Care to Dance? (Day 4 BA)

The end of Day #3 found us in a park after dark where tango occurs nearly every night between 7:00 and 10:00 PM. This park gazebo is quite large and fully equipped with an excellent speaker system hooked up to play various CDs.

Enough of watching...we had to attempt the tango, too!

At this point it would be good to tell you a little bit of history about the dance that originated in Argentina. In the 1770s African slaves were brought to Argentina and this population grew until 30% of the people living in Buenos Aires were African.  By 1853 slavery was abolished. When freed slaves would meet together to dance and socialize these meetings were called tango.

   Meeting to dance? Bring on the passion and sizzle!

Bring on the African drum rhythms and add in the accordion called the bandeon!

Bring on the critics from high society. They considered the tango to  be vulgar and distasteful.

 

Enter travel to Paris by the sons of Buenos Aires aristocrats and spreading the word about the

sensuous tango dance.  From Paris to London and to North America the popularity of the tango grew.

By 1913, the tango was considered the  dance of the year.

 

And here in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2013 we witnessed the tango firsthand in the land of its birth.

In a gazebo, in a park. Belgrano Plaza park.

 

 separated ; 



Around and around the couples danced. You could hear their feet swish on the surface of the floor. The uneven hems on many of the female dancers dresses flared out as they dipped and kicked. It was
artwork in motion.
Now for your viewing pleasure a little video clip!
(Oh, how I hope it works; there have been issues.)