Tango: The Art of Listening, Feeling and Relationship

by: Donna Gianell, GCFP
“Dance is the one expression involving the faculties on all levels:
spiritual, intellectual and physical.” – Plato
“When you take a step, rise, and fall like in breathing.
“Lengthen when you step out, and soften the knees and lower the body when the feet come together. You do the same thing when stepping to the side, and then bringing the other foot next to it.
“Don't hurry it. Sense it, feel it, breathe with it, be with it.”
These are the instructions I heard when learning the art form called Tango. Sounds a lot like a Feldenkrais® Awareness Through Movement® class, doesn't it?

“For us, the tango is a way of living – a way of feeling and a way of thinking,” said native Argentinian tango teacher Danel Bastone. Teaching in the US since the 60s with his wife, Maria, they coached Madonna for her role in the movie Evita. My husband, Ken, and I took lessons from the Bastones, among others, in the early ‘90s. We were running a magazine called “Dance & the Arts” at the time. Because it covered dance teachers, dance shows, and movies, we were able to learn with dancers in Broadway shows like “Argentine Tango” and “Forever Tango.” We even learned from the male lead in the movie The Tango Lesson, Pablo Vernon.

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