La vanidá

The Argentinuan ego is famous in Latin America. Perhaps it is even more exaggerated in the tango world, especially among teachers, especially travelling teachers and those performing the type of shows that are adverts for classes.

The brasher the show, the more dangerous for the ego. The more comedic the show, the more to hand the antidote.

While a performer (of tango comedy), Marcelo, of Los Guardiola (Paris), seemed the quietest, most humble Argentinian I have met. He told me many tangos are full of irony and to take them literally, to read them as machista is a mistake. His multi-lingual life and dance partner, Giorgia, studied philosophy. No slouches they.  

 

Compare, for instance their subtle, funny show with any especially vulgar performance to advertise classes. Unless I misremember, there was one, toe-curlingly coarse, entirely earnest, called something like Tango Tormenta featuring a solidly built señora in a tight crimson dress. I think it was in Tango Etnia, around the time it opened in London.

La vanidá es yuyo malo
Que envenena toda huerta
Es preciso estar alerta
Manejando el azadón
Pero no falta el varón
Que la riega hasta en su puerta.

- Atahualpa Yupanqui, en El payador persguido