Why I thought of the tango...

When originally seeking a name for my blog product and my online identity, the words tango and talker came to mind. I liked the alliteration and the sound it made, and with my automatic writing skills, I figured out that one day I would try to justify my moniker, and what it meant to me. It felt right at the time, but I knew that deep inside my soul, there had to be a good reason to choose such a strange name. Now that I have been writing for a few weeks, I see that I have somehow picked topics of conflict and conflict resolution. The ideas come to me through my observations of life, and my writing keeps me amused by putting a spin on things. When I write, I think of some of my favourite humourists, such as Mark Twain, or Stephen Leacock, whose books have entertained me in the past, and wonder what they would want to blog about if they were around today. I am not comparing myself to them, but I write because their ideas and words have been ingrained in me somehow, and shine a bright light on the dankness of humanity.

When I looked up the word tango on the web, there were many sites to choose from. The most interesting web site I found was written by JEFF M. JANECZKO, who published his thesis (http://janeczko.bol.ucla.edu/tango.htm) for the Metropolitan State College of Denver. He wrote his paper on the tango and its political implications: "Immediately apparent to an observer of the tango is the idea of struggle. Man and woman dance in an aggressive-submissive manner, performing difficult steps and sudden stops while locked in a tight embrace. The symbolic nature of the tango can be interpreted in several ways: the struggle of the man to gain dominance over the woman, the struggle of the oppressor against the oppressed, the struggle between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, or the plight of a multi-national country in search of a national identity. This provocative dichotomy that makes the tango such a unique folk form serves as a symbolic representation of the social, political and cultural conditions of Argentina in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Far more than a pastime, the tango is gender, race, class, and culture; the tango is struggle and survival. It gives a voice to those figures of the past, who were not allowed to express themselves overtly at the time. As such, the tango provides a window to the soul of Argentina." My thanks to Jeff for writing this, and letting me lift it off the web page.

I felt it was important to know more about the tango, and its origins. I have admired its quick and smart movements executed by lithe and athletic demi gods of both sexes. There is a strong delination between what is expected of men and women, in the dance form at least. Here we have a glimpse of collaborative agreement at the way things are supposed to be, as wrong as it may seem to some. It's like looking at a time capsule, and saying, I know that this should work but somehow we are messing it all up. Men and women have evolved past this stage, but we can still enjoy the dance in all its beauty. Suppression and oppression are wrong in real life, but it seems to work in the dance form with willing partners and an appreciative audience.

Why can't we all look so AMAZING, and be so FANTASTIC while dancing our own tango in real time with real people? Do some of us actually think that we can reach these lofty ideals while struggling with everyday concerns? It seems to be easy enough for Hollywood and those celebrities who have keepers, minders, publicists, dieticians, coaches, therapists, gurus, assistants, psychoanalysts, hairdressers, personal shoppers, etc. I am surprised that anyone in Hollywood finds a valid excuse to step out of their oppulent mansions except to purposely flaunt their perfect and ageless beauty to the world via the prying lenses of the paparazzi.