Tango BA: I stand converted

The annual Tango BA and Festival and Dance World Cup is back in Buenos Aires for the seventh year running. Love it or hate it, it’s certainly an expressive, if not impressive dance form. In my six months in BA, I had yet to step foot in a milonga, a place or event where tango is danced, so what better time or place.

Tango BA at Usina del Arte

Amazingly, most, if not all, of the events in the designated venues are free. The Festival started last Friday, 14^th August, and will culminate in the Dance-Floor Tango and Stage Tango Finals on 26^th and 27^th August respectively.

After watching some impromptu tango in San Telmo's ubiquitous Plaza Dorrego, we headed to Usina del Arte (The Arts Factory), in La Boca. The Usina makes a befitting venue, standing proudly on the side of the motorway, beyond the villas, as you approach from Quilmes to Capital.

Modern and cool 

From the inside, the Usina is a modern, cool building that is worth a visit in itself. It was built to mark the area’s industrial strength. This “Palace of Light” was designed by an Italian architect, Giovanni Chiogna, with Neo-Renaissance and Florentine influences. 

Construction started in 1914 and it was inaugurated in 1916. The Usina was home to Ítalo Argentina de Electricidad until 1980, when the company sold the factory to the state. It was finally liquidated in 1997 because of the oversupply of electricity and high maintenance costs. The building was abandoned and left to deteriorate. With the help of various Governors of the city of Buenos Aires, including the incumbent Mauricio Macri, the Usina has been turned into one of the city’s main arts centres.

Coming back to tango, we managed to get tickets for an orchestral performance by tango guitar legend Juanjo Domínguez Cuarteto. I had never heard of him before, and ok it was not quite the tango dancing I had imagined. But he was a cool, old dude who had certainly strummed some guitars in his time.

La Milonga del Dique 0

Right next to the Usina, a temporary milonga, La Milong del Dique 0, nestled under the motorway where you could practice your moves and register for free classes. I was even asked to dance but had to politely decline the offer. Of course I didn’t want to show up everyone else… If only that had been the case.

Tango en vive at la Milonga del Dique 0

For someone who admires tango but was not crazy about it (up until now that it is), this was a good but gentle initiation into this other world. It often seems like such a cliché, but it was actually good fun. From older, sophisticated crooners to some young hipsters strutting their moves, it was hard to tear myself away from the fancy footwork... and more.

Passionate, intense and downright seductive, tango contains all the elements a dance needs. And it doesn’t have to be cheesy. I can see the beginnings of an enduring but also turbulent love affair.