[Tango-L] Orillero

[romerob@telusplanet.net]

Comments on the orillero style:

The label "orillero" comes from neighborhoods established in the shorelines in 
Montevideo and Buenos Aires. The terms "compadrito" and "orillero" appear to be 
related in Buenos Aires, but not necessarily in Montevideo.

In Buenos Aires,

The dance was labeled as spectacular ("aparatosa" in spanish) by historians 
such as Oscar Natale. 
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>From "Justicia Criolla" (A play performed at the theater El Olimpo in 1897)

Benito, a black compadrito, recalls his dance with a white porteña, and 
describes it to a guitar player character in the play. 

"I brought Juanita, the white porteña, close to my hip. her face rested on my 
chest. We began the dance following the rhythm of the music until we performed 
a turn, which ended in a Quebrada".
 
Benito goes off the script describing his feelings, and highlighting his 
seduction skills when dancing with the white porteña. 

In another part of the play Benito goes off to dance with Juanita again. In 
this play, Benito is played by the Spanish actor named "Gil".
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Observations from Ricardo Guiraldes from early 1900's:

The compadritos' dance, where the man walks lifting the foot as if pulling 
nails off the floor when wearing high-heel boots.

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>From "Vida Nacional" (A theater play performed in 1897), where an orillero 
character sings:

I am a tango compadre (hipster tango) --
that with a lot of cross step(corte)
the waist becomes stretched --
with a soft touch, slow turn, and in the knee 
the woman shakes with mastery.

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>From the above terms related to orillero dance style:
Spectacular
Close to the hip dance,
Turn
Quebrada
Foot lift
Corte
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Cheers,

Bruno