Computer geek
I started programming in the last years of primary school. Programming was something only the coolest people did. For some years I tried to learn Pascal, but I only managed to copy examples from the book. I also built web pages, but that was not real programming. I only started think like a programmer when I was forced to do it. I wanted to host an IRC bot on a VAX/VMS server. An IRC client ran there and it had a scripting language. I printed its manual (30 pages)—and experimented.
During last holidays before high school I wrote a bookkeeping program for my father’s office in Delphi. That summer, I also started learning golf, so Delphi, Java and golf are everything I remember of that summer. In high school, I developed a CMS for the web page of Golf course Ptuj (in Perl).
Later I both graduated and received a PhD in computer science from the University of Ljubljana. In Biolab. I worked with machine learning, bioinformatics, and programmed a lot. There we build a friendly data mining toolbox called Orange.
Dancer
I started dancing Argentine tango in 2012. I like that in tango a couple creates their dance spontaneously. For me, there are no sequences in tango, neither are there any standard movements. With my partner we try to establish every part of the movement together. Even a simple step to the left is different every time: it can have different length, different speed, different height, and all these can change during the step. During the step we can even change direction and therefore curve our step.
In every moment we are choosing among a multidimensional continuous space of possibilities. The more possibilities we allow, the more precise we have to be. I think this is the root of intensive cooperation that makes me love tango. And I feel there will always be new possibilities. The longer I dance, the more I notice.
My relationship to music changed because of tango. I like it more. Also, my relationship to my body and movement also. I was not aware of how bad shape I was in.
Mover?
Before tango I was not aware of how very clumsy I was. If I was doing anything with my body, it was pretty monotonous: I ran and I biked. Tango quickly showed I lack coordination, flexibility and strength.
I spent my youth with books, computer and television. Therefore I never learned how to move properly and now I am trying to make up for it. Maybe it does not seem much, but I spend an hour each day with various types of movement. The feeling that my body is slowly becoming more capable is amazing.