Otango,
the show
Otango
show April 11, 12, 13: 20.30 hrs.
Theatre St. Michel . Rue Père
Eudore Devroye 2, - 1040
Bruxelles.
Get 20% reduction for the shows of
April 11, 12, 13 (not 14). Click
here 5 dance couples, 2 singers and
orchestra. A review by Rob Nuijten, who visited
the show in Brussels at Dec 23, 2006.
It must be immensely satisfying for
those who've put the show together, to see
it enroll night after night in the shape
it now has. However, as I understood from
the directors Olivier Tilkin and Sabrina
Gentile Patti, the show may still undergo
changes, as they welcome any critisizm
that can help to make it even better.
My heart was with the show from the
moment I saw the videos of its try-outs.
My only worry concerned the story. I was
afraid it might be the so maniest
historical overview, of the development of
tangomusic and dance: The immigrants,
tango in the slumms, the brothels, the
twenties, the 'Tango Americano', the
fourties, and yes, it has these
ingredients, yet the directors managed to
present them in an original form. The
leading thread is the story of an
Argentinean immigrant in Paris who forgets
his great love that accompanies him, at
the moment he gets distracted by a
parisian femme fatale, or should we say,
gets distracted by Paris.
All dancers are very skilled, the
choreographies so beautifull, the
orchestra is of 'export quality' and all
I've heard from the visitors I spoke with
is no less than great admiration for the
two singers. The set design is of that
same quality and so are the costumes. Make
up, hair, lights, sound, all good for a
pleasent surprise. One can definatly
notice the relation of the price of the
ticket with the quality of the show.
A romantic walse expresses the love
growing between the two people. The
choreography showed various new moves that
pleasently surprised me, some just quite
simple, but accurately expressing
tenderness. This walse made me think:
"That beautifull a dance can be, how
lovely it must be to be able to dance like
that!".
My only confusion was raised when the
set had changed into a 'chique' salon of
the late twenties in Paris, where the men
wear white shirts and black dress-suits
and the ladies are 'plumed up' with
coloured ostrich feathers and 'Charleston
dresses'. Immigrant dancers bring a record
from Buenos Aires. "Aah, Tango Argentin!"
sais the man when he puts it on the old
grammophone. Here I'd expected a
confrontation between the Argentinean and
the European way of dancing Tango. But
this is a scene that learns us that
'masculin' Buenos Aires, portrayed by the
Argentinean dancer (Adrian Veredice) is
seduced by 'feminin' Paris (literally by
the lady dancer Melina Brufman). It
contains choreographies that made me think
of 'Diamonds are a girls best friend' by
Marilyn Monroe and Madonna.
We see Paula Rubin and Sabrina Masso in
a dance as if they were eachothers shadow,
on Astor Piazzolla's 'Milonga del Angel'.
An all feminin dance, in contrast with an
earlier dance of two men in a Buenos Aires
cafe.
In a set of the late fourties we're
shown a few fun dances on the faster
rhythm called 'milonga'. I think I'll
never forget the looks of Claudio
Gonzalez, his face with an expression of
Charlie Chaplin quality, looking upwards
as if all the funny moves he did with his
lady dancer could be done dreaming, and I
adored the whole expression of this
couples' milonga dancing, enlarged as it
was by the wide red suit of he guy and the
wide skirt of the lady. These people
really know how to dance milonga! It
sometimes looked as if strings were
attached to them, to pull them up and put
them back on the floor in a different
position. I must laugh again when I play
it all back by memory.
In a group choreography where most of
the 'routine', the steps, seemed equal for
all, every couple managed to dance in its
own style, therewith keeping its
expertise, what in my eyes added to the
idea of freedom and fun that belongs to
the music played and to Tangodancing in
general.
During the break I've interviewed some
people from the audience. A Bulgarian lady
told me she'd, so far, experienced the
scenes too much as independant 'tableaux
vivants' and if there'd been more of a
story in it, she'd be able to open and
give her heart to it. I was asked not to give away too much
of the storyline nore the content of the
show, so that you, as a next visitor, will
still enjoy its surprises to the fullest.
The second act is called 'Memories of a
fool' and according to that , the story
saddens. The music changes to allmost all
Piazzolla's, with the drive of the big
city and all its challenges and dangers.
We see a spectacular solo by the dancers
Claudio Gonzalez and Melina Brufman
followed by a very sensual dance by
Mariano Galeano and Paula Rubin. They
really excell in this way of dancing, as I
have seen before. A fine combination of
lots of sensuality with still spectacular
moves.
When the theme 'Escualo' was played, a
piece with a very fast drive, I was under
the impression that the tempo of the group
dance was slowed down by the complexity of
the choreography. Alot happened at the
same time, so, I didn't know where to
look, but my overall thought was: here I'd
liked something more fitting the speed of
the music.
At the end of the story the lady singer
Claudia Pannone begins to sing 'the ballad
of a fool', and when José Luis
Barreto takes over, the role of the rose
may be enough translation for those who do
not understand the spanish language.
The artists on stage, dancers, singers,
musicians received a long standing
ovation, with some well deserved 'open
curtains'. Although I haven't mentioned
all names of all artists, in my opinion,
all artists are of an equally high skill.
They all excell at their moments, with
their personal intrepretation of Tango,
but they also know how to be part of the
whole thing. They're a fine group of
people, happy with their job, and it
shows.
Maybe also the other people of the
compania, all those who contributed in the
realisation of this show, should gather at
the stage and bathe in the final applause,
because all have well taken care of this
show, into all details.
In the hall was a table with
merchandising. I think there could be a
little change made in the prices, because
I think they're to high. Although most
people must have desired an Otango T-shirt
(as I couldn't resist buying one) or a
large Otango poster, 10 euro for an object
that helps promoting the show and
spreading it's name, might be a bit
overcharged.
(Due to this remark about the price
of the merchandising Otango has reduced
the prices by half, so get your posters,
postcards and T-shirts now!).
A group from Leuven couldn't think of
anything wrong in this show, nore did
another group of local ladies, nore the
group from Amsterdam who'd visited the
show a day earlier. The directors however,
are eager to learn about your possible
critisizm. Could it be better, let them
know. This show must travel the world and
I'm confident it will.
Rob Nuijten, Amsterdam
www.otango.com
April 14 in the Casino of
Knokke-Heist.
After a tour through Italy, the show now
returned to Belgium. There's been some
adaptions made, so the show must now be
even better than the below review
claims.
Print the
voucher and show it when you buy your
ticket at the counter of the theatre. N.B.
It's only valuable for tickets bought one
hour before the show of your choice
starts, not for already
reserved or booked tickets and not when
payed with credit cards or obtained via an
(online) ticket shop.
Dancers: Adrian Veredice &
Alejandra Hobert, Claudio Gonzales &
Melina Brufman, Mariano Galeano &
Paula Rubin, Fernando Gracia & Sabrina
Masso, Christian Marquez & Virginia
Gómez.
Singers: José Louis Barreto
and Claudia Pannone
Orchestra: Ensemble Tanguisimo,
with Eduardo García, Svetlin
Roussev, Ludovic Michel, Romain
Lecuyer
I must confess, I hadn't totally
understood the leading thread or the story
either, since a dancer who'd 'died' in an
earlier scene, could be seen alive and
dancing again in a next 'tableau'. After
the break however, I notised we had to
follow the whereabouts of the characters
danced by Adrian and Alejandra, underlined
by the role of the red rose, to know what
the story is about.
editor/publisher Go Tango Worldwide
http://www.torito.nl
