Charlas con gente del tango en Viena: Iris Koppelent

By M. Belén Bulacio —

Iris is a woman with big kind blue eyes and a warm voice with a soothing vibe. She is a physiotherapist and runs yoga and body coaching sessions in Vienna. Sagittarius is her Sun, she comes from Linz, she has a passion for mountains, glaziers and tango and she is the loving grandmother of beautiful grandchildren who remind her how to honor love.  

We met on the last Sunday of July at Tango Café Milonga run by TDJ Isi. We danced two tandas which connected us profoundly, soul level and we offered our dance to healing and renewal. Some deep synchronicities gave our encounter a deep sense of connection we both feel thankful for. She had not been dancing lately as she was involved in accompanying her father’s healing journey back home.

The following week  we met on a Thursday at Welt Café for this interview and a Tarot message – Iris displayed the most harmonious Tarot spread in no time for that reading.

Belén: What blessings do you feel tango has brought into your life?

Iris: [Looks into my eyes, smiles, closes her eyes and begins with] Uh, that’s difficult to contain in words because it’s a lot of sensations. [Pause] One, one blessing is my re-remembrance about music and movement. I’ve been brought up with this since I was a tiny child and then I forgot how enhancing music and movement are. And with the years in tango, I [have also developed]  the sophisticated analysis of my body listening in order to interpret to be on beat or off beat, to delay or to speed up the playfulness with music and so one bliss is this.

Belén: [Nodding] Mh.

Iris: And having this support to be in connection with somebody, to play with music. The dynamics, the emotions. It’s playfulness also one bliss. And the quality of [closes her eyes and plays lightly with her hands] connectedness, when that’s deep and true, oh, it’s very deep and true and to stay with this tuned linkedness, it’s like magic. It’s another deep bliss I can’t tell with words. And then it’s also like, within this connection to become more refined in, without analyzing, kind of knowing with whom I am dancing. It’s not like I want to dance and he or she wants to dance but we meet on a level and how can we meet in a good way? How can this connection be the best? This is a wonderful bliss, there’s analysis but not [she gestures towards the head] mental, my body does it.

Belén: Right!

Iris: And then the community, to have a place to go. Just to go out and connect and then go away again without so much responsibility. You meet, you are around, you connect and then you have this liveliness inside. And it’s all over the world this language, all over the world. In Spain, in small islands, in Greece, in America. Everywhere you have this language.

Belén: Yes. The soul expresses in this language on many occasions. Thank you so much Iris for this gorgeous time you have shared with me