The mind races. The perpetual questions? On moving forward? Back to Seattle?  Stay here as numbers are going up? Thinking? Corvid complications! Be present in today!

How many times, do we start thinking about…life as we remember it as normal? Remember? Will it return?Are we living the new normal? Does it matter? Do I care? All these conflicted thoughts in my head!!!

WHEW!!! I HAVE MONKEY MIND!!!

BREATHE. Breathe. Hmmmmmm

Wow, and that was just 60 seconds.  Driving oneself slowly insane. No sense of days. No sense of time. BUT

The only way I can still be, is to be creative and work thru this time by a inventing a project.

For many years, I have honed my skills  as a visual editor. To me this means knowing when to stop and start and when to alter directions.

And in recent years upon deciding there is not enough time, and perhaps I  lack the skill to become a painter, I have become a photographer.

With a vision and a penchant to developing my skills of looking and translating the world that I am living in. Or perhaps revealing? Editing?

Hmmm. What do I know? What do I do? What canI build upon? What can I share? How canI elucidate?

Yes…wait for it Tango!

What have I done daily since arriving in Buenos Aires?  From January thru mid March. I danced tango daily. Sometimes for an hour and sometimes all night long. It was glorious. 

And I photographed the dancers, dancing. I am interested in expressing vusually their connection. The embrace. The hands. The fingers. The arms. The breasts. The legs. 

As said in Tango.

Corezon y Corezon.

Heart to Heart.

How to express this, especially as a social tango dancer, which is very different that show Tango.

Whats the most important aspect to convey? The intimacy?

What scares people the most? The intamacy?

Intamacy,  tenderness and connections.

We all dance. Young, middle and old.

Man to woman.  Man to man. Woman to woman.  Straight. Gay. Trans. We all dance tango.

We have all overcome internal and external issues, body issues and our mind issues to dance. To release ourselves from our everyday lives. To find the joy. To find the heart. To find the embrace. To find the connection.

In working on my photobook, Why I dance ? I looked at these questions thru my eyes and thru my heart.

In taking the 90 days of quarantine as the time to work on this project, I found a peace and a restfulness from all things virus related.  The daily life routine changed into a more creative way of being…the incessant chatter of my head quieted down to a manageable level.

And then when able to start walking daily, the quiet remained and still does show up, but now are much better at quelling my mind from the perspective of a creative.

As to my photobook, am working on printing it and for those of you interested in a copy, let me know.

Looking into a web based version that is available on Issuu a magazine/pdf software. Here’s the link to a downloadable copy. All proceeds from the sale of this photobook, will be donated back to the Tango community. WE WILL DANCE AGAIN!!!

Here’s the link to my photobook!

And I have a paypa link for buying the print. version:https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/my/profile

https://issuu.com/ruthoffen/docs/porque_bailo_tango_ruth_offen_print_with_cover

If a printed copy is wanted, in September will deliver $ 27 includes priority mail anywhere in USA. Send me a note at Ruth.offen@gmail.com

Since writing these words, have decided to stay here until September…for many reasons, mostly because this stay is part of my new nomadic lifestyle…and this city is truly magical on many levels.

Abrazo

Ps Please let me know if links are not working.