Okay, the framework--this poetic discourse on the tango and Argentina--is excessively arty. I have to get that out of the way right off. The artiness will annoy a lot of people, as will the grainy picture quality, probably a transfer of material captured with 1980s video technology.
What is valuable about this film, especially for the tango aficionado, is the glimpse of ordinary, everyday, working people dancing the tango. There are many long overhead shots of a milonga dance floor, filled with couples dancing. Mostly they are older couples--one dancer interviewed says most of them are over 50. They are dancing the tango as they've grown up with it, not as we usually see it--choreographed and stylized.
For those of us who enjoy tango, most of what we see is done by professionals, often rail-thin and a tad balletic. One of the most thrilling dances in the Broadway show Tango Argentina (1983) was by a stout, middle-aged couple. In Tango, Our Dance, here at last is the opportunity to see more of the same. Not with the same theatrics the Broadway couple exhibited, but with nonchalance, and it's just as riveting. I'm here to tell you that watching a plump, middle-aged woman do a leap of a few inches is more thrilling than any five-foot scissor-kick by a pro.
There are many voice-over comments by the dancers themselves. There is one segment where some are watching a crew of professional dancers tango for a Today Show segment. The observers' comments are dead-on; they dissect the clinical demonstration adroitly, making it clear that what they are watching--tangos performed without emotion--is something altogether different than what they do.
This film was made in 1988 just as the worldwide tango revival was beginning. The dancers in this film express the fear that their style will die with them. I don't think it has, entirely, and watching this film will help it survive. It will also give those who do tango a valuable perspective on what they're doing.
What is valuable about this film, especially for the tango aficionado, is the glimpse of ordinary, everyday, working people dancing the tango. There are many long overhead shots of a milonga dance floor, filled with couples dancing. Mostly they are older couples--one dancer interviewed says most of them are over 50. They are dancing the tango as they've grown up with it, not as we usually see it--choreographed and stylized.
For those of us who enjoy tango, most of what we see is done by professionals, often rail-thin and a tad balletic. One of the most thrilling dances in the Broadway show Tango Argentina (1983) was by a stout, middle-aged couple. In Tango, Our Dance, here at last is the opportunity to see more of the same. Not with the same theatrics the Broadway couple exhibited, but with nonchalance, and it's just as riveting. I'm here to tell you that watching a plump, middle-aged woman do a leap of a few inches is more thrilling than any five-foot scissor-kick by a pro.
There are many voice-over comments by the dancers themselves. There is one segment where some are watching a crew of professional dancers tango for a Today Show segment. The observers' comments are dead-on; they dissect the clinical demonstration adroitly, making it clear that what they are watching--tangos performed without emotion--is something altogether different than what they do.
This film was made in 1988 just as the worldwide tango revival was beginning. The dancers in this film express the fear that their style will die with them. I don't think it has, entirely, and watching this film will help it survive. It will also give those who do tango a valuable perspective on what they're doing.
