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.