Dancing in the kitchen
Katerina Pavlakis 
Something you probably didn't know about me...
I used to be a tango dancer.
(I still have the outrageous shoes to prove it...)
I don't mean the glitzy ballroom tango you may have seen on stage. I learned the 'real thing': Argentine tango, once rooted in the lowly neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires, now popular around the world. If you know where to look you'll find a network of hidden 'milonga' tango clubs in most cities around the world: I have danced from Athens to Seattle and from Berlin to Tokyo.
Tango is not an 'easy' dance: There are steps to remember and conventions to follow. You dance in close embrace with a partner, who changes with every few rounds of music: some are good, some are bad, some are boring and some are divine.
A set up of constraints and limitations, you might think. Where is the fun in that?
Yet I experienced dancing as a liberating experience, bringing me an overwhelming sense of relief.
I used to wonder why, as someone who insists on living life on my own terms, I enjoyed giving in to a partner's lead. I now realise it wasn't odd, and it wasn't about the partners:
The complexity of the dance forced me to stay in the moment.
If you don't pay attention to the ever-shifting movement of the two bodies, you simply lose your balance.
But other than maintaining my own balance, there were no decisions to make, no responsibilities to take on, no control to hang on to.
Dancing gave me permission to simply go with the flow, to find my place in what is, to improvise within the space available.
In fact, it felt a lot like cooking intuitively!
In the kitchen, we are constantly facing limitations: time, budget, ingredients, likes and dislikes.
But if you give yourself permission to go with the flow, and to improvise with what is, a whole new sense of freedom simply appears.
Just like dancing, cooking is most enjoyable when you give in to the moment.
I know... letting go to find the flow is not always easy. But it can bring such unexpected joy that it's worth practising.
Like tango dancing was for me.
.
Are you ever dancing in your kitchen?
I'd love to hear your stories of finding flow in the kitchen (or on the dancefloor).
Categories: : LIFE
