TANGO TOWN
Tango Town - Luxury Travel Magazine
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Tango Town | |||||
| By: Sandra Nori, Issue 46 – Autumn 11 | |||||
| (Buenos Aires, Argentina) | |||||
| SANDRA NORI TRAVELLED TO BUENOS AIRES TO PICK UP SOME NEW DANCE MOVES. I went to Buenos Aires for five weeks to improve my tango technique, but when you stay in a foreign city for that long you pick up more than tango. You start to blend in with the locals, absorb their habits and take on a daily routine that’s particular to that city and very different to your own back home. For example, despite swearing black and blue that I could never eat dinner at 10 or 11 at night, within a week I couldn’t take my evening meal earlier than nine o’clock and mostly I was eating at 10 and beyond and thinking nothing of it. I had started to learn tango dancing in Australia and had waited 19 years to end a busy career and finally indulge my passion for it. This trip was about fulfilling a long held wish of filling up my days with something I probably should have done from childhood. Dance. In Buenos Aires that meant going to lessons every day, attending a milonga (tango social dance), studying technique, improving my basic steps and learning some new adornments. Tango is an Argentinian passion so there are lots of schools, academies and classes for all levels that are made up of both locals and international visitors. Even if you’ve never done a single tango step you could go there and after a week of lessons be able to do the basics and feel great. If you stay long enough you could go to a milonga and be asked to dance. You might go along with people from your regular class but you can comfortably go on your own. So, first things first. I went to check out the dance school recommended by my teacher in Sydney, Escuela Argentina de Tango based in the Galleria Pacifica in the centre of the city. Yes, it looked good. I paid for 12 lessons for a fraction of what it would cost in Australia. The school runs two classes concurrently in two separate but adjoining studios every 90 minutes from 9.30 in the morning until about eight at night and that means lots of choice; women’s technical class, men’s technical class, joint technical class, waltz style, milonga style, adornments, tango style etc. (Tango has three styles and different music and time signatures depending on whether it is Tango, Milonga or Waltz rhythm.) Tango lessons were the focus of my trip and I quickly formed a routine around them. Within a short time I found a restaurant less than 50 metres from my apartment full of locals with good, inexpensive fare and I started to eat there regularly. I found bars, music venues, boutiques, quiet streets, the best cafe and deli and a great fruit shop (fruit in BA is really fresh, ripe and juicy) that, like all of them, sells slabs of fresh meat. | |||||
| A Typical Day | |||||
| I leave home and walk to Galleria Pacifica. The school is in an upmarketish mall, up a myriad of elevators, through a pleasant, air-conditioned window shopping route. I’d attend one or more group lessons, perhaps interlaced with a private lesson starting at 9am. I’d finish lessons sore footed, aching and tired, but uplifted and pleased at my progress. I’d change shoes (and possibly my dress) and start the walk back or partway back, to my apartment checking out different shops, checking if there are seats left for a show that night, booking myself into a performance along the way. I’d use different streets to go home. I’d do my retail therapy research this way and build up my list of “must haves”, “would likes” and “why not. You only live onces.” I’d go over tango steps in my head along the way, building up muscle memory. Walking for a long time is very enjoyable because BA is flat and every metre is filled with something new to see. Streets are punctuated with tango buskers and street hawkers selling things like genuine feather dusters carried on a frame as they walk. There are dog walkers, with up to 12 dogs of all shapes and sizes all merrily walking as a pack, mobile knife and utensil sharpeners plying their trade and beggars. I watched fascinated by the mobile service to shops and offices of coffee thermoses and mobile mate (a local herb drunk from a gourd with a metal straw) dispensers. There seemed to be tribes of people in scrubs (pants and tops typically worn by hospital theatre staff) accompanying the old, the frail and children. They are the domestic staff and nannies of the better off in BA. Having reached home after class I’d go up for a swim in the apartment pool, go to the supermarket, do some Pilates-type exercises designed to build my flexibility and core strength (you dance with your stomach believe it or not) and go over the steps I’d learnt that day. In the evening I’d get ready to go out to a local restaurant, or to a show or a jazz bar. Some nights I just cooked for myself in the apartment, brushed up on my Spanish by watching an English film with Spanish subtitles, and fell asleep. Once I had found a private Tango teacher who lived nearby, my routine changed. At 8am I was on the dance floor with him and I was home by about 10.30am when I would perhaps go to a group class wearing the dress and shoes my private teacher insisted on. (He would hit the roof if I didn’t turn up in a suitable dress. He hated trousers. “No-one dance tango in pants, like man!”). Then I’d get changed and walk to café Vittoria, have a coffee or maybe a lazy brunch, read the local papers , which as an Italian speaker I found I could manage, and then I’d take food and water to the cats at the cemetery in Recoleta (others did it too) where Eva Peron’s mausoleum is. I’d perhaps attend a matinee Milonga at the Confiteria Ideal. My private tango teacher was a cranky old so-and-so and in saying that, I’m being too polite. He had limited English, my Spanish was limited and we sort of settled on Italian as our lingua franca.He understood a lot of it so we argued and yelled at each other until I was able to nearly perfectly execute the steps, posture, timing, balance, head position and weight placements on the correct part of the foot for that step and also walk backward with a forward intention. He took my tango dancing to a whole new level. He would yell: “I driver, you follow. Why you estop?” Or: “Why you no bring foot (code for feet) together?” And: “No no no. Not just left side. Every body move.” It took me a while to work out who everybody was since I was the only one in the class. He was trying to say my whole body had to move or turn in a direction, not just the left foot or leg. Occasionally I would get a: “muy buena... but I want you be perfect.” Toward the end I even got: “You good dancer, you good student.” I can’t wait to get back to Buenos Aires for more of his lessons. | |||||
| The Hon Sandra Nori was NSW’s longest serving Tourism Minister and also held portfolios for Trade, Small Business, Sport and Major Venues. | |||||
| Argentinean Side Steps | |||||
| A long stay in Buenos Aires warrants a side trip to take in some of Argentina’s natural wonders. Lauren Mitchell outlines two of the best available. | |||||
| Where To Stay | |||||
| I stayed in a one-bedroom apartment with a 24-hour security concierge and a large roof top terrace with pool. It was A$1,690 in total for five weeks. To see my exact apartment go to buenosaireshabitat.com/apartment_n451.html It’s one of the many gems on the Buenos Aires Habitat website. The people at Buenos Aires Habitat can put you on an email service prior to your departure from Australia that tells you about forthcoming shows, events, sports matches etc and they’ll organise tickets for you. | |||||
| When To Go | |||||
| Buenos Aires has a mild, temperate climate that is generally pleasant. Summer (December to February) can be hot and humid, so the best time to visit is spring (September to November) or autumn (March to May). Most festivals and sporting events also take place during these months, meaning there is always something exciting on offer in the city. | |||||
| Getting There | |||||
| Aerolineas Argentinas flies from Sydney to Buenos Aires three times a week with return economy fares starting from A$1,513 and business fares from A$6,329. | |||||
| Journey To North Patagonia | |||||
| The Classic Safari Company’s four-day trip to North Patagonia is a tour of exquisite natural environments it would be a shame to leave South America without seeing. DAY 1 You’ll board a LAN Airline flight in Buenos Aires bound for Bariloche where you’ll be met by a guide and transferred to luxury hotel Las Balsas for a two-night bed and breakfast stay on the banks of Lake Nahuel Huapi, nestled among beech trees in the famous National park. All 15 rooms and suites have views of the lake’s bays, forests and snow-capped peaks. DAY 2 You can either visit the Inacayal Waterfall or the Arrayanes Forest. DAY 3 In the morning you’ll travel an hour south to the Traful Valley to begin an all-inclusive two-night stay at a traditional Argentine ranch surrounded by 12,500 acres of the Nahuel Huapi National Park, paradise for nature lovers. Estancia Arroyo Verde is one of the country’s most stylish and upscale fishing lodges with views of the crystal clear Lake Traful and the white-capped Andes. The lodge runs trekking, horse riding, water sports and fly-fishing day trips. DAY 4 Back to Buenos Aires in time for dinner. RATE AND INCLUSIONS: A$2,180 per person, includes private guide and transfers; breakfast daily; accommodation; water sports; horse-riding; Argentine Barbeque. | |||||
| A Journey To Iguazu | |||||
| This Classic Safari Company tour takes you from Buenos Aires to Iguazu and one of South America’s most well-visited tourist destinations. DAY 1 You’ll board a LAN airline flight in the morning for a two-hour flight to Iguazu where you’ll be transferred to Iguazu National Park for a full-day visit to the Argentine Falls. After a walk through the National Park you board an open train that skirts the upper Iguazu River all the way to Puerto Canoas. A stroll through dense vegetation and a myriad of butterflies and you’ll arrive at where the rivers convene, The Devil’s Throat, which marks the border between Argentina and Brazil and is one of the largest waterfall displays in the world. That night you’ll stay at the five-star Iguazu Hotel overlooking the Iryapu Jungle. DAY 2 You’ll be transferred across the Brazilian border to the Tancredo Neves International Bridge to view 275 Brazilian Falls. A panoramic lift or a hike up the trail is followed by lunch before heading back to Argentina to stay at Posada Puerto Bemberg on the banks of the Parana River. From there you can explore the Parana’s tributaries, fish, canoe, bicycle or bathe in the waterfalls or enjoy a glass of chilled terere, an Argentine green tea treat, from an observation deck with views of the Parana River and Paraguay beyond. DAY 3 Late in the afternoon on your last day you’ll be taken to the airport for the LAN Airlines flight back to Buenos Aires arriving at around 8:30pm. RATE AND INCLUSIONS: A$1,050 per person, includes private guides and transfers; Great Adventure Excursion; accommodation; breakfast daily; activities. | |||||
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