nice that I am able to relax more and have fun now. For the first few months after partnering with Martin I was concentrating on 10 different things at once and remember having a couple weeks of horrendous overwhelm. Tango is a very complicated dance! So one last limelight incident: last night after practica on my way out, this new woman came over to me and told me how beautiful and elegant it is to watch me and how I was such an inspiration to watch.

In other news, my quartet had a nice 2-hour gig at this humongous private residence in Woodside Sunday afternoon. It was really gorgeous, but very tastefully and simply decorated. Martin and I finished watching the last half of The Road Home last night which is a very endearing Chinese movie with fabulous cinematography. Today is day two at my company's new location. I am really enjoying the much shorter commute of 15-20 minutes! Also, I'm less than 1/2 mile from Starlite so Martin and I can maybe meet during the day to practice there :)