Fiesta Argentina: it takes YOU to tango!

Start the evening with lessons in the sultry, passionate art form

BY ANN HASKINS

Despite tango's popularity in America, celebrated dancer Gloria Otero continues to encounter fans who mistakenly think the dance originated in Spain.

"It is now an international phenomenon and belongs to the world, but with Fiesta Argentina we want to show how tango began rather humbly then developed into an Argentine art form that the rest of the world has fallen in love with," she explains, adding, "and we'll be offering free dance lessons to ticketholders before the show so the audience can learn and fall in love with it too."

Born and trained in Argentina, Otero knows her tango. She and her brother led a dance company in Buenos Aires before founding their namesake company here 15 years ago. Otero Dance Company has built its reputation presenting Argentine dance programs that also include lesser known dances associated with the gaucho culture of Argentine's cowboys. But this time, the spotlight is only on the tango.

Taking time after rehearsal for the Fiesta Argentina performance on August 21, Otero talks about collaborating with singers and musicians to create an evening designed to guide the audience on a tour of Argentine tango's rich history. Video projections of historic photos from the early 1900s will start the story. The projections then dissolve to reveal dancers from Otero Dance Company providing live examples of that early dance form. 

"Many people are not aware that tango began as a neighborhood social dance with people dancing how they felt, not dancing set steps.” Otero goes on to explain that the early accompaniment was principally a guitar or clarinet, not the bandoneon whose sound now defines this music. She points out that the accordion-like bandoneon is not an instrument native to Argentina. Arriving with immigrants from Germany, the bandoneon was embraced in its new homeland and injected a distinctive sound as the dance and the music evolved in urban areas like Buenos Aires, particularly in the bars and brothels. The musicians and singers featured in Fiesta Argentina, who have the tango in their bones, are masters of both the original and later tango sounds.

Otero Dance Company's Gloria Otero and dance partner Jose Delgadillo

Over the evening, ten dances will trace tango's history with six dancers from Otero's troupe employed in solos, ensemble numbers and those irresistibly passionate duets. Each couple contributes a distinctive style. Otero and her partner Jose Delgadillo are distinctively romantic, combining swirling, serpentine moves punctuated with staccato bursts. By contrast, she describes her brother Claudio Otero and his partner Elizabeth Roccella as illustrating speed. "He has always done the steps faster than anyone else," she notes with sisterly pride. And the third couple, Daniel Noce and Ramona Nita? "Ah, they are long and so elegant," Otero smiles.

Otero attributes the art form’s sustained popularity to the fact it is like no other dance. “It requires a couple. It’s very relaxing. It’s very romantic and it involves your soul. You hear the music, then you embrace somebody, and then you go,” she rhapsodizes.

She observes that in America, the dance has developed its own distinctive style. “In Argentine tango, the couple’s torsos are in a close embrace and the emphasis is on complicated footwork. In American, the torsos are close together below the waist, but the top of the torsos are far apart, with an emphasis on the head movement.”

These nuances make a difference at the professional level on stage, but Otero emphasizes the social dance level being taught starting at 6:00 p.m. is something anyone can learn and love.

Otero promises that the pre-show lessons for the audience won't involve anything difficult or tricky, just steps to introduce the audience to her beloved dance. “Partners are not required. We will teach the basics. Just bring an open mind, comfortable shoes, feel the music and go for it.”

Ann Haskins writes about dance for L.A. Weekly, Pointe Magazine, Dance Spirit Magazine and other performing arts publications. She has provided theater and dance interviews and commentary for KUSC-FM, KLON-FM and KCRW-FM.

For more information about the FREE tango lessons for Fiesta Argentina ticketholders and performance, click here.

Fiesta Argentina's performance is one event in the Ford's 17-event DANCE series.

Click here to read more featured stories in our MEET THE ARTMAKERS series.