Friday 12 August 2011

Tuesday night: Cachirulo at El Beso

I arrive during the rock'n'roll tanda. After Sunday night it's reassuring to notice that all the dancers are well-dressed and wearing high heels or polished shoes. No tee-shirts and jeans! It's all elegant BsAs jive. So life is back to normal; the flood of visitors must have been confined to milongueandoland. There are still quite a few visitors, but that's normal. The dancing is generally great to watch, effortlessly good: anyone who thinks of close-embrace tango as boring and old hasn't been to El Beso. It's just incredible how effortlessly and smoothly many of these people can move with energy to the music, on a crowded floor, without accidents. It's got flair, some flamboyance and attitude, and near-perfect control too. It's endlessly fascinating to watch, but a very different feel to Gricel last night: it feels more competitive.

A woman seated very close to me and a little in front looks very familiar: but of course, it's Myriam Pincen. Wonderful to watch her dance with her chosen partners. I don't try to get to dance, but at least I can reflect that Myriam Pincen spent two years watching. Just another 23 months to go and I might be ready.

El Beso was the first place I visited when I came here for the first time a few years ago, and I remember being mesmerised as soon as I walked in by the turns on the spot, turns so well centred that the dancers give the impression of hanging on a piece of string and rotating – three, four, five full turns, quite fast, but without any impression of effort or stress. & on a very crowded floor.

Music, just an excellent mix. Good to hear a tanda of Julio de Caro, and see how it results in a rather tender, thoughtful dance tanda.

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