“Tango is a sad thought that is danced”
Enrique Santos Discépoloo
Famous Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borge once noted that Tango expresses feelings that poets strive to capture with their words. The Tango Fire Dance company returns to Sadler’s Well’s after two years with the new ensemble version of their mesmerising “Flames of Desire” in front of a captivated London audience.
The Tango is danced by man and woman in a close embrace to heavenly music. Epithets like sensual, erotic, teasing falls far short of the feelings evoked by it. It feels like two dancers are baring each other’s souls through the medium of dance and music. It is about exploring hidden secrets, flirting with hidden desires tinged with an indescribably melancholic note. It is where machismo does not lie in seducing the woman, rather in protecting and in following her lead to discover, desire and create something intimate and beautiful. It is a moment frozen in time where two souls fuse together.
The Tango Fire Dance company is known to London from its earlier visits. The production this time leaves no one in doubt that it is the finest exponents of this dance form.
“Flames of Desire” is divided into two parts where 5 couples dance in multiple permutations. The first part is visualised as scenes in a bar or a dance floor, where the couples get on with exploring each other. The magnificent band Quarteto Fuego plays their version of modernised yet impeccably classical Tango music. Throughout the performance they are on stage in front of a crimson red cyclorama lending not only music but also adding in effectively to the visual design.
The second half is when the action really hots up. Each of the couples return to perform their piece de resistance in front of a wildly appreciative audience. The pairs are spell binding in every way. However the lead pair of German Cornejo and Gisela Galeasi is completely outstanding and something never seen before. They combine an easy gymnastic acrobatics with a smouldering sensuousness. Gisela in particular with her beauty, grace and uncanny mastery of the form stands out among the ladies.
No review of this show can be complete without a reference to the flowing liquid costumes designed by Walter Delgado. Flames of Desire is brought to perfection through Delgado’s design of sensuous ballroom outfits that clad the smoking hot ladies on stage.
German Cornejo is the choreographer and makes the group pieces really come to life. For me the evening really reaches its climax with the slow dancing to Piazzolla’s soulful masterpiece – “oblivion”. No Tango evening can keep out the master. And the music keeps going back to Piazzolla’s creations including “Libertango” and “Adios Nonino”.
The evening draws to a close with the very fitting “Verano Porteno” where the 5 couples take the stage together and draw each other out to create a wonderful sketch.
“Flames of Desire” a must see show. It has fire and flames that set the house ablaze.
Protima Chatterjee
