We've been Tango'd

No, it's not a fizzy drink. Nor is it a slap in the face - Tango is a way of life.

It's a dance - that I knew. It's a fashion and a musical style - that I kind of knew. But it's a bit more than that. Or at least, that's what the whole Tango industry would have you believe.

Last night we finally 'did' Tango. There are two basic ways to 'do' Tango. Either go to a show or go to a dance. As the latter involved dancing ourselves, we did the former.

We elected to go to a show that was billed as 'intimate', at Bar Sur (the oldest Tango show in San Telmo - so there). This meant that it was small - and that every time the dancers kicked (which they did alot) everyone had to scramble to grab hold of their wine glasses. (Actually that's not true. The dancers were very good and kicking nothing but the air and the band.)

It all started quite worryingly, as we arrived at 8 prompt. Clearly the performers were not expecting punctuality and so we were treated to the oldest pianist in the world, plonking away for a while. Then the scariest woman in the world (who was so scary I didn't dare take a picture) started belting out songs in Spanish.

The oldest pianist in the world

After about an hour of this, other people started to arrive. T visibly relaxed, now that we were not alone.

At this point, the demonstration dancing started. They were very good. Lots of sultry looks, kicking and that sort of thing. It then turned into "The Generation Game" (sorry to those who don't recall Bruce-y "nice to see you, to see you ..." Forsyth) As they dragged people up from their tables to try to copy their moves. We steadfastly refused (T is shy, no really) and spent the rest of the night avoiding eye contact - just in case we were forced to participate (we escaped unscathed). One interesting side-show was watching the waiting staff dodging in and out of the dancers and dancer-copiers, whilst trying to serve food and drinks - most amusing.

Dancing

Aside from scary people singing, lithe people dancing and the near dead playing piano; we were treated to other people playing in a band and other (not quite so scary) people singing.

Singing

O.K. he looks scary - but at least he looked like he wouldn't kill you for ruining his concentration with a flash photograph.

All in all, the whole thing was most entertaining, the second set of dancers were probably better than the first - but the fellow did scowl rather too much.

At about 11:30 pm (yes 3 and 1/2 hours) we all got issued with some fizz and toasted the restaurant, the owner, the dancers, the singers, the band, the audience and pretty much everything, before people started skulking off (before the really scary woman got back on).

We left after midnight. It was still going strong.