¡El Espectáculo! And it wasn't even in Buenos Aires!

On Saturday evening, July 7, 2007, you had the opportunity to see one of the very finest exhibitions of Argentine tango ever mounted, and it was nowhere near Buenos Aires. Although, to be sure, all the dancers -- save one -- were as Argentine as you can get.
Nito and Elba Garcia danced in elegant tribute to the lovely salon tango that has been their inspiration for many years. Nora Dinzelbacher and Ed Neale (the one token American in the group, although a stupendous dancer in his own right) made a lush, graceful essay of the floor, a performance heated with everything porteño that both know so well. Hugo Patyn and Miriam Larici, among the very best of the younger Argentine dancers, dazzled the audience with lifts, turns and an absolutely smoldering personal connection. Oscar Mandagaran (looking a good deal like young Marlon Brando) pursued his very beautiful Georgina Vargas through, first, a slow tango during which, but for the music, you could have heard a pin drop, and then with so exciting a "chacarera" folk dance that the large audience stood and cheered at the end. Luis Castro and Claudia Mendoza, famous for their comic dance schticks in Forever Tango, this time danced slow tangos that contained a subtle mixture of intensity, sad formality, grace, potential violence and heartfelt love, a remarkable acting and dancing performance. Julio Balmaceda and Corina De La Rosa danced milonguero style . . . a tango and a fast milonga . . . that convinced you that you were watching pure, extemporized excitement. Gustavo Naveira and Giselle Anne danced tangos of such precision, musicality and intense emotion that the audience was stunned into brief silence at the end before breaking into noisy, deafening applause.
And it all happened in San Francisco, at the most recent edition of Nora's Tango Week.
A bit like tango boot camp, Nora's Tango Week is five uninterrupted days of tango instruction, taught by some of the most renowned Argentine tangueros in the world. This 2007 edition, with which Nora celebrated the festival's tenth anniversary, featured all these couples. Beyond the excellence of the maestros she presents, she also attempts every year to bring a variety of styles to the week, so that no two teaching couples could be said to be alike. This gives the students a chance to see the complexities of different styles of dance, yet also to see how tango, when danced properly, is always tango, no matter the backgrounds, age or philosophies of the different maestros.
Nora also emphasizes the Argentine traditions of tango -- as well as the new innovations on the Argentine scene -- by asking Argentines only to teach at her week. This is important because she wants to give the absolute true real thing to her students. Excellence in the dance and its summarily Argentine nature are paramount to her efforts as impresario.

Nito and Elba
So, for example . . . Nito and Elba, both from the province of Buenos Aires, have been dancing and teaching on the world scene for at least two decades, and are welcome fixtures at Nora's Tango Week every year. Nito's stentorian voice and nutty humor are well known by just about anyone who studies tango seriously in the United States and Europe. Now in their seventies, their dance is noted for its swirling gracefulness. Above all, Nito and Elba are greatly respected by the other maestros, especially the younger ones who realize the trove of information and talent that Nito and Elba both possess.

Hugo and Miriam
On this particular evening, Elba herself was seen entering the ballroom on the arm of Hugo Patyn, who is one of those younger maestros. When he and his partner Miriam Larici dance, the precipitous nerve that they exhibit is what makes them so over the top. This couple is steeped in the deepest of tango traditions. But they bring to those traditions a level of innovation, showmanship and verve that is unmatched. Miriam, dancing since the age of five, has been in the cast of Forever Tango for many years, a fact that seems impossible, given her obvious youth. Hugo appeared in Carlos Saura's film Tango and has danced frequently in the most important Buenos Aires venues, including the Colon Theater. Choreographers as well as dancers, Hugo and Miriam's current show Tango and Fire showcases the depth of their talent. One cannot imagine a dance experience more exciting than that provided by this young, masterful couple.

Oscar and Georgina
Oscar Mandagaran is a prestigious Argentine folkloric dancer, and has an entire career as a performer and teacher in that genre. But where his folklore is expansive, exciting and extremely fun, his tango . . . so heartfelt and pointedly emotional that one cannot take his eyes off what Oscar is doing . . . combines true profundity of feeling with deft musicality. Georgina -- who is also a trained singer of tango -- dances with such sensuous womanliness that you have trouble not watching her just as carefully. In preparation for their second number, a boffo “chacarera”, Oscar removed his tuxedo jacket and dropped it over the back of a chair. Then he removed the tie he was wearing as well. It took him a moment and, as he approached the chair once more to drop the tie off, he examined it, a man in his element in expectation of a fine, sensuous moment with his lover. A woman standing next to me, breathing . . . hurriedly, whispered out loud that “it’s the way he untied that tie that makes him so special.” She sighed a moment. “And look who’s waiting for him.”

Luis and Claudia
Luis Castro and Claudia Mendoza have been dancing together for seventeen years, although you'd think, seeing them for the first time, that they were a new couple who had just discovered each other and fallen immediately in love. It looks like a dangerous, exciting love. There is a degree of seriousness in their dance that is actually belied by its very grace. They are lovely together. They live in Milan, Italy, but have been dancing and teaching around the world for years. Luis and Claudia are comic dancers of real note as well, and none other than the New York Times critic Clive Barnes, upon seeing them dance in Forever Tango a few years ago, singled them out for special mention. Hedy Weiss of the Chicago Sun Times wrote that "Luis Castro and Claudia Mendoza bring a very Parisian quality to their dancing. He as the vain, comic boulevardier and she as the sassy soubrette who knows just how to deal with him. But don't be fooled by the ease with which they toss off their rapid-fire, staccato legwork; these two are brilliant technicians." Those are accurate observations, and the more serious-minded tangos that Luis and Claudia danced at this performance received the same kind of accolade from the audience.

Julio and Corina
Julio Balmaceda and Corina De La Rosa strut and preen in performance, so confident and funny that their fine dancing spreads humor throughout the room. They dance in a style frequently seen in the Buenos Aires dance halls, but never danced with as much stylish brio as they bring to it. It isn't as precisely fine as a lot of performance tango, and never precious or self-consciously pretty. But Julio and Corina dance brilliantly, with bold intensity and street-smart heart.

Gustavo and Giselle Anne
From the inception of Nora's Tango Week ten years ago, Nora has wanted to bring Gustavo Naveira to San Francisco. For various reasons they were not able to work it out . . . until this year. Gustavo's appearance at the week with his wife Giselle Anne meant that two of the most renowned teachers of tango in the world would be offering their considerable expertise to the proceedings. Their performance was no less a smash. The off-speed, off-axis turns, the breathtaking changes of direction, the formality and superb musicality . . . these are all reasons for Gustavo and Giselle Anne's fame as dancers. Their performance has flames in it, soul, humor, precision and a kind of forceful affection that must be seen to be believed.

Nora and Edu
Finally, when Nora and Edu dance, we see the personification of love, caring, respect and sheer talent that are all required in order to dance tango the way it should be danced.
The best news of all is that next year will be the eleventh edition of Nora's Tango Week. This is something you should mark on your calendar, because there will be another such show then . . . and you should do everything in your power to see it.

(Note: Thanks to Jerry Jew for all photos. For information, write to him at jewtango@aol.com.)

(teryclarke@hotmail.com)

Terence Clarke: Books, Art, Music, Film, Style

Friday, July 20, 2007