Moving As Moved

how many other wonderful things are out there?

This morning I went to a private salsa lesson with my girlfriend.

I know, and yes, we are adorable.

I first had the idea when we were in Italy this summer. One evening there was music playing and couples dancing. I was rendered completely useless by my complete lack of dancing knowledge.

Don’t get me wrong, I am able to hot step with the best of them when I am dancing in a crowd or on my own, but dancing with a partner is a different game.

It really is one of those things where you either know what you’re doing or you have absolutely no fucking idea.

I am a big fan of learning new things so I thought hey, why not kick two rocks with the same pinky toe? I can learn a new skill and try something fun with my partner.

We entered the studio and started learning the basics.

I’d always been confused how dancing worked with a partner. It didn’t seem like everything was choreographed, which didn’t make sense to me. I can hoedown-throwdown with the best of them, but that is just a learned dance. Watching couples tango or salsa seems so smooth and unique to each couple.

I am at risk of revealing myself as a massive nerd by saying this, but it reminded me of the Rubik’s Cube. The cube is often seen as a black box of absolute difficulty by outsiders, but once you begin to learn how to complete it you understand it is just a series of algorithms and repeated patterns.

It is the leader’s job to telegraph every step to the follower just before it is done, and it is the follower’s job to completely submit to the lead.

You communicate in a beautiful tangle of hands, steps and spins. The lightest touch of a finger enough to signal a change in angle or a grand move soon to be made.

My partner shut her eyes while we danced. I’d already been reminded that there was no point in looking down, my partner had decided there was no point in looking at all.

Closing her eyes allowed her to focus on the intricate detail of my movement. No distractions or concerns, just moving as moved.

The teacher reinforced that she should receive what comes completely and not fight or try to introduce anything new. My job was to introduce chaos and new movements, her job to flow with it.

I was the world, she was the individual.

To be led in dance is to experience physical Taoism. You are to close your eyes and accept what comes. The music continues, the movements continue, but you are only to receive the change and understand it is the only constant. Accepting your role as the receiver and not as the one in control.

To lead in dance is to experience the journey of a creative. There is no resting, you must create new movement, continuously. The dance floor is your canvas and your partner is the brush.

As we moved around the floor in a tiny dance studio, I began to understand why dance likely pre-dated language. I understood why humans need to move and sing and feel fucking free.

When was the last time you, my dear reader, felt completely free? When you forgot about judgement and lost the ever present sense of doubt?

Finding that freedom while sober is like that flickering moment in meditation when you finally achieve a quiet mind, only to ruin it by recognising it.

For the nth time in my life I realised that there were great things in life that I somehow lived without for so long. Each time I realise this, the future seems brighter. How many other wonderful things are out there just waiting for me to discover them?

I think about the first 26 years of my life being spent without knowing how to cook.

That’s one thing having money changed in me, it allowed me to meander past the veil of impossibility of so many things. I would like to learn how to dance is a thought that we have all had, having the resources and time to execute it is what bridges the fucking around to the finding out.

I no longer have to look at others with envy while they gracefully glide around an old Italian square, I can walk into a dance studio and find out if it’s something I love.

And it just might be.

I saw Yin and Yang and Taoism and art all come together. I saw my other half as literally my other half, the pull to my push, the moon to my tide.

There is so much unspoken meaning that comes with loving eyes staring up at you.

Maybe that’s how we should all try to look at the world while we await what comes next.