IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO.

Walk into the mall, and into one of the many stores, and someone will have an old jam, an oldie playing to not only transport you mentally into the past, but make your feet and entire body sway to the memory. Music quickens you. It’s easy to get down and boogie, solo, moving back and forth to favorites from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Yet, if you really want to slow dance, hustle or tango, it takes two.

Ballroom dancing is one of the most beautiful sights to enjoy when there is a surrender of two bodies, thoughts and emotions, completely emerged into one. The intensity of El Paso Doble or the Spanish Tango can bring tears to your eyes when the couple dancing has forgotten the world around them and focused on telling a story through their movement.

In dancing, you have the moments where you can do a solo. You see it in modern dance, where an athletic dancer takes the spotlight and throws down his or her best in reckless abandonment. Still, and this is my opinion in order to show my point, watching two, three, or a group come together in an artistic rendition of passion through dance, captivates the audience even more.

Just like the language of dance between two people is important, isn’t the conversation with the person in our life even more so? Imagine if in the show, Dancing with the Stars, the professional dancer could not make the untrained star dancer to understand the movements and steps to learn? It’s so easy to see the skilled dancer when they perform. But, you can see when the untrained dancer shocks everyone as well. How? Communication. Two people made a decision to listen, work together, put all fears aside, try something new, work on what is so hard, and give it their all for a trophy.

Isn’t a relationship more than a dance recital? If two dancers are willing to work day after day to get their routine as perfect as possible, couldn’t we learn something from the world of dance? It would be chaos if dancers couldn’t work together. Scenes in the Nutrcracker Ballet or the Lion King Musical would be disastrous if the teacher was not able to bring the group of minds and hearts to beat and move as one.

Silence in a relationship is deadly. Ignoring your partner leads to breakdown. Just like the audience will applaud the beauty seen in the connection of two dancers sharing their gift on stage, the world around you will also see when your relationship is real, authentic love, and fearless trust in one another. The audience will also see the struggle of two people trying to make it work on the dance floor and wish them to leave the stage, offended at their mockery of something almost sacred. So also, the people around us will see when our futile efforts to keep up appearances.

I wonder what you dance looks like. I wonder what our relationships with our spouses look like to our children, families and friends. Is your dance passionate, breathtaking and beautiful to see? Or do people walk away the moment you hold hands to walk to the dance floor? Have you allowed yourself to become one, truly one with your partner in such a way that the lead dancer can lead you and even with your eyes closed, you know which way to move, or do you stand in the sidelines of the dance floor, wrestling to lead, correcting and drawing attention to yourselves?

Dancers work tirelessly, long hours without break or food, until their flow and connection is perfect. Are we willing to work on our marriages? Are our ears open to listen to the Master Dancer’s guidance as we practice the steps of communication, honesty and loving without limits? God is not a Puppeteer holding the strings on our lives, placing us like marionettes in a puppet show. He is the Master Dancer, merely teaching us to move to the sound of heaven’s music if we would pay attention and learn the dance. Are you ready to try and dance again with the one you love, or will you walk away, turn up the volume on your Ipod, and continue to dance solo until you are left alone?