It Takes Two to Tango

It's sex in a dance.

That's really the only way to describe the way the Portenos (people from Buenos Aires) dance the tango. Strong and sensual, intense and passionate the dancers move effortlessly to the music with the woman in the highest of heels and slitted dresses all the way up her thigh....all the better to lift her leg up at incredible angles and hook it around her partners' waist all the while managing to not topple over. The men are suave and cool in suits and hats, effortlessly twirling his partner, occassionally throwing her around a bit - maybe over the shoulder or bent back to the floor.

The tango is an art form that dances to the beat of Porteno life....I had expected to see some but I hadn't expected it to be so much a part of life here. Sure a lot of it is for tourists, but there is more to it than that as specialty tango shoe shops along the shopping malls advertise their wares and tango shows are as common as movie theatres.

I took myself on a date to a tango show last night. Most people do dinner and a show but there's not much point in that when i'm on my own so dinner was a snack beforehand instead and unforutunately I think my choice meant I had the worst seat in the house - right at the back. But I loved the show...with it's sparkly dresses and fun set changes it was more like a theatre production than I expected. I left completely perplexed as to how they do some of those moves....it takes two to tango...

It rained all day yesterday. If I had wanted rain I would have stayed in England - but at least the rain cooled things down somewhat. I decided I would go ahead with my ultra touristy plans anyway and get one of those open topped buses to see the sights in one tourist crazed day. I got soaked. But I also got to go to La Boca....my fave part of BA so far.

I've never seen so many bus loads of tourists snapping away like crazy or so many souvenir shops in one block....but you can still see what this area must have been like in its heyday - one of the poorest parts of BA (still)  it has always been a working class stronghold and a centre for bohemian artists. Tango developed here in the tenement houses made of corrogated iron painted in the brightest of colours with the paint left over from the dock and ships at the harbour just down the road. The city's first port, La Boca was an African slave colony before the Italian immigrants moved here in the 1880s and it retains a thriving cultural scene - in and amongst the tourists.

I also visited the museum of fine arts, the best in the country, according to my oh so knowledgable guide book, containing collections with all the greats of european art - renoir, rembrandt, rodin, picasso etc as well as a whole floor of argentinian art which I found refreshing and different after 2 months viewing the works of  many of the above european artists in their home towns.

and now it's time to tango my way further into this facinating city...

Till next time...