“The secret of tango is in this moment of improvisation that happens between step and step. It is to make the impossible thing possible: to dance silence.”
– Carlos Gavito

Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength

Attributed to both Saint Francis de Sales and Ralph W. Sockman

Sit up, face the floor and want to dance.

The male of the species are not fantastically conscious of body language but it has its effects on us. If you sit slouched and disheartened at the lack of dances then the signal you are sending out is one of poor posture and lack of enthusiasm. The fine young things get more dances, in part, because they sit up with all the bubbly enthusiasm of youth.

If you want to dance, want to

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

Leonardo da Vinci

Tango is a language and when you go to Buenos Aires, you learn how the portenos speak that language. This is important. For example, if someone from another country was learning english and they asked me about an english phrase, I could say “sure, you COULD say that, technically it is correct, but a New Yorker would never say that”.

Ney Melo

A perfectly sound statement but, as an Irishman, I have to disagree somewhat. The Irish don’t speak the queens english but that hasn’t stopped us making significant contributions to the field of english literature. I think one should be free to learn the language of tango and add a little of you to it too.

I hasten to add that one must learn the language, not just repeat steps phrasebook style.

“I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.”

-Albert Einstein

Great leaders make it about others, not themselves

From a radio programme on business leadership.

“There are only thirty-two notes on a tenor saxophone, and surely to God they’ve all been played by now”

-Matthew Carter