City Scene: Inside and Outside Confiteria Ideal

December 9, 2015 - Tourists are dancing...

On the afternoon of December 9, 2015, inside La Confitería Ideal, a legendary tango cafe in Buenos Aires (BBC film), things were idyllic, dilapidated - sometimes elegantly, sometimes grotesquely, - and often slippery. Some spots on the worn-out stone floor are as rough as sandpaper, and if you've decided to pivot on these patches, you are likely to reconsider your plans - and very quickly. In other spots, the floor is as slippery as a skating rink, because of the talcum or some such powder sprinkled on the floor by the thoughtful hosts. With every attempt to fall flat on my face or tail, of which I made at least three, fortunately, all of them unsuccessful, my appreciation for the skill of all those dancers, who performed at Confitería and managed not only to stay upright, but also look somewhat competent and even elegant, increased exponentially.

Both inside and just outside, it was tourists, tourists, and still more tourists...

...or staring...

Meanwhile a little further outside, things were heating up on the eve of the inauguration of the new president, Mauricio Macri, who was sworn in on December 10, amidst much hoopla, soap opera, pageantry, and very shrill screaming on TV. On the evening of the 9th, crowds started gathering in the streets. Who was in favor or against what, I did not have the time or patience to find out, as we tried to steer clear of the crowd's path, but there were clearly enough supporters and protesters of both the old and the new regimes and plenty of passion and energy on both sides. 

A thought crossed my mind, "Dancing tango to the sound of manifestations outside - what a quintessentially South American moment... They've done this before, many times, - and they are still at it."

...and the locals are marching down Avenida de Mayo. A huge meeting of supporters
of the outgoing president took place on Plaza de Mayo on the night of Dec. 9.

City Scene: Sunderland Club, Buenos Aires

Having grown up in the Soviet Union, I thought I have seen it all in terms of unorthodox approaches to solving everyday problems. But a recent trip to Buenos Aires disabused me from my imperial arrogance. The two photos above were taken at the legendary Sunderland Club, a neighborhood sports center where serious tango is danced on a seriously challenging floor of a basketball court (how it is possible to play basketball on that floor is another question). On the night that we visited, some 600 people packed into the hall to watch the final of an inter-milonga championship. To display a PowerPoint slide with the names of the finalist couples, the projector was suspended - extension cords, power strip and all - from a basketball net more or less above our heads. When I saw this, my heart hiccuped with nostalgia and I realized that we've been outplayed. Bow to the masters of temporary solutions, children!