Did you hear tangle? That would be understandable. We often don’t realize we are in a relationship to Mars until we are entangled. I would like to suggest some ways of responding to Mars, god of War known for destruction, chaos and upheaval, in the context of Argentine tango.
Tango is a dance of improvisation, which requires relaxed
awareness. It also requires practice, not in the sense of doing something over
and over, but a cultivation of a particular state of being. The music is
complex with layered rhythms and themes combining eros and pathos. You need to
be responsive to your partner and others on the dance floor. For me tango has correlation to other
disciplines that might surprise you. I once went to a Zen/Tango weekend at Green Gulch
Zen Center,
where the abbot was learning tango and
appreciated the connection the Zen arts. I also associate it with the martial
art of Aikido and, as well, the creative process.
I first
learned about cultivating response in Aikido, where you turn your opponent’s force of energy back on them. You
practice responding in ways that pre-empt your natural instincts to flee,
flight or fold. It requires a translation of a force of energy into equilibrium
and equanimity. Mars energy has strong directionality and he is the
quintessential leader. Tango requires a strong lead.
There is an intimate, yet not necessarily personal exchange in Tango,
and within that schema the designated leader cannot function without a
responsive follower. Between good dancers the lead and follow can switch back
and forth. A powerful leader demands to be met toe to toe. I will use the masculine pronoun for the
leader and Mars in this context of tango.
Let’s suppose that you know that you are on Mars’ hit list and your
life is due to be shaken up good. You are scheduled for disaster; loss of job,
home or loved-one. Instead of waiting around, I invite you to text Mars with
the invitation to meet you this evening at a local Milonga, a tango
dance event.
You put on a little black dress and head out. Arriving at the dance,
the lights are low, the band is tuning up. You take off your coat and sit down
to put on your dance shoes. From across the room you can feel someone who
demands your eye. When you look up you immediate recognize Mars in the guise of
a tangero. It could be the rake of his fedora, or the crease of his
pants, the shine of his shoes, whatever reason, you have no doubt. In Tango
protocol you agree to dance from across the room. You nod your acceptance to
his invitation and he starts across the dance floor.
There are a few things that you need to understand before he arrives. The follower decides how close to embrace. You are on your own with that one. In a loose embrace you have your own vertical axis to keep balanced, but in a close embrace, although you both have responsibility for your own balance, you create an axis between you. You both lean into each other to form a triangle with your feet at the base. What each of you do greatly affects the other.
An essential understanding in the dojo, zendo, studio and dance floor is that it is not about you. You are merely a conduit. How well you do does not add to or diminish from who you are. In other words the more ego that you have invested the harder it is. Stay out of the analytical mind and in your body.
As Mars offers you his hand you stand up. Mars will take you just out
of the current of dance which is a counter clock flow. Before the music starts
he will test your mettle by rocking you slightly from side to side, and you
will change your weight from foot to foot as directed. This will determine your
dance. It will give him information of how responsive you are to his lead. He
will see how you keep and regain your center axis or the axis between you, and
how quickly you respond to change of direction. Do you need a two by four
upside the head or the slightest movement? As leader his mission is to make you
look as good as possible, by bringing out your highest capabilities, but of
course he must have an assessment of your capabilities. Good here can mean
elegant, sexy, cool or whatever is your expression. Mars will of course challenge
you, as he does in all aspects of life.
Tango is a
walking dance, he will be facing forward and you will mostly go backwards as
you move around the floor. The other dancers will greatly affect his choice of
turns or pauses and what degree of embellishments are possible. Your job is to
stay out of your head, trust your instinct and use mistakes to learn.
As you move around the dance floor it is important that you fully understand with whom you are dancing. In spite of Mars’ bad PR of destroying things, he is not about endings. Mars energy is about beginnings, about becoming--- forward movement. Think about your last meeting and you may see the new beginnings that were created.
This three minute song can be a
moment or a life time. And I hope that you are willing to dance out the next
two or three song that are part of the set. If you inadvertently say thank you,
you will be taken to your chair and in that case you will miss the opportunity
to experience being. But whatever you decide to do, if you really engage with
everything that you have, you will sit down a different person than when you
first stood up.
It is not really a question of do
you want to tango with Mars, but how
will you tango with Mars, because in life Mars will engage you. Only you can
decide the how. I hope this might assist you in your next encounter with Mars,
for surely you will be encountering Mars.
