We are off on another multi-month, multi-country adventure. We started this trip by visiting two friends, JT and Betty, who moved from Cuenca, Ecuador earlier this year. We met them in Buenos Aires, and spent a couple nights in this cosmopolitan city of 15 million, before driving the 6 hours to their home in Los Toldos for the remainder of the week. While in Buenos Aires, we went to two tango dinner-and-dance shows. Both were eloquent, though quite different.
Above is one image of a couple displaying their professional tango moves, with the 7-piece orchestra behind them.
Tango is what many people think of first when they hear Buenos Aires. This city, like Manhattan, is considered a city that never sleeps, and you can party every night. The Argentine Tango originated in the streets of Buenos Aires, Argentina and the roots of this dance lie in African candombe, Cuban habanera as well as waltzes and polkas.
Above watch 40 seconds of the Tango orchestra opening our show.
La Ventana was the first tango show we went to. La Ventana is more than just tango, providing a well-rounded display of Argentine music and dance from all over the country. It included chamame, chacarera, and zamba-style folkloric dancing. There were also several singers (top row) with operatic vocals, Andean flute music (bottom-left), and one man who played a crazy percussion (bottom-middle) using gaucho bolas as a musical instrument instead of as a weapon (bottom-right).
Here you can watch 80 seconds as this performer brushes his bolos into his hair, and then proceeds to dance with them.
But of course, tango took the prime spotlight, and these dancers were extremely talented and enjoyable to watch. The basic steps of tango consists of three forward walks, followed by a side step and lastly a drag step. These dancers elevate the basic steps to a new level, with throws, tosses, and extensions that make this dance forms one of the sexiest in the world.
Watch 95 seconds as one of the couples danced across the stage.
Our second night brought us to another tango show, El Querandi, located in a historic building in San Telmo, a few blocks away. El Querandi is a smaller, more intimate venue, and started out with a history of tango. It is estimated that 145,000 people dance the tango in Buenos Aires. Though I have found no reliable estimate of how many of those dance professionally, you could easily attend a new tango show on stage, or on the street every night of the year.
As with the first show, the dancers here were also highly professional and talented, and a joy to watch.
Finally, watch 100 seconds of a tango couple from this El Querandi performance above. (Note: On some browsers, this is showing as not available. I have no idea why, but you can click the link and watch it directly on YouTube…?)