Mixing liquids (Basel)

For a long time already, I have known that music is like water to me. Listening to it, one is caressed by its melodies the same way as when standing in a warm shower and feeling the streams of water running down one's body. Similarly, rhythm is like the pounding of raindrops on one's face: invigorating, persistent - and impossible to ignore.

Dancing presents an intensified version of the same sensations, for it means leaving the safety of the water's edge and allowing oneself to be carried by the torrent. Instead of being a casual observer, one must now accept that however the water moves, it will affect one's own movement too. If one manages to let go of the habit of restricting the natural flow of movement, one may even become so totally immersed in the stream that one turns into water oneself.

This weekend, I understood how dancing with another person adds another layer to this. It reminds me of the laboratory experiments in chemistry, as now, two liquids of different composition, colour and density are brought into contact. Under normal circumstances, they might not be soluble at all, and would just settle into two separate layers, refusing to be affected by each others presence in any way. But when the the right catalyst is present they miraculously unite, producing an altogether new substance with entirely different characteristics from those of the original components.

Discovering the properties of this new substance that came to be is perhaps the most beautiful reward that tango can offer to me. It is very humbling to realise that without the ingredients brought by the dance partner and the catalyst provided by the perfect setting, I would never have known what was hiding inside of myself.

The afterglow of such an experience lasts for a day or two, and during that time, one is filled with immense gratitude. However, just as inevitably as the two substances return to their original, separate layers in the laboratory, one cannot remain too long in the newly discovered version of oneself. Slowly, the colour, taste and feel of the new substance fade, and get replaced with the familiar characteristics of one's usual self.

But is it really possible to return to who one was before?

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