The TangoZen project is about to take a different shape to deliver its message.  The idea of TangoZen,  dancing tango with mindfulness, was conceived around 2003.  And then the book, “Tango Zen: Walking Dance Meditation” was published in English in 2005 and in bilingual (Spanish/English) in 2008.

For years I have offered classes and workshops of TangoZen in 22 countries (68 cities).    Since I move to Buenos Aires 3 years ago, I have discovered something about tango that you can only experience in Buenos Aires.  For example, the dancers in BA are more focused on feelings, connection, walking, and music than on steps or techniques.

I am working on a documentary film, titled “Tango Your Life,” whose idea is based on the concept of TangoZen and implemented with stories being unfolded in milongas on a daily basis in Buenos Aires.

In the documentary you will hear tango stories and experiences shared by the dancers in Buenos Aires, who have danced for life or have made tango a important part of their lives. I find zen among their stories, and I hope you will too.

The film project started around January 2010, and now it is in the post-production phase. I have captured hours and hours of interviews and shootings of milonga scenes as well as exhibition dances.  I plan to finish the film for release by this fall.

As writer, director, producer, and editor of the film, I’d like to ask for your support through the following methods:
1.    Spreading the message
Please forward this email to your friends who might be interested in the TangoZen project and/or in the documentary film.

2.     Linking to social networks
Please link the trailer of the film to your social networks (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc.): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ifk1VienEII

3.    Financial donation
I have managed this project from my private fund.  As the private fund almost runs out, your financial support is more important than ever.

Please visit the site below and show your support with a financial donation and take advantage of rewards including books, online viewing of the film, download of the film, and even an opportunity to be an executive producer or an associate producer of the movie.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/244276548/tango-your-life

For more information about the documentary, please visit the official web of the film at http://www.TangoYourLife.com. Also I will welcome your comments and suggestions as to how to promote the film.

Thank you and I look forward to presenting the final film to you soon.

Chan Park
Tango Zen House
tangozen@hotmail.com

http://www.TangoZen.com

http://www.TangoYourLife.com

Please support the project your financial donation:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/244276548/tango-your-life

In much of the popular imagination, tango is seen as a dance involving complex steps performed by dancers whose intensity swirls around them as they enact visions of dark passion. But this conception of tango, popularized by the many tango shows that were exported starting in the 1980s, fails to capture the intimate, enduring dance that has sustained and inspired generations of dancers: the social tango danced in Buenos Aires.  It is the story of this tango, the tango of embrace, communication and human connection that Director Chan Park aims to tell.

For the past three years, Park has submerged himself in the traditional tango culture of Buenos Aires, dancing almost every day and interviewing many of the participants in the traditional tango scene there in an attempt to understand what inspires people about this dance which is uniquely part of the culture of Buenos Aires, while also enriching lives of people around the world. Different than tango danced to impress people with the intricacy of movement, the social tango in Buenos Aires is life danced on the floor – intimate, complicated and personal.

Through the stories told by dancers who have been dancing as many as 70 years as well the impressions of those who have come to Buenos Aires to experience the dance in its native country, the experience of tango is shown to be one of danced emotion — inspired by music and shared between partners connected through embrace.  In intimate and emotional conversations with the director, people explain that tango, transcending social crises and personal conflict, provides them with a safe haven where they can transform to be completely present, letting go of ego, enjoying calmness in body and mind, expressing their passion, sharing their emotions with trustful dance partners in a respectful manner, and accumulating satisfying moments, while dancing.

Since June 2010, I have collaborated to produce a number of interviews with milongueros as  part of a new project, called PractiMilonguero.  Their stories are fun, interesting, and, in many senses, invaluable if you’re really into tango.  So I decided to post the interviews in this blog.   Enjoy!

Interview with Raúl (Pato) A. Capelli, June 1, 2010 and his dance with Mónica Paz, August 3, 2010

In Buenos Aires, tango is more than steps or fancy movements. Porteños, referring to the residents in Buenos Aires, describe tango as life danced on the floor. Chan Park, author of a book titled Tango Zen: Walking Dance Meditation, has spent three years in Buenos Aires to discover that tango is about emotion, which is inspired by music and shared between partners connected through embrace while walking together in unison. This documentary film tells his discovery of tango as culture, music, dance, friendship, love, and daily living in Buenos Aires, all of which have helped discover his inner passion for life.