My First Tango Class

I am on a hiatus from work for a couple weeks as of today. I will be investing this time in networking and “meeting the press”, something which I have been avoiding. But not only that, I have decided to unburden myself from the work routine and start new life program. I want to break the cycles of my life to bring new energy into my soul and body. This is very typical me, I am all about change which is very un-Egyptian. Generally, Egyptians love to keep everything as they are. This is obvious how our disastrous political conditions remained as they are after the so unblessed 1952 revolution that brought military ruling to Egypt until today.

It is so apparent that the status quo is remaining under very tight security apparatus. The Muslim Brotherhood is working hard to be the alternative for the corrupt dictatorship running Egypt. I bet they have the same agenda like Hamas. So once a true democracy process instilled, they will find their way through ballot boxes. That will happen for two reasons; Egyptians do not go to the polls and under the current political situation, the regime’s National Democratic Party will always want to stand out. The NDP does not enjoy any popularity among Egyptians. So who will go to vote will be the supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood who were very active during the last legislative elections, or those who hate the guts of the regime. Jailing opposition leader Ayman Nour, whether you agree with him or not, is a blatant proof of the government crackdown on secular and moderate streams in the Egyptian society.

The only way to get out of the Muslim Brotherhood alternative dilemma and the domination of the current regime is a strong shake up to the Egyptian society, which I do not know how this can happen under the continuous address of hatred to the west running all over the media outlets. Our government supports modernization without westernization, according to statements by Egypt’s Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif. The government wants modernization with Islamization which is pretty clear. It is sad because the only parties that could help are from the western world. The government is basically advocating using the western money and aid but without their freedom and democracy values.

To dance the Tango, you need to partner with a good leader, (from the woman’s perspective). In the Tango dance, the man is usually leading the dance while the woman is responsible for maintaining the distance. Starting beginner’s Tango classes is part of the change that I look forward to. I have been always enchanted by this Argentinean dance. Being a Middle Eastern, in Egypt I only saw real Tango in foreign movies and may be in some theatres in Cairo. Learning the Tango is not only part of making some needed change, but in fact it is part of an earlier decision to live as an international Egyptian citizen who is able and willing to fall in love with all the finesse of the world’s diversity and openness. French and Uruguayan instructors are teaching the beginner’s class for the Argentinean Tango dance, isn’t it that beautiful? And I am one of their students, an Egyptian citizen. During the class you keep partnering with so many people, it could happen that men partner with men or women with women depending on the proportion. One of the exercises, I had to partner with an American guy, standing out with no American features; first question was where are you from? I said I am Egyptian. We had to pause for few seconds for him to absorb the answer, which in my guess was a shock, before we start the exercise. Apparently, the Egyptians that the world hears of nowadays are the two popular terrorists Ayman Alzawahery and Mohamed Atta or the Muslim Brotherhood women who are covered from head to toe. Anyway, but I want to tell you that Tango has such difficult steps. And learning the steps together with the music is almost a mission impossible for me. I will see how it will go in the coming classes.

If my country is giving no free political and social life, I will keep admiring other countries’ until I have one.