Tango Kvetch

Like no other dance (save, perhaps, for lambada, but let's not go there), tango inspires cattiness, passionate anger (and ardor), and harsh technical critiques. Many things are live-and-let-live in Buenos Aires, or at least suffered with a disappointed shrug, but one foolishness not suffered is bad tango, especially among the expat crowd that moved here specifically for that dance. Which makes sense, I suppose: If you moved 5,000 miles to dance, you don't want to watch Elaine from Seinfeld do the thumby thing. To whit, I give you Deby from TangoSpam, whose posts give a blow-by-blow account of the heights and insults of dancing in BA, in staccato prose that makes Hemingway look like a baroque stylist (this I mean as a compliment). And let's just say she's not the type of person to describe someone she doesn't like by saying, "He seems nice."

Roberto returns with the champagne. The night continues with great music -- live and with the DJ. A couple does an exhibition. They suck. Until this moment I have been OK. Now I am very sad. I watch the woman imitate to the last foot reflex Alejandra Arruje. I turn to Roberto and ask if she is a student of Alejandra's. He says yes.

The man is an idiot. He wears this shiny weird suit. Looks like it came from Louis the Hatter in Detroit. (meow...) He was very rude to me a couple of years ago at Gricel. He never forgot my walking off the floor. He was one to question Roberto why he would ever want to dance with an American -- especially me.

Una Gota Para El Tango (A tear for the tango) [TangoSpam]

[Ian Mount]

Previously: Ian Mount's BA Shortlist, Dazzler Suites Arroyo & Dazzler Tower Hotels, Tanghetto at Club del Vino, Abasto Plaza Hotel for Tango Tourism, El Preferido: Borges, Yes. But What About The Little Girls?