The Church of
Tango: a memoir by Cherie Magnus
Review by Aydan
Dunnigan, 2013/09/28
For the tango devotee, all roads lead to Buenos
Aires. However immediately upon joining Cherie Magnus on her pilgrimage to
tango’s birthplace, the realization strikes the reader that no two paths are
the same. The path is often twisted and treacherous and certainly not for the
faint of heart. Each is as convoluted as the individual walking it and each
step taken unearths both treasure and trauma.
To put it
bluntly, Cherie's journey is shocking. It is almost inconceivable that fate
would inflict one gentle soul with such disruption. Propelled from her
comfortable home, marriage, affluent lifestyle in Los Angeles by the
devastating death of her beloved husband and soon after afflicted by cancer
herself, Cherie sets off on her search
for a sanctuary for her soul. This quest takes her over three continents, in
and out of failed love affairs, betrayal and abandonment by her closest
friends, and unrelenting financial peril, (not counting the ordinary everyday
mishaps like being assaulted or robbed).
Nonetheless, as a
reader I was continually taken aback that my feelings for the writer were never
those of pity but rather admiration for her indomitable spirit. I became
enthralled by the prospect that all this turmoil could somehow, someday find
its healing balm in tango and that Cherie and her dancing will be richer for
her trials. Tango is of course the
preeminent dance of pathos and melancholia and the reader shares the secret
conviction that from the grief and despair Cherie will rise as a virtuoso tango
artist.
I was not
disappointed. By the end of book, when Cherie has settled permanently into her
long yearned for home in Buenos Aires, she has nursed the wisdom and soul-depth
captivated in the following words:
After years of running from illness,
loneliness and loss, I at last knew where to find peace. Sitting at a table
drinking sidra with friends,
sometimes going to tango heaven with a remarkable dancer, stepping - sweaty and
spent- into a waiting taxi at five a.m. and driving home through the quiet
dawn, climbing into bed with that sweet body and soul exhaustion that connects
me to the universe - I didn’t want more than that…. What a blessing to be
dancing in this “chapel” of fellow believers.... It was a miracle that my
twelve years of journeying towards the light put me just here, just now. Maybe
I made mistakes, maybe I’ve had to pay for them, maybe I’ve had bad luck and
loss, maybe I’m not young and am alone, maybe my loved ones are gone, but I am
here and dancing, dancing, dancing, blessed and happy.
For anyone who
has ever danced tango or aspires to do so or shares in any small way the heart
of a dancer, Cherie's work is a thrilling and inspirational read.
Aydan Dunnigan, author,
Trauma to Tango: dancing through the
shadows of unforgiven dreams.
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