Feria de los Pajaros

Not in the best part of town and not a place to linger as interesting as it is, the Bird Fair takes place on Sunday mornings in Pompeya. There you can find all kinds of birds and bird cages for sale, including finches, canaries, parakeets, parrots, love birds, quail, chickens, ducks, I even saw owls and what looked to me like sparrows. There are also lots of fish and aquarium supplies, as well as plants for the garden. There are many vendors of various birdseed and blends, as well as bird and fish health products.

Sometimes there are folks out front selling puppies, reptiles and amphibians.

The truth is that some of these animals are contraband. But the regular merchants who have permanent stalls inside the market are reputable. Still, the area has a bad reputation for pickpockets and petty theft, so as fun as it is to browse all of the animals and the adjoining food stalls, it's best to get in and out quickly.

We bought little Coquito two weeks ago, and we returned yesterday to look for some cage accessories and toys for him, as I had scoured all of the pet stores in town to no avail. Unfortunately I learned that bird toys are all imported and now they are too expensive, so there were none to be had. We did score a bird bathtub, though, and yesterday Coquito enjoyed his first bath. (I've since tagged a tanguera friend who is coming here soon to bring me some.)


There is always a Virgin at a fair!

















Feria de los Pájaros

Sáenz y Perito Moreno
Sunday mornings before 2:00 p.m.
















COQUITO



P.S. Making friends with Bart Simpson

Bicentenario en Boedo

We are almost at the end of the huge Bicentennial celebration here in Buenos Aires. A legal four-day weekend, it actually began one day earlier for many as they headed out to their "contries" or to the beach or Uruguay.





































Ruben and I did our part in celebrating Argentina's Bicentennial this weekend, and we began on Friday. The local colegio, Martina Silva de Gurruchaga in Avenida Boedo, had a beautiful historical pageant in which Ruben and I took part (the only adults.)

Maybe because the official Bicentenario only gave the tango a passing nod, the school pageant was all over it, and the show portrayed the history of social dance in Argentina from the minuet up to tango electronico.




































The kids portrayed early colonists, indigenous, immigrants from Italy fresh off the boat in La Boca, comparditos, and the beginnings of tango. One boy even danced with a broom, a long tradition in Argentina. When it came to the 20's and El Choclo, Ruben and I were honored to perform it (and I was also all decked out in Argentina's colors). Unfortunately, the video got erased by accident before I had a chance to download it, so you'll just have to take my word for it how the audience of students, parents, faculty and friends enjoyed it. :) And I was SO proud to take part.


After El Choclo, the kids went on the demonstrate Piazolla with rhythmic gymnastics and tango electronico, and traditional tango was left behind as an historical artifact.

Why Indeed Come to Buenos Aires?

Previously I wondered Why do some dancers bother to come here to dance?.

Ms Hedgehog asks the same good question on her blog post Me and Buenos Aires.
She lists her ten reasons (perhaps protesting too much?) why a trip to BsAs is not for her.


Painting of my Flabella tango shoes by Mexican artist Santiago Corral.

Maybe it's like having a baby; if you think too much about it, all the pros and cons, you'll never do it. It's too scary, too much of a commitment. With tango, too, if your expectations are too high to be realized, well, then maybe a two week vacation in Buenos Aires instead of Provence or Prague is not for you.

When I went to Europe for the first time, I was blown away--it was even better than I expected. But there are first-time tourists who are disappointed, maybe because they have a sense of deja-vu, that they've already seen it all at Disneyland and in the movies.

I first came here on a tango tour in 1997, with no expectations, only that I would be learning from the masters, whoever they might be, and dancing in Buenos Aires for ten days. I knew nothing about the codigos, or La Confiteria Ideal (not yet the star of all the tango movies), or Comme Il Faut shoes (which didn't yet exist). I just expected a fun dance vacation.

And it was.

But it changed my life.

For Ms Hedgehog and others who don't see the point, I say stay home.

But for those who want to experience an art form at its source, who want to understand tango and Argentina, who want to be immersed in tango culture where taxi drivers sing a tango to you, where at a karaoke party the tangos are sung with passion, where you overhear old milongueros reminiscing about this or that orchestra, where everyone in the street has one opinion or another about the tango, where the history of the tango is intertwined with the history of an entire country--well, then they should experience Buenos Aires.

Forget about the art museums and rugby matches. Buenos Aires is not the Paris of South America or anywhere else. It has its own unique culture, architecture, language (not Spanish, but a combination of Castellano and Lunfardo), history and way of life. But to fully understand it, you need to experience the culture of tango and vice versa.

Anything worth doing is doing as best one can, right? So you don't want to be a professional dancer or teacher, you just want to dance at your local milongas and have fun. Great. But don't you want to dance as well as you can in this lifetime? For tango, you need to dance in Buenos Aires, to experience the porteño embrace. With no preconceptions, with an open mind.

Otherwise, if you just want to meet like folks and have a social evening, save your money and dance at home or in nearby festivals. Buenos Aires doesn't need another critical foreigner who is closed-minded and thinks they know everything. There are plenty of those here already.

You might say that tango in other places is like the "French" architecture of Buenos Aires in the 20's: the "Disney" copy of a beautiful, original phenomenon of another time and place. Which is fine, if that's what you like. The world is full of dabblers and copiers in all of the arts.

But if you want to delve profoundly, to grow and feel and thrill, to give yourself and be taken, Buenos Aires is waiting for you. There is no place else on earth where the embrace is so emotional, where the music is so embodied, where hundreds of dancers of all ages feel D'Arienzo and express it in their unique way at the same moment in the same salon. There's no tango experience like it.

And maybe that will change your life too.

My Heartbreak Tango

My prize is ready, and you can listen to it here. The spoken intro is an edited and condensed version of my text, The Key.

Background reading on Maria Finn's contest along with my original story is on a previous post here.

Sallycat's idea was to celebrate by Ruben and I dancing to it at Los Consagrados, and I had thought even of making a video. But, alas, it turns out to be tango nuevo, so we won't be dancing to it. It's a gorgeous song, though, and I certainly will listen to it on my iPod.





But the truth is, I am disappointed. I had hoped that my words would become a song lyric in the classic tango manner. Ruben reminded me that how could I expect otherwise when the song is from the States? Not too many traditional-styled tangos are being written up there.

The Campeonato de Tango 2010 Begins

Last night in El Arranque was the first round of preliminary qualifications for the annual Campeonato. The name keeps changing, but it's still the Buenos Aires city tango Championships, so the contestants must be residents.

You can read more about it here (in English.) This year the first prize is up to 18,000 pesos!

And to answer any questions about our own intentions, we did great in 2006 and once was enough. That's us on stage above in La Rural in the final round of the The Finals.

Each Time New: The Gaucho Fair is Back in Season!

Tango tourists often engage us to take them to various points of interest, such as La Boca & Caminito, San Telmo, and the Feria de Mataderos being the most popular destinations for our Tango Tours. Ruben is a fountain of information on the history, background, culture of the tango and old Buenos Aires.

A friend just asked me if it wasn't boring to return over and over again to places where I've been so many times.

The answer is absolutely not because each time it is a different experience. But even more so at the Feria de Mataderos.

Newly reopened for the season (until the middle of December), it's the best way to spend a fine Sunday in Buenos Aires. (closed when it rains)

Tomorrow the weather looks like it will be perfect. Why not take advantage and Hie thee to the faire?! You won't be sorry. Try to get there early (noon) and have an asado lunch in time to see the Gaucho Games which begin around 3:00 p.m. Please don't overlook the Museo, which aside from the interesting displays, gives you a peak at a historical building unchanged for more than a century. (They also have a nice bathroom, FYI.)

If you'd like us to take you some Sunday, just make a reservation in advance.