Volver
On Friday night, in celebration after having run Act One for the first time, I put on some earrings and went out dancing with Pablo.
Such occasions are rare, these days; but since making The Tango Lesson we have managed, somehow, to meet up every few months in one city or another (Paris, New York, Oslo...) to spend an evening or two on the dance floor. Each time feels like a homecoming, expressed so eloquently in Carlos Gardel’s most famous song ‘Volver’ (“The Return”)
The feeling, like the song, is a mixture of joy and nostalgia. But however long the intervals, the dance never seems to disappear from my body, the muscle memory goes so deep.
Directing is, of course, always a look from the outside, however empathetic, however profoundly engaged. After so much mental effort, putting this production together, it is a relief to return to embodiment, and to the simple joy of dancing.