Tropical Zen

I’ve been here in California for six days now, and I’m starting to become acclimated to the weather, and also to the dancing. We’ve even managed a sort of a comfortable routine; late mornings with a large meal, puttering in the afternoon until it’s time for my lesson, then games until dinner. Some nights we go out dancing, get home late and fix a little more food, but more often Beatrix and I end up in the hot tub, soaking our sore bodies. It’s comfortable enough, and I really enjoy them as people.

Yesterday I put on a pair of Beatrix’s shoes. Her feet are only a little bit larger than mine, and these are surprisingly comfortable for three inch heels; the sides are a soft mesh and the whole shoe laces up, so it moves with your feet and adjusts to the contours. The arch is very solid, the sole a very thin suede, so I can feel every nuance of the floor beneath me.

And everything about my dancing changed again. Smaller steps, directly under the place my hips stop; no more skidding to a tenuous halt, no more underpowered steps, I can’t afford them in these shoes. It’s good. The bones of my big toes hurt, through the base and all the way up the inside of each foot; not because of a lack of arch so much as because I’m using new muscles I haven’t felt since I was re-learning how to walk after the military… or during my exploration of zen … or during my first time learning to walk in tango. Or my second time learning to walk in tango. So I guess this makes it Learning to Walk v6.

I’ve been learning about walking again; I also learned something I dearly wish I’d known three years ago. I showed up to a practica in a new city, knowing only my teachers, and almost immediately a friendly man asked me to dance. It was the shoes, he explained. Oh, I said, as we danced around the small dark room.  I’ve been waiting more or less quietly for over three years to find out how to tell the men I want to follow, and here it is! Finally!

So tomorrow we will go out shoe hunting. The store where Beatrix got them is in Berkely; we’re headed there for a milonga tomorrow night, so we’ll just go a little early and catch dinner after. I have no idea how much they will cost, and I don’t think I care. If I can find good Cuban heels like Michael’s, I’ll get them too. Those he bought in Seattle.

[edit: Her shoes are from Experience Shoes in Seattle beneath Highway 99 in downtown, his shoes are Capezio Cuban heels which we were able to find for $80. It took a few days to get comfortable in them, but with the right socks they're very nice.]

But tonight, we dance. I’ll bring in my thighs in the back, try to stay hips over feet and belly button toward the leader. Zoom!