Eleven Perfect Tango Steps, Part 2 and 3: Connecting Feet to Floor

Eleven Perfect Tango Steps, Part 2: Connecting Feet to Shoes to Floor

In my new shoes I stand.

And that’s all I can do. I cannot move. I cannot lift one foot; it won’t let go of the floor. They—my feet—are waging a battle, pressing into the floor for all they are worth. Each foot knows its job, to keep the rest of the body aloft. Each is determined to succeed this time. It would help if they were working in concert. The left foot doesn’t seem to know what the right one is doing. Both see the floor as their enemy. And the shoes! My feet react like puppies the first time in a leash. As I waver and list and collapse into the chair, it occurs to me that tango begins here: connecting feet to shoes to floor.


Eleven Perfect Tango Steps, Part 3: Introducing Feet to Shoes

Puppies must be broken to the leash. Sit them down in the living room, clip it to their collar, and they’ll fight it, roll and chase and bite and kick and shake the life out of it.

If you want your puppy to love the leash, take it for lots of walks. First, make the promise: Put on your coat, open the door. Using your happy voice, say to your puppy, “Want to go for a walk?” The puppy has no idea what your words mean, but the coat and the door and the voice say it all: Whatever it is, he wants it. He barely notices the string you attach. It’s a small price to pay for escape from the daily routine; a small price to pay for the chance, the unlikely but ever-present chance, of slipping the collar for three or four minutes of glorious, untrammeled freedom!

Soon you won’t need the door or the coat or the voice. Soon your puppy will bring the leash to you.