Symbolic Roman Tango Places
Mario Abbati
Several years ago, while I was living in Spain, I discovered the Latin American dance world. I was amazed that the Spanish nightclubs were insensitive to the change of seasons. If I had the impulse to dance, I could choose an indoor room where I could be sure that I could dance in the same place at any time of the year, irrespective of Atlantic perturbations and weather from the Azores. It was enough to adjust the air conditioner’ s temperature upwards or downwards and the game was on.
In Rome it does not work that way. In Rome, when the thermometers exceed the 20 ° in May and June, the enclosed spaces disappear, and the desire to move out under the stars is born. At first, I thought that this phenomenon was entirely dependent on the heat. The indoor air conditioning systems, for technical reasons or savings, were incapable of ensuring an acceptable climate for dancing. But then I realized that there was a different, deeper, perhaps unconscious reason that was driving the tango circus to move to open spaces. There is a need to re-occupy a city that is not liveable in daylight hours due to traffic. At sunset, the asphyxiating and yoxic congestion becomes a magically viable paradise.
Cesare Magrini founded the Tangocontemporaneo Association and organized of the first popular milonga under the arcades of Piazza Augusto Imperatore, Fatima Scialdone. As artistic director of the Tangoeventi Association, he brought tango to public spaces such as Piazza Vittorio and the Capitol. Maurizio Fabbri, created of the Tangram Project, which for two years has allowed the Roman tango community to dance In ancient and modern symbolic places including l’ Isola Tiberina, il Ponte della Musica and the colonnade of the Museo della Civiltà Romana all’ Eur
In the summer, tango doesn’ t move to just any place in the city. There is a special formula that allows tango to release the most tangible effects of its power. Some places are repositories of personal secrets and urban mythos. The hidden unconscious can be exposed during the dance. Vicious circles of logic give way to the charm of these symbols emerging from the darkness. These revelations would otherwise be camouflaged in the shadow of conscience.
Several outdoor milongas continue to animate the summer’ s evenings. Among all the ones that have succeeded in the history of Roman tango, it’ s worth mentioning three that have transform themselves into events accessible to the whole tanguero audience.
— 5—
TO SUBSCRIBE, CLICK HERE