Is Information the Culprit?
You, with all your love and enthusiasm for Argentine Tango, face a serious problem:
Blogs, YouTube videos, hot tango movies, the latest tango music releases – the list goes on.
The amount of tango information available online and in person is overwhelming! Let’s applaud the bustling information age for making information available faster than you can mentally process it.
This is the case for me, so I’ve decided to take a personal tango hiatus this week to clear my head and make sure my dancing doesn’t become robotic. The last thing I need is smoke coming of my ears while I’m in close embrace with my tango partner.
Take Two Tangos and Call Me in the Morning
My tootsies hurt, my legs are sore, and my brain is swollen from my attempts to turn tango teachings into muscle memory. I’ll save you the whining before it starts and shift my focus to the less fortunate who aren’t able to enjoy Argentine Tango like you or me.
Amazingly, all my reflection these days is influenced by Google, so I surf over to the search engine to see what I can dig up. I type in my search query as follows:
tango, less fortunate
Ooooh! Hey there, unexpected search result:
The title alone makes me think: what a luxury to be able to dance tango whenever you want. You and I are truly blessed, folks. Realize this and take two minutes to confirm it. Put any of your life’s troubles into perspective by watching this short clip. Pay special attention to the before at 0:48 and the after at 1:03:
My background in massage therapy and music theory is enough to affirm that tango music is a wonderful compliment to muscles in distress. Let’s assume for a moment that humans are hard-wired to respond to musical rhythms and melodies. In the case of Parkinson’s Disease, the brain seeks a connection to the music even though it’s been negatively affected by the disease.
Whereas some medications promote health, and others inhibit body functions to prevent further damage, tango music and dancing is a natural medicine that simply adds to the quality of life.
Increased quality of life always leads to better health.
Alternative methods of treating disease is no new thing. In fact, tango as therapy for Parkinson’s is documented as early as last year, according to my comprehensive, 5-minute search-engine study. Sadly, the original site for this information and video doesn’t allow visitor feedback, but, fortunately for you, the Tango Notebook does!
Time to exercise your thinking caps and share your thoughts on the topic at hand. The comments section awaits you!
Keep dancing,
Panayiotis Pete Karabetis, Tango M.D.
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{ 14 tango-induced comments… read them, love them, and add your 2 cents! }
I really like how you have such passion for Tango that you mix it in with creating an abundant life and self improvement Pete. Like you said in your post, it is not only the Tango, it is also the power of music that is good for the stress in the muscles. Great post!
Cheers,
Dayne
It’s not what you do, it’s what you do with what you have. My good friend Bruce Lee said that, along with countless others who changed the words around. When you have a passion for something (or someone), you find infinite ways to infuse those elements into your life. It’s good to see you around this part of cyber-space, my friend!
Pete taught some private dance lessons to my grandma who has alzheimer’s. It was amazing, a lot of days she couldn’t walk without watching her feet, yet she could dance. I think maybe because all you have to do is feel the music and follow a lead, you don’t have to think. It was also great because it gave her something to talk about. Now her disease has advanced so much that she can’t get out of a wheel chair, but at the time it was great for her. I heard there is another student that has alzheimer’s at Towson Dance Studio and that dancing has done wonders for her as well. Point being that there are most likely many diseases that dancing or tango can help relieve some symptoms, keep the disease from progressing as fast, or even cure. Arthritis is another disease that I think would be benefitted by tango. Moving is good for your joints but so many excercises include sudden movements or high impact that is damaging to joints, in tango all the movement flows and is precise and is low impact. I think it would be great for arthritis patients.
If you think about a perfect tango, it is just to be. To be in the moment, not anticipating the next move but feeling the music, feeling the lead, not thinking about anything. In martial arts we would say, “he is in the zone”, meaning he is just doing, he is fighting in the moment, reacting but not thinking, the mind and body are so connected there is no thinking involved. That is when your fight is perfect, you are wiping the floor with everyone. When you achieve this perfection in tango, martial arts or any other sport, activity, you are now in a state of meditation. How many articles are out there on the benefits of meditation on one’s health? How many diseases does meditation significantly help or cure? Therefore, if you can achieve that perfect tango moment, the possiblilities for benefitting your health are endless.
All the things that tango cures (in my opinion): a stale music collection on your ipod, balance, communication, coordination, loneliness, life relevance, blood flow, grace (physical and emotional), appreciation, tolerance….!!!!…so many things.
The Second Congress for Tango Therapy will be held late October in Mendoza, Argentina.
http://www.congresotangoterapia.com/disertantes.htm
Did you go to the first?
No, I didn’t attend. There are tango therapy classes in BsAs including some that specialize in teaching those with Parkinson’s. I salute those who dedicate themselves to it.
Dance and music improve life for all of us. The dance doesn’t matter.
I’m no stranger to bodywork modalities that can be used as therapy, and, just recently, I stumbled upon couples rolfing specifically for tango dancers. To hop off the subject for a moment, what other therapies have you heard of that have been adapted to improving tango performance and health in general?
Tango is therapeutic, addictive in a great way, a wonderful way to help push you out of apathy or depression into sweet happiness. Oh I do love the way you embrace it here. Wonderful post indeed!
Your enthusiasm is contagious, Farnoosh! Naomi Takiuchi would be proud.
I just read your post My indelible passion: Argentine Tango and am drawn to the part where you debunk the tango assumptions, which far too many people have in their minds (especially that awful “rose in the mouth” one). I have an idea to ask you about.
Look out for my email!
I just came back from the Tango Therapy congress in Mendoza. Presenters told us about the good results they are getting with patients with Parkinson’s, hypertension and workplace stress. One of the key things is the success of Tango Therapy is due to the fact that it is fun, so people will stick with it.
I know the power of whole-body movement and Tango embodies all its beneficial aspects! Music, mind-body connection, exercise, etc. From your experience, do you think the congress will make advances toward making Tango therapy more mainstream?
Yes, I do think advances will be made since Tango Therapy is slowly being introduced in facilities and the results are good. I think the documentation of specific techniques and of the successes/failures, and the sharing the information will encourage others to seek out Tango Therapists and others to pursue a career in it.
There is a big opportunity for it in the healthy elderly population as part of a fall prevention program. It seems that falling is the greatest fear in the elderly and money is available for fall prevention programs. See New York Times Nov. 8, 2009 “Watch the Walk and Prevent a Fall”. Right now, I cannot find an American association for Tango Therapy. I can only find a few in the UK and Argentina.
Does any one know of one in the US?