Vote NO on Initiative YES

"Vote 'NO' on Initiative Yes" - Art Boruck's sign - is applicable to more than just political jokery and the famous Seattle sign-maker's clever promotion: there's a phenomenon in our society that has us confusing 'yes' and 'no.'

I was talking with a group of single guys yesterday and they told me that they're always trying, often marking all the boxes "yes" at speed dating events, whereas the ladies are more selective.  Problem is that that's not always the case.

Agotada

agotada - exhausted, squeezed dry of energy

Me sentí agotada –

la palabra justa,

como anillo al dedo,

perfecta para expresar

la senzación:

agotada…

Como si 

la última gota de

energía se me fue

exprimida como el jugo

de una naranja,

cuando no da para más: me sentí agotada.

And Magically It Works Again...

When everything but my own website works... it's time to throw the computer out the window!!! 
Or go to bed.

We all get stuck in those ruts when everything seems to be gridlocked and nothing quite seems to work.  Those days on which you think that the world has turned against you.  And what many of us do is try to push back, fight it. 

Dancing from the Inside-Out

(en español)

 
Still reveling in my students' appreciation for the simple things, for the essentials.  Those basics that are the fundamental building blocks to walking two as one.  Those things that are such a challenge to see, such a challenge to explain, because they are so simply and obviously there, so in-your-face that we often overlook them and take them for granted. 

Doodles of nothing in particular

Somehow I find myself coming back to this idea of taking time off over and over again.  I guess that's intrinsically part of working for yourself doing something you love: it takes a lot of work and it's hard to stop.  But stopping is necessary.  It's been an intense couple of... it's been intense for a long time.  So today when I woke up not really wanting to get out of bed - and I love my sleep, but I do usually want to get up and start the day - it was a sign to just take a little time to read a book and let myself change gears, at least for a bit.  There comes a point when we all need a little breather, a small change, a pause from the running of the daily grind.  So today, I'm going to draw, sketch things I see around me, go back to what I used to love when I was little.  I spent my childhood drawing and doodling.  When things get real intense or you feel a bit of a gridlock, a good strategy is to go back to what you know, back to what you know you love, back to something you used to do that feels good and helps you release, relax, and breathe. 

Announcing: Tango Speed Dating™ - a whole new way to meet people!

Before you even have to think about what to say…

tango. chat. switch partners!

by Author and Tango Teacher, Gabriela Condrea

 

Forget clicking between profiles full of essays and 2-year-old pictures, hoping to get “favorited” and winked at.  This tango speed dating event is a whole new way to interact with real people, live, in-person – a chance to connect through simple partner games using body language before you ever have to say anything!  In-between games, you’ll get a quick chance to introduce yourself and chat, before you switch partners!

Social Tango: Emphasizing the "social" in social dancing

Author and tango teacher Gabriela Condrea is taking tango to the streets - well, bars and swanky lounges, to be more specific - with a mission to use tango as a means for helping people connect.  Expanding upon her playful teaching style and the metaphor of tango for relationships and partnerships developed in her book When 1+1=1 and her classes ("Yoda" calls her Richelle), her newest projects highlight the "social" aspect of this social, improvised folk dance.  Come see for yourself and stay tuned for the newest developments!

tango games + socializing = Tango Happy Hour™

 

Before you even have to think of something clever to say, Tango Speed Dating™ 

Anything and Everything

Some people confuse “anything” with “everything”

Some people confuse “anything” with “everything,” and while they’re busy doing everything they don’t do anything.  “To be successful,” told me Daniel Gelbart last weekend, “you have to do only one thing at a time. No-one ever succeeded—” “Multitasking?” I interject.  “Yes.” 

And it’s true.  You can’t have your cake and eat it too; you can’t do everything. 

We live in the land of opportunity, a place of possibilities,

I'm sorry, Your tax dollars can't help you

I can safely say that my path has been shaped by adversity and the strategy of flowing like water.  Whenever I come across a roadblock, an obstacle in my way, of course my initial reaction is frustration.  But in hindsight (which is hard to foresee amid the gloomy fog), I realize that these closed doors have been the spur of creativity.  Whenever I hear a "No," a "Wish I could help," the more frustrating it seems, the more it pushes me to think outside the box, to invent a way to get past or around it. 

My latest obstacle: posting in public places.  I’ve come across several public institutions that do not have a community board, a place for members of the community to post flyers about their projects and their work. 

Pumpkin Time!

Pumpkin carving,
pumpkin pie,
pumpkin seeds,
pumpkin soup,
pumpkins,
pumpkins,
pumpkins!


I lived four years hopping hemispheres from summer to summer (leaving each fall) and as lovely as that sounds (and I do miss it - I have myself turned around now, going winter to winter),

Shopping Cart Tango FLASHMOBS!

Because you can dance anywhere! -- ¡Porque se puede bailar en cualquier lado!

No need to learn a choreography -
just improvised, embraced
or with a shopping cart
tango, tango, tango!

Onlookers captured our game of improvised interlacing in photos and videos (to share, I presume ) as we hugged and danced and played with our fancy feet behind shopping carts. One lady even joined the group and grocery shopping took on a whole new life! Thank you so very much to everyone who made it to our 2nd Shopping Cart Tango FLASHMOB. I hope you had as much fun as I did!

Our NEXT one is Sept 12th, 2013: https://www.facebook.com/events/230069623812315/

Come join us!

The Shower

I get ideas in the shower, often.  People have suggested "solutions" to this problem (we have this need to "fix" things) - pen and paper on the counter, a recording device, waterproof crayons - but I think that the reason I get ideas in the shower is precisely because I can't write them down. 

Sharpen the Knife - Afilar el Cuchillo

Made myself take the weekend off, unplugged, to enjoy some quality time with friends and family.  Feeling rejuvenated and ready.  Got to 'sharpen the knife,' like Alonso Velasquez said.

Tomé el finde para descansar y des-enchufarme, para disfrutar de pasar tiempo con mis amigos y la familia.  Me siento revitalizada y lista.  Hay que 'afilar el cuchillo,' dijo Alonso.

Se Viene...

It's coming...

NOTICIAS de la imprenta: el Cuando 1+1=1 se entrega miércoles o jueves!!!!!

-- si es...
miércoles: los llevo a Fruto Dulce
jueves: temprano a La Viruta y después DiverTango

para saber cuántos llevar, me pueden reservar

por mensaje privado...

* gracias a todas las milongas y sus organizadores que me han apoyado en este camino! *

 

se viene... — at Almagro, Buenos Aires

VISTA PREVIA: GabrielaCondrea.com/libro/

------------------  ENGLISH  ---------------

Panza Floja: Membrillo y Queso?

Conclusión que si voy a estar mal de la panza (muy floja ahí abajo - como dijo mi compañera de casa), lo prefiero estar acá, en Argentina, donde me dicen de comer dulce de membrillo con queso fresco.  En otros lugares te atan a cosas aburridas como el arroz blanco, caldo, agua, pan muy tostado.  Acá, como esta delicia - me la comentaron cuatro personas en casos aislados.

 

Si no es absolutamente necesario tomar remedios farmaceuticos, prefiero evitarlos.

 

¿Cuáles son los remedios que se usan en tu familia o en tu país?

 

------------------------------------ ENGLISH ---------------------
 

Traduciendo

las frases en castellano se van comiendo las frases en inglés
y así en la pantalla de mi mente
se va desarrollando la traducción,
buscando la mejor manera de hilvanar palabras -
donde seguir el camino,
donde romper con lo propuesto -
para compartir las ideas que

The Irony of Force

2 weeks after the incident - 2 semanas después del incidente

The bruise and line (dent) across my calf was induced by a woman's *strong* boleo (swinging motion of the leg).  The irony is that tango does not require much force and the more force you use, the more "forced" the dazzling moves you want to produce seem.

All I'm asking for is peaceful coexistence.  Accidents happen, but please, please, just a little less force.

>>>  EN ESPAÑOL . . .

Equilibrio y Conexión

Sandra Batista (directora del Instituto Equilibrio) y Gabriela Condrea

Pasé un hermoso finde en Montevideo con Sandra Batista, directora del Instituto Equilibrio, presentado mi libro (When 1+1=1: That "Impossible" Connection) y hablando mucho del equilibrio y la conexión – dos temas que son muy cercanas para nosotras dos.  Me inspiró a pensar más en el equilibrio.  Como dijo Papuna Bersenadze (“Anything too Extreme…”), el equilibrio es un estado ideal.  Nunca nos quedamos mucho tiempo en un punto estático de equilibrio porque seguimos cambiando y bailando, siempre.  La búsqueda del equilibrio...

Anything too extreme...

Anything too extreme
becomes problematic.
When all we see
is the forest,
we overlook the trees;
And when all we see is
trees, we forget the
forest.

Dulce de Leche: Me Puede

Justo hoy, después de haber comido la (gran) mitad de un tarro de dulce de leche, aún sabiendo que no debería, me pongo a traducir este extracto de “Salir a la Cancha” de mi libro, Cuando 1+1=1.  De mi propio texto:

La teoría es buena, como el dulce de leche, le dije a Javi un día, pero si te comes un tarrito entero todo a la vez, te puede hacer mal.

 – When 1+1=1: That "Impossible" Connection, p. 138

La gente me reclama, “Vos que enseñas de conexión, a ver, ¿tu conexión?” 

Los Piropos

"Qué hace una flor si no está en un jardín?"

"Cuidado que los bombones se derriten al sol." 

 

 

"Los piropos son frases breves, pícaras, ingeniosas, lisonjeras."

Apple Skin Spirals

Cutting an apple like my Grandma Raia used to when we were little, just to take a few minutes to pause and reflect... and see if I can cut the skin in spirals without them breaking.  I used to eat the spirals as they came off of Grandma's knife.  Still remember her laughter, her wit. 

Osvaldo y Coca - yo, ella, y la música

"Uno tiene que bailar por uno, no para que lo miren... bailamos en frente de 7.000 personas y cuando la abrazé, no había nadie - solo yo, ella, y la música." 

- Osvaldo de Osvaldo y Coca

Osvaldo y Coca bailan en Slovenia

cocayosvaldomilonga*hotmail.com.ar
 

Foto por Daniel Flores

Choices - El que abarca todo...

"El que abarca todo no se agarra nada - He who tries to grab everything holds nothing." 

This has shaped my studies, my decisions in designing this path... a good reminder.  #choices

We always do what we want, in some way, shape, or form.  Or rather, what we do is what we want to do.  There is always some element of choice in our actions, some place deep inside where we choose door number 1 over door number 2, where we choose at the fork in the road to take the middle path rather than the one on the left or the one on the right.

Like cutting a piece of yourself

Editing can be a painful process, of pruning and weeding the garden of your soul.  Each word, each phrase, each paragraph sowed by you and grown from the fertile soil of your experiences.  And after all the struggles, you have to cut it off, shut it out, as if what was once your child – an extension of your very being – has been reduced to a mere inconsequential... nothing. 

Café con leche... 17 pesos

Por este café con leche que hace dos años me salía 8 pesos, ahora se cobra 17 pesos.  Los números no importan tanto hasta que te das cuenta que lo que la mayoría de la gente gana no es el doble o más que el doble de lo que ganaba hace dos años.  No sé como hace la gente para sobravivir.  Es impresionante la inflación.*  Por eso se dice por acá que todo se ata con alambre – es hacer de mago, inventar una manera de sacar jugo del limón exprimido.  Parece imposible ganar en pesos y pagar precios calculados en dólares.  La comida, los colectivos, el subte, todo subió.  Todo.  Es impresionante cómo hace la gente para sobravivir.  Impresionante.

(In English...)

Fire with Fire

You can’t fight force with force, Fire with fire

You can’t fight force with force.  Martin Luther King, Jr. said it, the bible said it, Mahatma Gandhi said it. 

You can’t fight force with force,

fire with fire,
violence with violence;
Arming our schools
is not the answer.
 

You can’t fight force with force,

fire with fire,
violence with violence;
We only escalate the problem
and raise the stakes.

Gabriela's World Book & Tango Tour 2013 (postponed)

Yes, WORLD Tour!

Thank you all so very much for your support during my 2012 six-month trek around the US/Canada.  Many people chipped in with their time, advice, talents, monetary donations, and good wishes.  This year my big project is a World Book & Tango Tour - "world" because I literally plan to circumnavigate the globe (Seattle - Europe - Turkey - SE Asia - Hawaii - Seattle).  I am working on organizing this big adventure (September - December 2013) now, as you read this, and although I am not asking for your monetary support, I could definitely use your help and would love to have your participation in this adventure!  After all, if the theme is connection, it makes little sense to go it alone...

The Grass is Greener...

The grass is greener on the other side -- everybody knows that.  And it's greener why?  Because on the other side of the hill, you don't have to water it.  

So many of us abandon the watering can to go take a peek at the other side.  Then we wonder why our flowers don't grow.  As they say, if you want a different outcome, you have to try a different input.

 The grass is greenest where you water it most - in work, in love, in life.

Gabriela's 2013 Schedule

Argentine Tango teacher and author of When 1+1=1: That "Impossible" Connection, Gabriela Condrea has toured Europe and the US & Canada, sharing her writing and her connection-centered approach to teaching and dancing tango along the way.  Check out her 2013 Schedule:

January
Seattle/Pacific Northwest

February
Mini West Coast Tour, USA

March-June
Buenos Aires, Argentina via NYC (Workshops!)

July-August
Seattle/Pacific Northwest

September-December
World Book & Tango Tour! (Seattle - Europe - Turkey - SE Asia - Seattle)

If you would like to schedule a book and/or tango event, please email info[at]gabrielacondrea.com or visit www.GabrielaCondrea.com.  Looking forward to lots of tango, tango, tango!

Mini West Coast Tour 2013

Let's do it!  The Yellow Hippopotamus and I had such a nice time driving around the continent last year during our 2012 US & Canada Book & Tango Tour, we're excited to hit the road again in February-early March and head down the coast to see what we can see and where we can tango, tango, tango!

Below is the Mini West Coast Tour schedule.  If you would like to organize an event in your community, please write to info[at]gabrielacondrea.com.