Is Journalism Worth Dying For__ Final Dispatches - Anna Politkovskaya [174]
Do not suppose that this is a gourmet spectacle for the cognoscenti, or even for those accustomed to imbibing cocktails of passion. Nothing of the sort. Everything is very simple, even primitive. Six couples demonstrate every type and variety of tango, such as might grace a ballroom, or be seen at a rustic dance (in Argentina, of course), or in a seaside café to the accompaniment of a small, artless dance band. And that’s pretty much it. What is striking about the performance is not what they are dancing but how: every womanly cell breathes desire, but it is not the kind of desire squandered in the Metro, on a trolleybus, or in the drunken cafés and dives of Russia. It is a desire trained to draw in to a happiness – possibly a transient and ephemeral happiness – every atom of the man beside you.
Tango Por Dos is both an Argentinian show and the name of the dance company. It was created in 1989 by Zotto and Milena Plebs, the best tango dancers in Argentina. At that time they were also in love and, for almost 10 years, touring constantly, they projected their private emotion from the stages of the world in dance steps and poses with unbelievable power.
In Argentina the couple were known as “our Romeo and Juliet.” They had met in 1985 when Milena was already a famous ballerina and, moreover, the well-educated daughter of a prominent family. Zotto was her inferior in every respect. He was born the son of an amateur actor and had no popular following. Who trained him? Only “life itself,” and the tango in the streets and nightclubs of Buenos Aires.
It was then Milena decided that Zotto was completely irresistible and would be magnificent in the tango. She abandoned her ballet career and, for the sake of her man, defied family and friends, even breaking off relations with many of them, just to be with Zotto, touring the world. In due course, living out their own love on stage, in front of an audience, they were transformed into a legendary couple in their own right and were crowned king and queen of their genre. People who saw Milena and Miguel dance maintain that the sparks they emitted every time they danced the tango could give members of the audience a heart attack.
Alas, three years ago Zotto and Plebs split up. Zotto announced that he wanted to be alone, and Milena said she would never dance again, despite an abundance of offers. The end of their pas de deux came when Zotto refused Milena, by then 36, a child, both for career and personal reasons. He refused to be burdened with a family and children.
There were other reasons. In 1992 he had lost his father, who died an agonising death from cancer. Plebs later said she had sensed that this was the beginning of their own last act. She continued to look after Miguel in his anguish, but suddenly discovered that her inconsolable partner had someone else wiping away his tears. In 1995 Milena had to recognise that, apart from the tango, they no longer had anything in common.
Milena Plebs is an amazing individual. She avers that the tango is a dance of passion which can be danced only by a couple who are in love. Anything else is a profanation which will not captivate the audience. “When you love a man,” Milena has said, “that is the tango. The tango means being together, hoping for a child. When all that is in the past for Zotto and me, I no longer wish to dance.” She lives in Buenos Aires and teaches choreography, sometimes directing a performance herself. But she doesn’t dance, and she hasn’t had a baby.
Today Zotto obstinately refers to himself as an incurable romantic, while continuing to dance without Milena, and doing so outstandingly well. He does not need to love the partner he twirls in the tango. Oh well – that’s men. But Milena – that’s also what women are like.
This show has toured the world but has never come to Russia. I suspect there is good reason for that. Zotto has circled almost the entire globe with his dancing, and more than once. He has performed in such lands disinclined