Tango is a walking dance. What could be simpler? 

Walking in tango is simple. It is also really hard.

Last month, Alan, and I couldn’t do anything right. Minor changes in his balance threw me off. Slight tension in my body threw him off. Even our embrace felt uncomfortable.

Our instructor, Elizabeth Wartluft, told us not to worry. She said that we had to break old habits before we could create new ones. Only then would we be able to make subtle, yet profound improvements to our dance. 

“You have to get worse before you can get better,” she said.

On Friday, Alan and I went to class, and to our shock, everything we had struggled to do for weeks came together. We were balanced and connected. Our movements felt effortless. And our dance transformed from a collection of steps set to music to the beginning of a musical conversation. It was wonderful.

Next week it’ll probably all fall apart again as we learn something new, but that’s okay. It’s all part of the magical journey of learning and growing.