Nadine Lavi's Dance Notes:"Tango Buenos Aires"

On Saturday, February 26, 2011, Tango Buenos Aires, the 25 member troupe of dancers and musicians who have become Argentina’s foremost ambassadors of the fiery and sensual Argentine dance, performed at Brooklyn College’s Center for the Performing Arts to the wild

enthusiasm of an enraptured audience.

Originally created in 1986, the company has represented Argentina at festivals and tours around the world. With their topnotch dancers and skillful 5 piece band, they held the audience in thrall.

The dance has its origins in the 19^th century working-class enclaves of Buenos Aires. It became all the rage in 20^th century Paris, and shocked genteel society with its amount of chest-to-chest body contact, provocative twists in direction, and sensual movements. While the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges asserted that the dance had been “born in a brothel,” an idea recalled in such notable films as Moulin Rouge where men and their prospective ladies of the evening dance in a dance hall and then go off together, in fact this claim is erroneous. Tango actually originated in the courtyards of Buenos Aires where a guitarist would strum a tune and men and women would dance to forget the hardships of life, if only for a moment.

Borges’ claim notwithstanding, the sensuality and seductive stories in the series of vignettes presented by Tango Buenos Aires showcased a variety of human emotions between various couples on the stage.

In the first number, La Cumparsita, the ladies’ gorgeous costumes, their sharp but sensual movements and the sound of the accordion-like bandoneon, wove an enticing air that set the stage for more elaborate presentations. The tone of the next dance, Preparense, was elevated by the elegant white dresses of the women to a well known tango melody.

In the next few dances, the steps seemed subtly deceptive. While seemingly the same, the steps’ minor changes in direction, a woman’s raised leg here, a dip into a low backbend there, and the signature tango move of the woman’s leg travelling up and down the man’s, gave the steps a new complexity and sophistication.

What differentiated the dances from each other was the development of each little story as the evening progressed. The locales varied as well; some were in a dance hall, one was in a woman’s boudoir as she waited impatiently trying on dresses for the arrival of her lover, one appeared to be in a courtyard where the village drunk tried to overtake another woman’s partner and break up their dance.

The connection between each “story” in the dance numbers was clear and only served to heighten the sense of danger and passion that enveloped both the dancers and the audience.

Surprisingly perhaps for those of us who are not so familiar with tango, there was a cheerful number towards the end of the evening suggesting joy and a celebration of life, with energetic steps and “open” couples who faced the audience, and not just each other.

With its variety of fare, different partnering – between couples, four women, one woman and five men, and two musical interludes in which the band owned the stage, this was a well-crafted evening showcased talented dancers and musicians and the seductively glorious art of tango itself.

Nadine's past blogs:

Nadine Lavi’s Dance Notes:“Claude Bessy, Lignes d’Une Vie”

Nadine Lavi's Dance notes: "Dance as Image: Film Night at Steps on Broadway"

Nadine Lavi's Dance Notes: ABT’s “Beauty” with Alina Cojocaru

Nadine Lavi's Dance Notes: "Corella Ballet: US debut"

Nadine Lavi’s Dance Notes:"ABT's 70th Anniversary"

Nadine Lavi's Dance Notes: Nadine Lavi’s Dance Notes:"Avi Scher & Dancers"

Nadine Lavi's Dance Notes: Nadine Lavi’s Dance Notes March 13, 2010

Nadine Lavi’s Dance Notes: The gift of a great teacher – Fabrice Herrault

Nadine Lavi's Dance Notes: "Morphoses at Central Park’s Summerstage 2009 in NY"

Nadine Lavi's Dance Notes "The Latin Choreographers Festival 2009: An Evening of Dance and Theater"

Nadine Lavi's Dance Notes "Beatriz Stix-Brunell: First-class dancing from a young dancer on the rise