Learning to stay in the dance
Martha Chomyn took her first tango lesson at the Mora Godoy studio in Buenos Aires. She arrived to learn the steps, but the lesson asked something else of her too: to dance closely with another person while still feeling stiff and uncertain about where her feet should go.
Her instructor, Matias, helped her navigate the closeness and the difficult steps. When Martha made a mistake, stopping felt natural. Continuing to move, rather than treating every missed step as the end of the attempt, became its own thing to practise.
There is no instant transformation into a flawless performer in Martha’s account. She tried tango in the city where she wanted to try it, felt the awkwardness of being new, and stayed with the lesson anyway. That is a beginning worth remembering.