My son, Matthew, took the above award-winning photo of Street Tango dancers while studying in Argentina during college several years ago. The Tango, like many dances, draws people's attention.
You can see why here: Street Tango - Buenos Aires
Wikipedia describes Tango in this way: Tango dance is essentially walking with a partner and the music.... In tango canyengue the dancers share one axis, dance in a closed embrace, and with the legs relaxed and slightly bent. Tango canyengue uses body dissociation for the leading, walking with firm ground contact, and a permanent combination of on- and off-beat rhythm. Its main characteristics are its musicality and playfulness.... Dancing appropriately to the emotion and speed of a tango is extremely important to dancing tango. A good dancer is one who transmits a feeling of the music to the partner. Also, dancers generally keep their feet close to the floor as they walk, the ankles and knees brushing as one leg passes the other.
Argentine tango dancing relies heavily on improvisation; although certain patterns of movement have been codified by instructors over the years as a device to instruct dancers, there is no "basic step." One of the few constants across all Argentine tango dance styles is that the follower will usually be led to alternate feet. Another is that the follower rarely has his or her weight on both feet at the same time.
I think this is what Alan Cohen is trying to convey when he speaks of letting life be a dance. We are to walk with God as our partner, in a close embrace, to the music of Love. Our emotions play a big part in our enjoyment of the dance and adds to the playfulness God intends for us. Our feet should remain close to the floor--grounded in God's word--so we can maintain our balance. There are times we'll have to improvise along the way in order to keep up with the change in tempo and other little surprises. And a good dancer transmits the feeling of the music to the people he/she partners on the dance floor. "Although certain patterns of movement have been codified by instructors....as a device to instruct dancers, there is no 'basic step'" correlates to how God uses His Word to instruct us, but then does not want us to be legalistic--there is no "basic step" we must follow once we learn to do all things to the music of Love.
Father, I love to dance! Help me to relax into Your arms as You lead me around the dance floor.
Link to scripture: Psalm 149:3
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