It turns to its one export that is unique in the world -- the tango culture -- to promote itself as a tourist destination. Hence was born the series of Festival de Tango Buenos Aires festivals, held annually in Feb.
Official Site
Festival events include concerts in the parks and inside historical cafes, exhibitions, public dance classes, dance competitions and even a huge carnival-style street milonga a lot like the Swing Singapore.
The main organiser is the Cultural department of the municipal city goverment. Most events are free to public or at nominal costs, although tickets are often limited and must be collected in advance.
Also in Feb, Buenos Aires chooses its tango dance champions in the Campeonato Metropolitano de Tango Salon, the official city championship. Each of the 50+ neighbourhood milongas hold its own selection to pick a representative couple, and send them off to compete for the right to represent the city in the world finals.
Official Site
In August, during the Campeonato Mundial de Baile de Tango, the world championship of tango dance, representatives from around the world compete in both the Tango Salon, and also in Tango Escenario (stage tango). This year's event will happen on 12-21/aug.
Foreign competitors -- always young and athletic -- usually do well in the latter category --- why do you think stage tango is commonly referred to as "Tango for Export"? Champions of the salon section, on the other hand, are frequently wrinkled older Argentinians.
Official Site
In addition to the three big events organised by the city, there are also many privately organised events that call themselves World Festivals or International Weeks. Some are organised by dance teachers, and others by tourism operators. For instance:
- CITA (Congreso Internacional de Tango Argentino), organised by Cosmotango (Fabian Salas). A respected, high-level event for dancers and instructors held annually in March. On the downside, it draws a lot of tourists who usually swamp all the milongas.
Official Site
- World Tango Festival, in October, headed by dance teachers Aurora Lubiz and Jorge Firpo. The program is designed as a mix of top-level instruction and tourism gimmicks, such as shopping for souvenirs at a Tango Fair.
Official Site
- Various "International Tango Weeks", held throughout the year to coincide with long vacations in Europe and America, usually by tourism operators in association with local tango hotels.
Typically they are sold as packages of accomodation, instruction, milongas, shopping and a sidetrip to the pampas to experience gaucho (cowboy) lifestyles and try an asado (meat grill). Instruction is usually given at the introduction level.
Generally such packages are costly compared to what an independent traveller would spend, but for many non-Spanish speaking gringos it is their only ticket to discover tango. Sad.
The two peak tourist seasons are Feb/Mar (Fall season) and Aug-Sep (Spring season). Jan is the hottest month (~30deg), and most houses do not have airconditioning, so everyone leave the city for the beach. July, the coldest month, is usually mild and temperature seldom fall below 10deg.
My best advice to those contemplating a trip to the Mecca of tango is: learn some Spanish, give yourself at least 2 weeks to see the city leisurely, and stay away from tourist traps in the tango-for-export places.
After all, if you don't come back with an appreciation of the real Argentinian soul, why even bother to go?
Tango by the River
It's not so easy to put a milonga together, as Robert Rainalter discovers when he tries to organise his first milonga for this Sun 14/aug evening by the Singapore River.
In addition to booking the venue and convincing the operator to move the sofas to open up a dance floor, he had to prepare flyers, get the word out through various channels, source for DJ and music, invite the guests, and still be a gracious host at the party.
The work that goes into the organization of a milonga is rarely visible to the tangueros who come as guests. Still, hosts of milongas make the effort as their labour of love and friendship towards the community.
Robert's do this Sunday will be at the elegant Bar Opium -- a glass house with a state-of-the-art audio/visual system. Looking from the outside in, it will almost be dancers in a fishbowl.
The bar is part of the Indochine Empress Place, which also houses a fine dining restaurant, a cafe, and an alfresco chillout space. The food concept here is East-meets-West, totally apt when you tango among the Buddhism-inspired decors.
Milonga at Indochine Empress Place
Date: Sun 14/Aug 8pm-12a,
Venue: Bar Opium, Empress Place,
(near Asian Civilisations Museum and across
the river from Fullerton Hotel)
Cost: Bar Prices
"Kiss and Tango": People are attracted to tango the same reason why they go to spas: to be touched and moved in an intimate, sensuous way.
Why they need this contact is debatable -- perhaps it is comforting, relaxing, sexy or pleasurable, or they enjoy the attention and pampering. But the fact remains that many people become attached to this feeling and come to seek it religiously.
Coupled with the fact that you can get this satisfaction from complete strangers, the stage is ripe for a scandalous, lusty, and completely hilarious escapade.
Author Marina Palmer's new autographic "Kiss and Tango: Looking for Love in Buenos Aires" tells of how she gave up a career in the Big Apple to pursue her romance with tango and the search for the perfect tango partner in Argentina.
"Tango is the place where he is always strong and she is always beautiful 24/7," she wrote. It is a perfect dream which sustains her through the imperfect world, while she finds bliss in the arms of old men, fat men, married men and bad men. (One of her tango partners is a criminal.)
In the end, Palmer concludes: "Tango thrives on ambiguity. That's what makes it so addictive. ... Desire is awakened but not quenched in an endless foreplay -- a foreplay that is never consummated by sex."
"Kiss and Tango" can be found in bookstores.
Review 1
Review 2
No comments:
Post a Comment