Photo credit: Zahara Alexander, Flickr, Creative Commons, from the Tango in Red series, www.redbubble.com Tango Communication is a dance-therapy program that helps people to improve their partner and non-verbal communication skills as they learn Argentine Tango. This is not just a dance class, a look is taken at the unique challenges or issues that you may bring to the relationship. The idea is that you work through it with your partner in a non-confrontational way.
Donna Sue Robson has pioneered these workshops. She says that '
through the dance, couples and pairs can begin to see when they are being defensive or dominant; or if they are ignoring or stonewalling their partner. These are patterns and habits of which most people are unaware, but cause damage to all of our relationships and relationship prospects. Because this program has active dance that is built on the necessity of roles and connection, couples can see what they are doing and then work for resolution on the dance floor. They can take this into in their daily lives.'
Photo credit: Zahara Alexander, Flickr, Creative Commons, from the Tango in Red series, www.redbubble.com Argentine Tango is a dance that is both complex and compelling, it can bring out emotions, which is why the choice of this dance for these sessions. It is empowerment in action, fun and valuable time that you share with your partner or even getting to understand yourself.
The way Donna teaches Tango, which is a part of 'reframing' is to constantly explain dance and partner concepts in daily metaphors. This also ensures that the dance-language makes sense to you and your life. This is an important part of partnership and the communication challenges because men and women, often speak different languages. You need to know '
how you speak', '
know if your messages are clear' and '
learn to speak the same language of your partner'. Tango Communication is about expanding the way that you communicate.
Photo credit: Zahara Alexander, Flickr, Creative Commons, from the Tango in Red series, www.redbubble.com You can even do this if you're single as you can work with Donna or another professional tutor, or upon request, a stand-in partner may be organised for you. In the case of singles, you work on your own challenges, rather than the challenges within a relationship.
Not having a partner, I was given the opportunity to participate in a private session with Donna. It was really interesting to see what she picked up on and what I had to work through. She was surprisingly accurate and it was a bit of fun, leaving me wanting to dance some more.
Tango Communication is a 3 session workshop series.
The next course runs on Saturday April 28th, May 5th and 12th from 10am-12pm at Jamie Natural Health and Healing, 8 Tweedie Court Box Hill North. The cost is $300 per couple or $180 per single (for the 3 workshops).
Please see the Jamie Natural website and Facebook page for event updates and other Melbourne locations.
If you prefer, private courses for single, couples or group bookings are available. This course is suitable for complete beginners through to advanced-level dancers because the program is customised and concentrates on the issues that need to be addressed and over-turned, rather than the complexity of the dance moves.
Programs can be devised for very specific groups: e.g., single women, single men, divorcees who are held back from forming new relationships and partnerships, LGBTIQAT, single parents and groups who are of similar age or who come from similar cultural backgrounds.
It may also be possible to book a venue nearby to you. You can contact Donna on 0402161868 or info@jamienatural.com to discuss.
Photo credit: Zahara Alexander, Flickr, Creative Commons, from the Tango in Red series, www.redbubble.com
- Couples who want to address communication difficulties.
Creative people who love dance and music.
Singles and couples who want to address specific partnership blocks or who repeat the same patterns that they feel powerless to change.
- Work partners and teams who need to expand and improve their non-verbal communication skills.
- Couples in new relationships- getting the communication pattern right from the start.
- Those who want to learn Argentine Tango and partnership dancing and who want to get more out of lessons than just 'the mechanics of the dance'. This is all about you, your emotions, how you communicate and honour those feelings and intentions.
- Establishing great communication patterns and resonance.
- People who are aware that they have 'inherited' bad or unsustainable communication patterns that they want to turn them around.
- People who want to build sustainable, loving relationships and to leave the past behind.
- People who feel that they are blocking intimacy or who know that they shut-down or shut-out their partners, whom they dearly love.
- Creative people and partners who want more out of life and who are interested and open to energy healing and nurturing, and active assistance.
Donna has designed this dance-healing program because she is passionate about helping people improve their non-verbal communication skills and building partner respect and commitment. She is an energy healer with almost 20 years of experience. She pioneered Vibrational Balancing at Jamie Natural Health and Healing and teaches this modality from Year 1-Masters level. She has been involved in partner, Latin and Tango dancing for over 15 years, and now focuses on how you communicate with your partner and how dance can be used to improve your partnership skills and heighten you own self-awareness.
Being an energy healer and vibrational aromatherapist, Donna incorporates olfactory learning as part of the Tango Communication course. This means, that she will have already prepared scents for the Tango Lounge at Tweedie Court, designed to inspire emotional connection and customise your Tango experience. Carefully selected aromatic blends create a safe learning environment for all, as they support honest communication and heighten personal awareness. Scent-creation evokes culturally authenticity, as perfume and cologne are a long-established part of Tango-dancing etiquette, and makes dancing with your partnership a true sensory experience. Scent and instinctual connection that it establishes, is an important part of 'tango communication' and adds yet another layer to this unique workshop.
It really is a dance lesson with a difference. Booking details and further information
are here
