The untied shoelace is a recurrent tango nightmare. It is usually noticed early in a particularly intimate dance with a favourite partner, to the greatest music. The man (and it usually is a man, for somewhat obvious reasons) wonders whether to risk the terminal embarrassment of a bad fall – or apologise and meekly bow down to retie the offender.
It turns out that this predicament hasn't escaped the notice of sociologists. Norbert Elias, retired after a distinguished career, wandered around Europe with an untied shoelace, noting the differing responses it got. Press here for the full article. 'Norbert Elias likened networks of interdependent human beings —'figurations' as he named them, hence the term figurational studies — to a dance: in constant flux, yet structured.' (Structured? I wish.)
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