Saturday, January 23, 2010

Tango's Ten Commandments: If Moses had been in Argentina for 40 Years

Tango's Ten Commandments:
If Moses had been in Argentina for 40 Years

Moses was lost for 40 years on the Sinai peninsula.  If you look at the Sinai Peninsula and compare it with the shape of South America, you will see two similar land masses.  Now, notice that Mount Sinai is approximately in the same place as Buenos Aires when comparing the similarly shaped land mass.  Hmmm.  Maybe God is trying to tell us something.  What if Moses had been lost in Argentina for 40 years?  He may have come down from Mount Sinai with different rules.  I was just trying to imagine what he might say.
Maybe something like this:

Thou shalt not have any partner before you other than the one in front of you.

 Thou shalt not idolize tango shoes in pictures.  Just buy them.

Thou shalt not use the name of tango in vain by using the adjective "ballroom" in front of it.

Remember Sabado because there is always a milonga on that day.  Definitely do not work on that day!

Honor the father of tango -- all the immigrants who brought their part to tango, and the mother of tango, Argentina, whose 'womb' brought to us this most incredible dance.  (In other words, know your traditions before you try to change them.)

Thou shalt not murder your feet today because you should be dancing all the way through life.

Thou shalt enjoy thy vertical expression of a horizontal desire until the end of the tanda.  BUT THEN take your true partner home with you at the end of the night.

Thou shalt not steal all the room on the dance floor, showing off your newly purchased volcada.  (The Path to heaven and the lanes on the dance floor are both narrow.)

Thou shalt not bear false witness against another dancer because you were once a beginner too.

Thou shalt not covet the partner of another -- especially when dancing with the one you are with!

Shalom!

Note:  I have climbed to the top of the Holy Mountain in the Sinai, when I was in Egypt on a peace keeping mission in the Multi-National Forces & Observers.  The most amazing thing about this holy place was the stillness.  Almost weird.  An Orthodox monk also described this feeling I experienced after I had descended down to the monastery there.  Also, I was amazed that it was not the tallest mountain.  Just a mountain.  My whimsical ideas above are made in full respect to laws that have guided many people to be closer with their God.  May your next milonga find the same stillness and wonder even if you end up dancing with someone not as tall as you thought they would be.

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