Going To School!

It is easy to forget that dancing tango and the Milonga floors attract all sorts of people, some of whom we never meet in our other daily lives.

The other day I was having a discussion with a group of people who were having a break around the dance floor. The subject was butchered before too long. We had left the topic of "technique" and somehow had arrived at discussing the personalities involved. I walked away, preferring not to be further involved.

Later that evening taking the same route home to an underground train station I was joined by one individual whom I found objectionable with his unfair views on some teachers' personalities. In order to defuse the topic away from the earlier one I inquired what he was doing in London when not dancing the evenings away and the following is as best as I remember it.
- I go to school.. after school I come to dance...
- That is good, I am very interested to know more. Do you do research?
- Yes... I read...maths, business...
- I see ....Which school?
- London!
- London School of Economics? Are you doing an MBA?
- Yes School in London, they haven't told us all of it yet...
- Sorry ...is it for a Ph.D.?
- ...They haven't told us that ...
- Is your research leading to a Master's degree or a PhD?
- I don't know yet, ... the school hasn't told us that
- I am bit confused now, please tell me mind my own business if you wish not to discuss your research ....but... you are reading maths and business in London School of Economics, right?
- Yes...I go to school..in London.. reading maths...business....
- ....
- ...
- ...
This went on for a while till I realised the mistake was mine! He is actually attending a school for adult education for learning basic maths and literacy courses. I wish him all the best with that.

What it highlighted however is that our assumptions about tango and our shared experiences with it do not also mean our personal experiences mean the same to all those involved. We exist in very different paradigms from one another although we share the same pleasures.

We draw our own conclusions based on those paradigms that we are accustomed to. we see and read what we expect to see and hear. That is how confusions in our tango conversations usually come about.

This is another very valid reason to avoid talking if at all possible, and not to discuss much with other fellow dancers but try and dance instead for most of the time we are spending at any milonga.

MilongaCat
The only cat who loves you back!