All for one, one for all or something completely different?

I haven’t seen much of my Turkish friend in the last few days and I was getting used to having him in class. I guess one man’s ad nauseum is another’s heart’s content.

There is a distinct advantage in working consistently with the same person in classes and practicas. For a start, when the class isn’t gender balanced, you have a guaranteed partner, so there’s no dead time. Secondly, once you have established a background of relatedness, giving and receiving feedback becomes a whole lot easier. Thirdly, once you have adjusted to each other, you can give fuller attention to what is new, as you no longer have to start from scratch, each time. Fourthly, you can have the best of both worlds, as you can still continue to enjoy and stay sensitized to different leads or styles, dancing at milongas.

Peaches are in season and I ask myself, as I sink my teeth into my third, this morning, whether I shall ever tire of them. Years ago, when I was piss poor and lived in France, I lived on peaches and popcorn. When the last market stall had sold the last peach, I switched to figs. I also like playing an album over and over, till I know each last note and lyric by heart.

Last night I went to Plaza Dorrego. The demon dancer was there, as always, making women swoon. I had a few dances with strangers, then hooked up with Jeff, who was there with his friend Art from Alaska and a Korean tango deb, Ching. Ching has only had three tango lessons and is already a good dancer. Having danced salsa for years, her mind and body are programmed to move with control and precision. When we moved on to Torquato Tasso, she didn’t hesitate to get up and ask some of the finest tangueros for a dance and they appeared delighted to be asked. Either times are changing or it depends on who’s asking.

Art mentioned he was looking for somewhere to stay and as Zack, our resident genius, is leaving for Mexico, I mentioned there could well be a room available at my digs and did they want to come and see.

We sat in my tiny kitchen till 04:30 drinking coffee and discussing the nature of reality, life after death, the effects of assorted drugs, the relative merits of monogamy and polygamy and whether and to what extent men and women differ in their needs. I told them about my philosopher friend, Sarah Biggie’s solution: duogamy, a system permitting men and women to be in a committed relationship with two partners each. The virtue of such a versatile union is you get the nurture, stability and commitment of monogamy, but with a little more variety, (the chief advantage of polygamy,) as well as a built-in safety valve, should you find yourself at odds with one of your spouses.

Back on the subject of dance partners, wouldn’t two be twice as nice as one? Better still would be to be the variety: learn to switch roles and dance happily ever after.