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Tango Zen: The Walking Dance Meditation

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By Patty Inglish, MS

Argentine Tango


Tango Zen: Walking Dance Meditation Tango Zen: Walking Dance Meditation
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Moving Meditation

Sport Dance has become an important part of athletic events such as the Arnold Fitness Weekend and its adjunct events in Columbus, Ohio in the early spring of each year. Sport dance is also nominated to join the Olympic Games. Sport dance and ballroom dance in competition are tough disciplines that require many hours of concentrated work.

Both of these activities can create better health and concentration in participants, yet there is one other benefit and that is centeredness - pose and self mastery of movement. This can be called moving medication and autho Chan Park teaches and writes about it in a small book that is an excellent guide for anyone interested in dance. Especially Argentine Tango. It is more exiting that my second favorite style (if well done and not raggedly violent)  - Apoche or Apache from France.

Tango Zen is full of useful information on how to observe Tango and even life from a meditative attitude. This includes breathing and body awareness more than sweat. Mr,. Park begins new classes with walking and breathing exercises and each couple becomes a sing moving unit. This is beautiful. Relationships should be like this.

Walk and breathing in unison, a couple becomes one with one another and the Dance. Their movements gain power that is hard to ignore, because it suddenly grasps the viewer's attention. Audiences feel invigorated yet relaxed after a performance. To some, watching the Argentine Tango is better than eight hours of sleep for refreshing the body, mind, and spirit.

Chan's book is important, yet light and easy to read and understand. It is fun. Even if a reader does no more than to use it to learn to walk and breathe for exercise and serenity, it has done its job and provided a gift.

Watching Chan's classes and performances is like experiencing the power of the ocean.

Elements of both Tango and Apache have been used on ice for Olympic competition as well, including the video of ice stars Torvill and Dean below.


Torvill & Dean Combine Tango and Apache on Ice

More Than Dance

In learning Tango Zen, students walk together and may trip over each others' feet and laugh at first. Gradually, they become synchronized. Soon they are gliding and when many couples do this together in the same room, a feeling of relaxation and flow is palpable.

As a book, Tango Zen includes practical instructions for dance movements, along with stretching exercises and specific walking techniques. The illustrations are quite good as well and beautiful. The exercises can be used for dance, exercise, and relief of tensions.

In the video below, a meditation class has decided to use Tango as moving meditation. It involves relaxation and concentration on movements and changes of posture.

Tango in a Meditation Hall

Scene from Take the Lead

Tango in the News

  • In the next 24: Ballroom and Social DanceThe Kalamazoo Gazette16 hours ago

    Give it a whirl: A Ballroom and Social Dance, sponsored by Let’s Dance, is being held at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1515 Helen Ave., Portage, from 7 to 9:30 p.m. Monday. Designed for singles and couples, the event includes a lesson...

  • Gang Shooting Interrupts Dance PartyFOX 12 Oregon33 hours ago

    Gunfire interrupted a dance party at the Vancouver Ballroom early Saturday morning.

  • "Maks" and Johnson Dance Into Broadway's Burn the Floor Nov. 27Playbill3 days ago

    The troupe of Broadway's Burn the Floor , the Latin and ballroom dance show now at the Longacre Theatre, will welcome "Dancing With the Stars" performers Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Kym Johnson into the show on Nov. 27.

  • Strand ballroom dance lessonsThe Myrtle Beach Sun News5 days ago

    USA Grand Strand Chapter 6024 sponsors ballroom dance classes with Coastal Carolina University Professor Jerry Fouts.

  • 'So You Think You Can Dance' cuts Karen Hauer and Victor SmalleyReality TV World2 days ago

    Karen Hauer and Victor Smalley became the next two finalists eliminated from So You Think You Can Dance's sixth season during Wednesday night's live results show on Fox.

Comments

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Deborah Dera  says:
2 years ago

What an amazing concept! I love tango music, too! I wish I could dance! Apparently, I have very little rhythm!

Deborah

www.therhythmofwrite.com

Patty Inglish, MS profile image

Patty Inglish, MS  says:
2 years ago

Oh don't give up! It might be fun. At least you can watch. :)

MrMarmalade profile image

MrMarmalade  says:
2 years ago

i did learn once Not much good now

Great hub

compu-smart profile image

compu-smart  says:
2 years ago

I used to dance professionally..In my mind!!;) I love watching the many different types of dancing. It's good because here in the UK we have a lot of reality dance shows involving celebrity's..

Interesting info.

Patty Inglish, MS profile image

Patty Inglish, MS  says:
2 years ago

Thanks for the fascinating comments! reality dance shows can be a lot of fun.

Mr Marmalade, you are probably better than you think.

gabriella05 profile image

gabriella05  says:
2 years ago

I love dancing especially Latino dance Thank you very much for this fantastic hub

Patty Inglish, MS profile image

Patty Inglish, MS  says:
2 years ago

I have loved tngo ever since I was two years old and saw it performed on TV to the song Hernando's Hideaway.

aman  says:
2 years ago

nice hub,Keep writing

Lissie profile image

Lissie  says:
2 years ago

I love tango but I can't imagine it as mediative - way too much concentration for that:-)

Princessa profile image

Princessa  says:
2 years ago

I need to read that book. I love Tango, it is one of the dances I grew up with. My grandmother was always dancing it with my grandad. They always said it was a dance only for the adults, which gave it a "forbidden" connotation. As soon as I grew up, I learnt to dance it!

I think it is a very sensual dance: the meeting of two persons, the struggle for power, the submission... I would have trouble meditating with it as it has a very sexual connotation for me.

Patty Inglish, MS profile image

Patty Inglish, MS  says:
2 years ago

Thank you Lissie and Princessa!

The meditative aspect puts the tango zen dancer into a alpha-brain-wave state, which is a light trance, like the ocndition we enter right before we go to sleep. During alpha-brain-wave, focus can be very intense, without the anxiety. Athletes call it "being in the zone."

The Kama Sutra and Tantric sex handle sex at many levels, with an intense focus but no stress, also a kind of trance.

The struggle for power and sumission also reminds me of French apache dance (apoche). I love to watch both, but prefer the tango. I have never had a dancing partner and regret this very much!

Have you seen the Tango in its original form, between two men? Fascinating.

Thanks for comments! :)

Stela  says:
2 years ago

very interesting, thank you! eager to read this book.

Patty Inglish, MS profile image

Patty Inglish, MS  says:
2 years ago

It is certainly a fascinating book. I love to watch the Tango, anyway.

jassele profile image

jassele  says:
14 months ago

Dance in general is very meditative to me, and I love watching the tango and dancing it. I hope that I will learn more about the dance and become better at it. I've never heard of meditative tango before this though, it's very interesting.

Patty Inglish, MS profile image

Patty Inglish, MS  says:
14 months ago

I thnk I see people "getting into the zone" as athletes say, when they dance the Tango well. It is my favorite dance to watch.

The Antonio Banderos film about Tango that was based on a true story had some elements of this "in the zone" type of phenomenon, too.

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