[Tango-L] Skirtless

[Fantasia Sorenson]

I tried an experiment at my favorite milonga. I went without a skirt.

I REPLACED it with something, so don't get excited. ;-)

Now, I only ever danced in a skirt before. I like it that way. I like the
way I move in a skirt. I like the way a skirt moves around me. Skirts just
define the way I look. I always wear one, even in classes or lessons.

So I started buying slacks at my favorite clearance store. I look for nice,
designer slacks that flatter me. This is kind of "bold" for me, if you can
believe it.

I went to my favorite milonga wearing a pair of my new slacks. I made up,
and wore a minimum of jewelry. I found a chair (there never are very many
provided), and claimed it as mine. Here's the clincher. I brought no dance
shoes.

  Those who know me probably never thought about it before, but now that
they saw me wearing slacks for the first time ever, suddenly they all wanted
to know what was going on.

"Oh, I'm not dancing tonight."

"You're not dancing tonight?"

"No."

"Did you injure yourself?"

"No, I just feel like watching and listening."

"You mean, you're not dancing tonight?"

I swear, EVERY single person asked me multiple times even after I told them.
Why on earth would I want to do that, come to a milonga with no intention of
dancing? It drove them crazy.

So here are some of the really interesting parts.

1. I watched every man I knew dancing on the dancefloor. At some point in
the evening, EVERY single man I knew came over to talk to me.
2. Most of them tried to get me to dance, but I pointed to my flats and
said, thank you, but no I wasn't dancing tonight.
3. Several of them tried multiple times.
4. I wasn't bored and I wasn't disappointed. I had no expectations, so there
were none to be left unfulfilled.

Quite a few men remained with me and talked for a long time. That never
happened to me before at a milonga. Either they would come over to dance
with me, period, or they furtively avoided my gaze while they slunk by. I
don't think they ever felt comfortable around me before. A few of them
talked about that with me.

I don't suppose anyone cares to know why...

Fan