Do you like to be alike?

Do you have a Facebook account? And if that’s the case, have you come across the Likeness application? Come on, admit it, I know for sure that you have:-)
For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about: this silly applet lets you take a quiz to find out how much you are like/unlike your friends and one's asked to answer ten questions to some random subject. Afterwards the answers are evaluated - et voilà! - you find out that you are "Twins" or "Peas in the pod" with someone.
How do you feel about it? Do you like being alike?
I know it's a bit daft to give it a first thought, let along the second one.
But it made me think nonetheless.
As a teenager I bore some resemblance to a child star well-known in the country I was born and brought up in. She came across as a sweet, lively girl. It also went without saying that for your average school boy she was the greatest thing since sliced bread.
So the first time my friends pointed it out to me, I was absolutely psyched. My greedy little mind seemed to discern undreamt-of possibilities in it. So I did everything possible to look more likeher…up to the point of even studying her mannerisms. And for some time it made me more popular.
But bit by bit I became weary of it. I didn't want to hear "Wow, do you know you look exactly like…?" anymore.
I longed to be me again.
At the end of the day most of us are bound to find out that being ourselves is easier than pretending being someone else. It also applies to tango. How often do we notice people on the dance floor who are ready to go to some mighty lengths to look like their teacher, their friend or – last but not the least - their foe.
Some time ago I watched the show of a considerably well-known couple. Twenty seconds into their performance I already thought I was hallucinating, because what they danced was an exact copy of this choreography (I'm aware of the fact that I just outed myself as a freakish freak with too much time on my hands, but yes, I watched this video once or twice:-) Whatever.
It was almost offensive as they seemed to me talented and sassy enough to come up with something of their own.
My fellow bloggers have already mused repeatedly about things like woman's style in tango and the world has surely had its share of Chico wannabes.
For many of us it's just a part of the learning process. But some get stuck forever in an endless circle of copy-pasting someone else's moves and lives.
I think sometimes it's easier to grow up and out of whatever one's been holding dear and start thinking, living and dancing for ourselves.
I'm ready to embrace my "alikeness", as long as it's all mine, coming straight from my soul. Because that's one thing that makes every one of us unique, isn't it?
Silly quizzes notwithstanding.

One fine summer day

Aren't these flowers just stunning?
All pictures were taken today within a radius of about quarter a mile of my home.