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BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
cradle
of tango
Think of
Buenos Aries, Argentina, and the word tango appears – the soul and the
pulse of the city. Without this seductive dance and heartfelt music,
Buenos Aires would be stripped naked of its sensuality, passion and
personality. This complex, energetic and seductive por t city, which
stretches south-to-north along the Rio de la Plata, has been the gateway
to Argentina for centuries. “Portenos,” as the multi-national people of
Buenos Aires are known, possess an elaborate and rich cultural identity.
They value their European heritage highly – Italian and German names
outnumber Spanish, and the lifestyle and architecture are markedly more
European than any other in South America.
Buenos Aires
physical structure is a mosaic as varied and diverse as its culture. The
city has no dominating monument, no natural monolith that serves as its
focal point. Instead, Buenos aires, is composed of many small
places,intimate details, and tiny events and interactions, each with a
slightly different shade, shape, and character. Glass-sheathed
skyscraperscast their slender shadows on 19th century
Victorian houses , tango bars hazed with the piquant tang of cigar smoke
are across the street from treasure-filledantique shops. The city’s
neighborhoods are small and highly individualized, each with its own
characteristic colours and forms. In the San Telmo district, the city’s
multi-national heritage is embodied in the varied and cosmopolitan
architecture – Spanish Colonial design coupled with Italian detailing
and graceful French Classicism. La Boca’s pressed tin houses are painted
a rainbow of colours, and muralists have turned the district’s
side-streets into aveues of colour.
As Buenos
aires continues to strengthen its position as one of the world’s most
stimulating and exciting tourist destinations, there is really only one
infalliblerecipe to conquer this magnificent city: total immersion!
Hours compress
into minutes as people take in the football, architectural jewels,
liberal arts, antiques, fine dining, shopping, and the hectic rhythm of
downtown nightlife. Needless to say, energy is what drives the city from
moment to moment.
For all its
diversity, the elusive spirit of Argentina as a vast country is present
everywhere in Buenos Aires. The national dance, the tango, is perhaps
the best expression of that spirit – practiced in dance halls, parks,
open plazas, and ballrooms, it is a dance of intimate separation and
common rhythm, combining both an elegant reserve and an exuberant
passion.
Created by
struggling immigrants more than a century ago, the tango entices both
young and old worldwide. Countless travellers are lured to Buenos Aires
just to dance or savour a sultry artful moment of the Argetnine tango –
day or night. Even though the word tango evokes Argentina, these days
its presence as a cultural phenomenon has been globalised.
TANGO
dance of
love
Dance is one
of the basic forms of human communication. It is a ritual often used by
all cultures to seal or celebrate agreements. Tango developed around
1850 and 1880 on both shores of Rio de la Plata. In the city of Buenos
Aires, specifically in a neighborhood called Monserrat, crowds would
gather at night for the practice of dances such as Tango, Candombe and
Fandango, all of which had a bad reputation among the higher classes
which ruled Argentinean society at the time. But regradles of its poor
origins, tango, over time, developed into a national habit and for many
decades was the favorite past time of just about anybody living in
Buenos Aires.
Tango has
swept the world like a “pampero.” It is fast and furious, sometimes
playful, sometimes dramatic, but always sensuous. Although now
considered a dance of glamour, elegance and sophistication by society.
Tango was initially frowned upon by the upper class, because of the
cliché that it was born in the bars, brothels and cafes of Buenos Aires
by immigrant workers from Europe and Africa, and also Jewish migrants.
This ethnic mix of people, who underwent many hardships and history,
expressed their despair and disillusion through song and dance which
told tales of loneliness, nostalgia and poverty and also of happiness
and joy, and often of love for the women they left behind. But as the
years rolled by, it caught the attention of European young men, who were
drawn to the dance and only when tango was adopted by Parisians, did it
gradually gain an interest in reputable societies around the world,
including its birthplace, Buenos Aires. Sublime, romantic and
expressive, the lyrics of tango support a movement that is
sophisticated, sensual and erotic and the music can be a two-man band or
a complete orchestra, but the main instrument involved is the bandoneon,
which is similar to an accordion.
Today, even
though the ballroom tango is the most well-known worldwide, there is a
striking difference between the Argentine tango and the ballroom style.
The difference is in the shape and the feel of the embrace. Ballroom
technique dictates that partners arch their upper bodies away from each
other, while maintaining contact at the hip, and the opposite is true
with the original form of tango-dancing.
Tango is more
than just a dance. It comes into your life as a simple interest,
develops into a nice hobby, slowly grows into an obsession and gradually
becomes your lifestyle. More than just a combination of pretty steps,
tango is a bouquet of human emotions – passion, anger, happiness,
desire, lust, jealousy, and love interpreted uniquely by each
individual person and expressed on the dance floor.
A quote from
an unknown source sums it up pretty well. “The forms of tango are
like stages of a marriage. The American tango is like the beginning of a
love affair, when you’re both very romantic and on your best behaviour.
The Argentnine tango is when you’re in the heat of things and all
emotions are flying: passion, anger, humor. The International tango is
like theend of the marriage , when you’re staying together for the sake
of the children.”
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