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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2011 > January > 07 > Entry
Review: Tango Buenos Aires
Onstage, a man and a woman become one. The music — rich, deep, melancholic — magnetizes them, until they’ve lost all sense of self-identity. They are living for each other.
Those at the Long Center Thursday evening for Tango Buenos Aires’ production of “Fire and Passion of Tango” were fortunate to be able to witness what tango is all about. The 10-dancer company exemplified subtlety, coordination, union and passion to the music of a live five-piece ensemble, eliciting ooohs and aaahs from the audience.
To hear tango music live is to feel something shift at the very core of your being. Tango Buenos Aires’ combination of the deep notes of the upright bass and bandoneón (an accordion-like instrument) with the sweet melodies of the violin, guitar and piano, is orchestrated by the company’s musical director Emilio Kauderer, perhaps best known in the U.S. for co-composing the score for 2010’s Oscar-winning foreign film “The Secret in Their Eyes.”
Love is at the heart of the storyline the dancers enact via 24 vignettes, choreographed by Susana Rojo. In the opening number, all five couples build momentum together by dancing fabulously in unison.
In a brief but odd detour to the world of classical ballet — splits and all — the company’s lead dancer removes her tango shoes to don slippers; fortunately, her stiletto heels make a quick return, and the rest of the evening is pure tango.
The most breathtaking partnering comes in the first half of the production. A woman in a lavender chiffon dress and her partner effortlessly dance a series of electrifyingly different moves: He lifts her, and she pedals her feet, as though running on air; they begin a lightening-quick series of legwork, their lower limbs weaving in and out of each other, and one almost expects an intricate tapestry to appear out of nowhere as a result.
The next couple is also skilled at legwork, moving so concisely it appears as though their legs are unattached to their torsos. Another optical illusion is created when the lead dancer dons a dress half red, half fuchsia. Her partner, in flipping her from side to side, shows off a woman split down the middle, torn between two men. In another vignette, two couples meld to become a quartet, arms sideways on each other’s shoulders.
Perhaps that’s what is most beautiful of all about tango — becoming one with another soul. But even though Tango Buenos Aires’ dancers were wrapped up in each other, they still drew us into their intensely satisfying experience.
Claire Christine Spera is an American-Statesman freelance arts critic.
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