Tango Images

ODC Theatre
April, 2004

When talking about tango, we could be historical, technical, or even rhetorical. But for us in buenas artes, tango is our childhood, and therefore, our home. It is grandparents dancing in the skating rink of the City Club, children running around the embracing couples, carnival and serpentines, homemade summer dresses. It is impossible to detach from it, to view it
objectively from the outside. Tango simply permeates us to our core with the violent intensity of going into exile. But it also carries with it the tenderness of a first kiss, and the visceral sensuality of its poetry. Tango hides a stowaway sadness that makes us feel as vulnerable as when we are in love.
In this new place where our lives are now anchored, tango is a bridge to our identity, and a refuge affirming who we are. It forces us to revisit the past, and to return to the South, just as we inevitably return to love…
A bandoneón whispers that it is OK, encouraging the beauty in the irrational, and giving us permission to feel the power of such passion; assuring us that it is not only possible, it is unavoidable and necessary.