Tango.

When was the last time you danced the dance of passion?

One of the classes that Chris and I took together in college was Social Dance.   We walked to King Horn Sports Center after lunch a couple days a week in the freezing winter cold of Ada, Ohio to take a required P.E. class.   Somehow  I persuaded him to take the class with me and he was in high demand as the class was mainly composed of young ladies.  But I was the lucky girl who had his attention so I claimed him as a partner most of the time.

One of the dances we learned was the tango and we were reminded of it last night when we had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in Brevard called Quixote.  No, they did not have tango dancing during our delicious dinner on the patio but we did meet a lovely gentleman who shared his love of tango with us.

Everyone talks to us.  I am not sure if it is because we are pleasant and approachable or if it is the small town thing here or what but it happens all of the time. People share their life stories with both of us now.  Chris has also recently been blessed with this gift and it makes me giggle because some of the things that are shared with him are similar to what folks share with me.

But I digress…as usual.  This gentleman was celebrating his 91st birthday with a small group and shared with us his love of tango and how his partner (and wife, I think) was an expert dancer. They travel to Argentina and dance the dance that is synonymous to a dance of love. It is a very sensual dance. I set out to learn a bit more about the tango after our encounter with Mr. Tango. According to Wikipedia the tango is a partner dance that originated in the 1880s along the River Plate, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay, and soon spread to the rest of the world.  There are many different varieties that have emerged over the years with styles unique to the particular region where it is practiced.  There are many benefits to doing the tango and it has been suggested that tango makes people feel more relaxed, sexier, and less depressed, and increases testosterone levels.

It got me to thinking.  If a 91 year old gentleman can trip the light fantastic and enjoy his love of dancing so completely what can I do at age 91?  Or for that matter what can I do at age 56 to enjoy life a little bit more?  

I don’t know that Mr. Diamond and I will take up the tango anytime soon but Mr. Tango has our number so who knows when he might call us to invite us to his living room to watch he and his partner trip the light fantastic?  Tell me – do you tango?  Enjoy one of my favorite scenes with Richard Gere in the movie Shall We Dance.