Topher and I went on a little coffee date yesterday to Coffee House Northwest, the hottest coffee house in Portland. They hand you a shot of espresso, letting you know the steam temperature and length of the pull... It's pretty geeky, but it's amazing coffee. Anyways, after distracting ourselves with espresso speak among other subjects, we bought some food to cook dinner. Trout with Buerre blanc (that was in fact black), brocollini, salad with grapefruit and goat cheese and a creamy nut dressing. After that meal, cooked with lots of love, I headed over to Milonga Berretin, for Alex Krebs' CD release party. I arrived a few songs into the live set, feeling calm and excited to see a packed house.
It was like the big tango fests, where there is no room to move on the floor. People can get a little stressed in that environment, and it is little wonder, considering that 50% of the people in the room wear 4" spikes on their shoes. I used to get thrown off by those crowds, wondering how I could ever keep a follow interested when I could only take tiny steps in any given direction. Maybe it's been all the practice walking, maybe it was the love cooked into my dinner, maybe the fantastic live music, but something clicked last night, and I was dancing another sort of dance. I stopped trying to dance to the music and just kind of let it flow through. It's so entertaining to dance like this. I've experienced it a few times before with swing - the last notable experience was dancing to George Gee in DC.
My breath aligned with my movement, my partners smiled, and the bandoneons played. It's hard to explain what happens in moments like that on the social floor. It's as though all the things you have been practicing cease to be concepts in your mind, and they become manifested in your body. Your mind then stays calm and able to enjoy the moment, while the dancing becomes a playful game.
