Tango on the Crystal Isles
Percell St. Thomas & Raymond Lauzzana
Tango has been alive for many years in the Caribbean, although not always well. The islands have rather small populations. You can find enthusiastic tangueras and milongueros if you look for them. Tango, though enjoying an ever-growing audience of enthusiasts and aficionados, is still very sparsely situated throughout the Caribbean. Small and isolated groups such as the Puerto Rico Tango Marathon, Tango Milonga in Santo Domingo, Tango en Cancun, Tango St Lucia, and Club de Tango Flores in Trinidad, are doing what they can to help foster the dance. Visiting artists help as well. Winter and Spring bring notable dancers, such as Emilie & Pablo Tegli, Martinique and Ricardo Luis Gallo & Carla Maria, Dominican Republic. As long as there are dancers ready to dance and cruise ships ready to sail, the tango will grow, live, and prosper in this Crystal Paradise.
On the islands of Aruba and Curacao can be found a group lnown as Tango in Paradise founded by Mady & Rafael Oliana. You can hear tango emerging from the trees, the breezes, the sun, and the beaches of these two beautiful, Caribbean islands. This is a small but growing group of tango enthusiasts who are dedicated to cultivating the dance here.
This group of tango dancers are intent on spreading the art of the porteños of Buenos Aires throughout the Caribbean. With regular weekly classes, milongas and outdoor artistic events, the tango is building a presence here. They continue to bring reality to the dream of dancing the tango in the idyllic Caribbean islands, Tango in Paradise includes evenings of tango with orchesta tipicas from Argentina, a presentation of the International Argentine filmmaker Daniel Mitre, and a performances by the prestigious choreographer and expert tanguera, Susana Red. Each night ends with enjoyable, traditional milongas. In the Fall, they hold the Petit Tango Different Festival. Mady and Rafa headline the event. Their hope is to continue promoting and spreading tango on the islands.
The Bahamas are not quite in the Caribbean. They are in the Atlantic, north of Cuba, east of Florida. But, there is a small native tango community there. They hold milongas with free classes on Friday nights through the Summer at Sunny Side Restaurant in Nassau.
In Barbados. an island off to the southeast corner of the Caribbean, the Argentine Tango Dancers of Barbados are a group of tango enthusiasts residing in Barbados The group includes Maj-Britt Waagenes, Randy Payne, Rosemarie Layne and Lalu Hanuman. They meet irregularly at the BooGaLoo Recreation Studio in Bridgetown.
Cuba is home to Casa del Tango, a popular tango venue in Havana. Owners Wilki and Adelaida have turned their home into one of the more distinctive and eccentric venues in Havana, offering dance classes in tango, along with a floor show and dancing. The main room is a shrine to the dance, packed with old posters, sheet music and other memorabilia.
Everyone agrees that tango arrived in Havana in 1920 when Argentinean tenor José Muñoz, member of an opera and zarzuela company, sang three tangos to save the day when the show seemed doomed to failure. Perhaps because it was influenced by the Cuban habanera, tango has been a favorite in the island, reinforced by old movies still shown on TV of famous Argentine movie stars and singers Carlos Gardel and Libertad Lamarque, radio shows dedicated to this genre. The perseverance of Cuban musicians and singers, including Berta Pernas, Santiago Marrero, pianist Rey Díaz Calvet and young trovadora Liuba María Hevia.
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