Day 29 - Tango

It was drizzling in the morning (the first rain we'd seen in BA) and continued until mid-afternoon. Gail ran two loads of wash and we made our travel and lodging reservations for Iguazu. Never got motivated to go out so we read and watched the rain.

In the evening we went to a dinner and tango show. A small bus from the show picked us up in front of the apartment and collected other patrons then delivered us to the restaurant and show venue, El Querandi. The large restaurant was partially filled but eventually held over a hundred patrons. We had a front table by the elevated stage. The dinner included a glass of champagne, a bottle of wine, the soft drinks, and the three course meal. The food was delicious and the service good. Then it was showtime.

The performance presented the history of the tango. The four-piece orchestra (piano, bass, acordian and violin) played tangos from the various periods of tango development, from its birth in the tenements in the late 19th century to 1910, to its growing popularity and international fame through 1935, into its "golden age" lasting into the 1950s, and to the "modernism" of today. The four dance couples came out in period costumes and twirled, leaped and swayed around the stage in different steps of the period. Two singers soloed and serenaded the audience during some of the numbers. The show was quite athletic, with the men swinging and lifting the women as they kicked and strutted the steps. The standard costume consisted of fedoras and suits for the men; fishnet stockings and waist-high slit dresses for the women. (They need the legroom for the kicks.) It was an excellent show and the crowd loved it. It was almost midnight when the bus dropped us back at our apartment.Read more