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Timing is everything
My trip to Tokyo was ill-timed for attending a milonga but not for taking a tango class. This time, instead of a private lesson, I took a group class at the Tropicana bar/club located in the Roppongi Hills area in the Minato district of Tokyo. It’s a high-rise, über-urban community that allows residents and visitors…
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Lucky Me!
Not only do the two major religions — Buddhism and Shinto — coexist peacefully in Japan but they also overlap in a practical sort of way that is uniquely Japanese. While the other world religions are literally and metaphorically battling it out for supremacy, “My god is bigger than your god,” the Japanese make no…
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Breaking Up Is (Not) Hard To Do…
Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened. ~Winston Churchill Telling the truth to a stranger is easy. Telling the truth to a lover is much more complicated and delicate. And in the handful of relationships I’ve had over the last few…
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Shall We Dance, Tokyo?
Thanks to all of you tangueros and tangueras who were kind enough to provide contacts to instructors and milongas in Tokyo. If any of my other fellow dancers have suggestions on milongas or salsa clubs – I’ll happily take them as I don’t leave until Thursday. In the meantime, I am going to treat myself…
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The Naked Truth
We North Americans live in a throwaway society. We discard clothes, hardly used electronics, toys, games, recreational equipment and, sadly, sometimes relationships or friendships without really thinking much about it. A lot of our conversations are peppered with throwaway lines: “How are you?” we ask, without truly listening to the response. Sometimes we complain for…
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Tokyo Time
I booked this trip on a whim. The seat sale was so good I couldn’t pass it up. Of course it is the off, off season but I live in Canada so how cold can it be? As I don’t normally get on a plane unless I’m paid to (or there’s a dance lesson involved)…
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Date with Destiny
I took the cards and shuffled the deck and laid out my choices before the Shelley the Seer. As I turned a card over and saw the very scary face of what looked like the devil – I wondered if I could trade in a few cards for a better hand. I asked Shelly and…
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Dance Is Life
I used to think my dance lessons were all about timing, steps, musicality, and technique. Lately I have come to realize that that there’s more too it than that. The more I dance, the more I learn about life. According to my teachers – dance is life. And nowhere was this more apparent than on…
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Somebody’s Baby…
I don’t know if it’s generally a Southern thing or particular to Louisiana, but ever since I’ve arrived in New Orleans I have been addressed on several occasions as “baby” and/or “Miss Catherine.” In most cases but not all, it’s an older African-American using the term baby. I can’t explain it, but there is something…
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Otra Vez!
What’s a business trip without a little pleasure? So the first thing that’s going into the suitcase this morning are the killer black and red stillettos purchased from Comme il Faut when I was in BsAs last month. (Yes, yes, I’m also bringing the lap top – the IT guys have got me up and…
