When we went to Buenos Aires we couldn't miss the opportunity to go to a tango show. Among the options we chose a package with a dance class, dinner and the show itself. It was fantastic! The teachers of the class were also performing later in the show and they we were so good that it is hard to describe.
With those memories in our heads we didn't hesitate in signing up for a beginners course of tango, here in Gothenburg. We started by finding out that there are different kinds of tango. We would be learning the most common type, the one for milongas (dance gatherings), which is less expressive and less wow!, if compared to the one seen in the shows. That put me off a little bit, because I though if I was going to put my money, effort and time in learning a dance, let it be so I can shine like a star. That was still not a problem because every time the teachers danced with each other it look really cool. The problem was that it is waaayy more difficult than it looks. In the classes we were not just learning automatic steps, but the teachers insisted in correcting the whole body, and that is the most difficult. When I got the feet right I was told to watch out my frame, or my back, or my eyes, or whatever. Every time I tried to correct one of those I lost the feet. Or the frame. Or the back. Or the eyes.
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| We almost looked like this... (photo from the internet) |
It didn't help that my time to train was zero, because of everything else going on in school.
It didn't help that sometimes it felt like a business, with suggestions of more classes, workshops and training sessions during the weekends, for exorbitant prices (well, all prices are exorbitant in Sweden!).
It didn't help that we were forced to change partners now and then. Between the guy who thought he was better than he was, the guy who refused to speak to me (at first I thought he couldn't understand english, so I switched to swedish and it didn't work either. Later on I heard him talking a lot to another person in english, so I have to suppose the problem was me) and the guy that was so tall that made my arms hurt, the change became extremely stressful for me. Similar to Johan.
It didn't help that the class actually had others who were not beginners and I felt hopeless when dancing with them.
It didn't help that the other beginners missed classes now and then. Maybe as frustrated as we were?
It didn't help that winter came and leaving our warm and cosy flat, when it's dark and 0 ºC, became extremely difficult.
So last week... 20 minutes before we were supposed to leave for class, I said something like "I would rather go outside and run in shorts than go to class" (it was 2 ºC then). He stared at me, laughed and said "Should we really keep doing a hobby that we don't enjoy anymore?". The answer is obvious: no. A hobby shouldn't feel this hard! It shouldn't feel like an obligation. So we decided to stop. We were a bit sorry for the teachers because they are cool and made the class more fun, but it was really not working for us and we lost all our motivation.
Maybe this was the end (and the beginning) of our tango career, or maybe one day we will try again.
When we have more time. So probably when we retire or so!
*obviously a joke!
