[Tango-L] IV Campeonato Metropolitano de Baile de Tango -- second semifinal round

[Janis Kenyon]

Once again I went early to wait in line at the Tangodata desk in Central
Cultural San Martin to obtain a ticket for last night's semifinal round.
This time the person in charge of handing out tickets arrived five minutes
before noon, the hour when she could begin handing out tickets.  The two
tickets per person rule was enforced, however, people just went to the end
of the line to obtain additional tickets.  There are only 300 tickets
available to the public for each semifinal round.

When I arrived at Nuevo Salon La Argentina around 6:30pm, there were people
waiting at the door.  Doors opened at 7:20pm, and I had a table on the dance
floor directly across from the judges' table.  The competition began at
8:00pm.  The judges were Olga Besio, Alejandra Martinian, Maria Nieves,
Ernesto Balmaceda, and Dany Garcia.  It was announced that there would be
three rounds of milonga and four rounds of tango.

During the semifinal rounds, the M.C. Carlos Pulenta announces the names of
each couple and the milonga where they qualified.  The couples then walk
clockwise around the dance floor, passing by the judges' table.  The first
round of milonga began with nine couples who all began dancing in a
clockwise direction around the floor, just as they had entered the
dancefloor!  After a few moments of dancing, Ernesto Balmaceda pointed out
that none one was dancing counterclockwise around the floor, and the M.C.
got the Deejay to stop the music for a technical error.  Everyone is
accustomed to the line of dance, but the stress of competition threw them
off course.  One couple began dancing and all the others followed in the
wrong direction.  The audience watched in amazement.  Semifinalists forgot
the line of dance is counterclockwise.  They danced the round to danceable
milongas of Troilo, Canaro and Di Angelis.  The second round had two good
milongas out of three, but the last round had one good Troilo milonga
followed by slow and obscure milongas by D'Agostino and D'Arienzo.

There were four rounds in tango comprising 35 couples.  Many couples who
competed in milonga had also qualified for the semifinals in tango.  The
first round was a challenge for any dancer.  Two of the three tangos
selected are never used in the milongas.  Everyone knows Gallo Ciego, but
how many know the recording by the Orquesta Escuela de Tango?  And Bien
Milonga by Octeto San Telmo isn't danceable.  The first round of nine
couples were put on the spot to dance for judges to music they never heard
before.  The second round danced to music by Di Sarli, Donato, and the new
orchestra El Arranque.  It was hard to miss the fact that Dany was talking
to Maria Nieves during the competition and even looked at how she was
scoring dancers.  All eyes should be on the dancers, but who is monitoring
the judges?

There was a steady flow of interesting conversation at my table with three
others who are regulars at the milongas.  Elsa made the statement, "tango
milonguero isn't tango de salon."  I had to disagree with her by saying that
tango milonguero is a social style danced in the milongas.  She wasn't
convinced so she asked Jorge.  He told her, yes, tango milonguero is tango
de salon.  End of conversation.  It's amazing that this conversation took
place in Buenos Aires among tango dancers who go to the milongas, but it
only demonstrates that tango is a topic for discussion and disagreement.

The third round for tango danced to Gente de Tango, Tanturi, and Orquesta El
Arranque.  The music selection keeps dancers on their toes, so to speak.
They have to be ready for anything, even undanceable music they never heard
before.  Is it because they don't have access to good music for social
dancing?  And speaking of being on their toes, there were several young
girls doing just that.  I suppose they had classical  training from the way
they dance in first position for ballet and on their toes with their heels
lifted off the floor.  This is the current fashion among the young dancers
wearing their stilletos.  Tango is getting an extreme makeover in Buenos
Aires.  Unfortunately, the results don't come out looking anything like
tango.

The last round of eight couples danced to Demare, Troilo and Gobbi.  I
couldn't help but notice that Dany and Alejandra were talking to each other
rather than watching the dancers.  Of course, the dancers weren't aware they
didn't receive the full attention of two of the five judges.

Seven couples were announced as finalists in milonga, and eight couples in
tango.  Four couples qualified for the finals in both divisions.   I liked
the tall, elegant couple Cecilia and Oscar who qualified in Glorias
Argentinas and made it to the finals in tango.  Carlos Tedeschi and Ana
Gregori teach together and qualified as finalists.  It's not how well you
dance, but who you know that matters in winning this competition.