Tango Siempre @ Perth Concert Hall

May 26 2009 by Katy Gordon, Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

THE first night of this year’s Festival of the Arts showed that once again organisers have provided an ecletic programme to satisfy all tastes.

Tango Siempre, roughly translated to “Tango Forever”, are a musical foursome that mixes traditional Argentinian tango with a more Anglicised version, and the music is punctuated by dancing.

Both the dancing and the music were performed to a very high standard and complemented each other well. The tempo varied throughout the show and both musicians and dancers conveyed the emotion of their performances.

The dancers had obviously spent many hours rehearsing, as they seemed incredibly in sync with the minimum of ease. They dressed in the traditional Argentinian Tango style - women with slits in their skirts, men with fedoras and pinstripe trousers.

And it was apparent that the musicians genuinely enjoyed the music they were playing, and their playing seemed absolutely flawless.

The only thing low point was that the perfomance was relatively bare in terms of showmanship. The band were positioned towards the back of the stage, so when the dancers were on they were at the front. However this meant that during songs without dancing, there really wasn’t anything to look at.

All in all, this was a very strong start to the Festival of the Arts.

Katy Gordon