Wednesday, July 9, 2014

World Cup Wonder

Surviving Your Darkest Hour

It was a rough day for the hometown World Cup fans. Germany could do nothing but score. Brazil could do nothing to stop them. 

The game was lost well before halftime. The Brazilian players had to put on a strong face and play out the rest of a hopeless match in front of millions of fans world wide and their own shocked and sobbing countrymen.


Bad Things Happen

No matter how prepared we are, no matter how skilled or experienced we are, it's still possible to have a bad day. A disastrous day. A calamitous day. A performance that will haunt us for years.

No one is immune to bad fortune. Anyone can have a meltdown when a perfect storm of negative events rains down with unexpected fury. The storm will come for each of us sooner or later. The breakdown will happen. It's not a question of whether, but when.

When the worst happens, it will hurt. We'll feel anguish. Humiliation. Agitation. Despair. Physical and emotional discomfort. 

We'll experience profound self-doubt and disillusionment in that bitter moment, a moment that we shall be destined to play over and over in our minds for months and years to come.


Replay

But, guess what! You'll get over it. If you live through the experience, you can pick yourself up and start again from where you left off.

You'll play another match. You'll dance another song. You'll compete in another contest. You'll deliver another set of results. In the aftermath of unimaginable humiliation, you'll get up, get yourself together and do what you love to do. And you'll do it again and again and again.

To live a life where you do what you love to do. Would that be worth a few bad experiences along the way? A few really bad, publicly humiliating experiences, versus a lifetime of happiness? That's an easy decision to make.

Failure feels horrible, but it doesn't kill you. It doesn't render you weak or unable to compete. It doesn't stop you from taking reasonable chances.

But the fear of failure can immobilize you and kill your dreams.


Dancing Beyond Fear

Never let the fear of failure or humiliation hold you back. Refuse to let fear prevent you from taking the chances that you need to take in order to reach your goals and enjoy the life that you want to live.

Imagine the worst possible scenario of embarrassment, humiliation, and loss of stature. Now imagine something ten times worse. You could survive that. You really could. It won't be pleasant, but you would make it. You would emerge bruised but better for it.


The Fulfilled Life

Now imagine years and years on end of living your dreams, adventure after pleasurable adventure, in a life that fulfills you completely. Would you trade all of that just to avoid a few occasional moments of powerful humiliation?

Take a chance. Take lots of chances. Live your life. When life pushes back in an unpleasant way, roll with the punches, grieve for what you've lost, put yourself back together, and get back to doing what you really, really love to do.

There's more life to live. There are more dreams to follow, more objectives to accomplish, and more people with whom you can share your highs and lows. 


¡Buena suerte amigos, y muchas gracias!
Daniel

Copyright © 2014 The Exploring Tango Blog
All Rights Reserved
   

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Discovering Your Super Power

Leverage Your Strengths

I spend a lot of time on this blog discussing aspects of the tango that we might want to improve - technique, musicality, creativity, the quality of the embrace, leading and following, floor craft, etc. 

Hopefully, the exercises and insights inspire reflection on these topics. If they get you to try something new, so much the better! If you want to advance to new levels, you'll need to put in some work. Work on your weaknesses and try to explore untapped possibilities.

But today, I would like to discuss things that we do well already, skills that come naturally to us. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. It's not good to focus on our weaknesses all of the time. 

Let's take inventory of your strengths, your innate abilities - your "Super Powers" - and discuss how you can utilize them when you're dancing. 


What Is Your Super Power?

Your Super Power is something that comes more easily to you than it does to most other people. 

- Maybe you move smoothly and gracefully without really thinking about it.

- Maybe you adapt well to a variety of partners and styles. 

- Maybe you have exceptional balance and/or coordination. 

- Maybe you're joyful and pleasant and relate well to your fellow tangueros.

- Maybe you are naturally at ease when you dance and don't let yourself worry about making mistakes. 

- Maybe you have an exquisitely comfortable embrace that partners enjoy.

- Maybe you have an analytical mind that enables you to understand steps combinations quickly and thoroughly.

You probably have some idea already what your Super Power is. People probably mention it to you from time to time.

My super power, for the record, is dancing musically. I hear details in the music and link elements of movement to elements of music. I can do this without thinking about it, and when I think about it, I can do it even better. I'll speak more in a moment about how this power developed.


Super Powers Are Not Perfect

Hmm! Just when you starting feeling good about having a Super Power, I go and call it imperfect! ;-)

Sorry, I'm not disparaging your Super Power. I just want you to understand the context of what it is and how you can develop it.

You have a Super Power - I'm quite certain of this. You might even have more than one. But you might not recognize it. You might think, "my dancing isn't all that good yet - how can I have a Super Power?"

You don't have to be perfect - or even advance - to have a Super Power. In fact, no one is perfect. If perfection were a prerequisite for anything, we'd all fail.

But as I said above, everyone has strengths and weaknesses. I'm certain that there's something that you do better than your peers. The area where things come more easily to you - even if you're far from perfect in that department - that's your Super Power. 

And now that you have an idea what it might be, you need to learn how to use it. And in order to use it, you need to develop it.


Growth Opportunity

Having a Super Power doesn't mean that you don't have to work on that area. It simply means that you'll advance more quickly in that are IF YOU CHOOSE to dedicate work to it.

I mentioned my ability to dance musically. I've been fascinated by music for my entire life. I play music, compose music, and of course, I enjoy listening to music. I have a musical brain, so it's not surprising that I'm a musical dancer.

But, my dancing wasn't always as musical as it is today. Even though this is my super power, I still had to develop it.

Advice from teachers was helpful. In fact, one teacher stopped in the middle of a song, looked me in the eye and told me that "musicality is about more than being on the beat." Another teacher once noted that I wasn't stepping on the beats accurately. 

Whoa! Wake up calls! And they were right. In the first instance, I was focusing on the accuracy of my musical timing, but I wasn't taking into account the melodic and expressive qualities of the music. So, I worked on that. 

In the second instance, I was focusing so much on technique and not enough on the music. I had to learn to be aware of both simultaneously in order to do them both well.

None of this came easily. Having a Super Power doesn't mean that you don't have to work on that aspect of your dancing. Musicality comes naturally to me, but developing it still required work. 


Harnessing The Power

Well, here's an exciting news flash for you.  

This just in: There's no free lunch in the study of Argentine tango.

You, too, will have to work on your Super Power if you want to make the most of it. 

The good news is that, unlike your natural weaknesses - which are going to drive you crazy for years - you'll be able to improve your natural strengths quickly once you identify them and give them some attention.

With your Super Power, you already start at a higher level than the rest of the field. With a bit of work, you can take it even higher.


The Big Question

So, what is your Super Power? What is that aspect of dance that just seems to come naturally to you? Are you still unaware that you have one? Are you afraid to admit it? 

Remember, your Super Power doesn't have to be perfect, or even good. You might still be a diamond in the rough, undeveloped and unpolished. But it's in there. Ask your friends to help you identify your Super Power, and help them to identify theirs.

If you have trouble identifying your Super Power, think beyond tango. Think about who you are as a person. Are you passionate? Athletic? Studious? Relatable? Creative? Your super power is in there somewhere.


Discovery

Many of us spend time focusing on problems, replaying mistakes in our minds, obsessing over challenges, wishing that we were better in some way, and experiencing prolonged frustration as a result. 

This is your chance to take inventory of what you do well rather than what you do poorly. It's important that we take time to focus on strengths as well as weaknesses - important for healthy, long-term development and important, too, for our attitude and emotional well-being.

Develop and awareness of your strengths. Appreciate what you do well and create a plan to improve further in these areas. Expand your super powers and enjoy every reward that they bring into your life.


When You Find It

Study it. 

Exercise it. 

Develop it until it shines brightly.

Try to apply it whenever you have the chance.

Learn to appreciate and leverage your natural abilities, and they will make just about every dance experience more pleasurable. 



¡Buena suerte amigos, y muchas gracias!
Daniel

Copyright © 2014 The Exploring Tango Blog
All Rights Reserved