Lutcher Theater to feature the Tango

What would warm up a cold winter January night? How about a passionate and sensual Tango with the world’s most authentic and uncompromising representative of the dance? Saturday, January 8, 2011 is the night to experience the heat of Emilio Kauderer’s Tango Buenos Aires: Fire and Passion at 7:30 PM at the Lutcher Theater!

Reacting to the spicy, yet graceful art form writers respond:

“Fast and furious, the dancers’ feet and legs flashed and wove in and around each other, or paused to move slowly and seductively, stretching the tension within the dance.” —Lincoln Journal Star

“Sometimes playful, sometimes dramatic, and always sensuous, the closely entwined bodies and limbs moved with amazing speed through deftly engineered movements, including frequent dips, deep slides, energetic foot stomps and ballet-like turns.” —Ruidoso News

“...repeatedly crafted swirling, fast-paced tapestries of movement, laced with proud postures and sensual couplings.” —The Washington Post

Tango Buenos Aires has become one of Argentina’s great cultural exports, known throughout the Americas, Europe and the Far East as the most authentic and uncompromising representative of the Tango.

Graceful dance couples and superb musicians fill the stage with simmering but subdued passion.

“The tango is lean, clean, and mean; the dancers boast skill and attitude in equal measure; and the musicians rock,” writes a critic for the Washington Post. “...

Whereas tango shows can sometimes go overboard with heavy story lines, glittering gowns, and big sets, this program has kept the dance and music front and center. “Fire and Passion of Tango” presents the modern history of Tango by introducing the audience to the ways Tango has evolved into modern times. Love, fire, passion and seduction are key elements to this performance.

Julian Vat, Argentina’s most prolific composer and a leading musician, serves as music director of the orchestra, which features bandoneón master Pablo Mainetti. The orchestra performs live on stage while accompanying the dancers.

Additionally, Fire and Passion includes four famous musical pieces by Argentine composer, Astor Piazzolla, whose music is praised by musicians such as Sting. He added a jazz touch to Tango in the 1950s and was a sensation in his own right until he passed away in the 1990s.

Tango Buenos Aires was created for the “Jazmines” festival at the famous Buenos Aires cabaret “Michelangelo” by renowned composer and tango director Osvaldo Requena. The company met with tremendous success and was immediately added to the season of the General San Martin Municipal Theatre.

In 1986, the company traveled to the United States to represent Argentina at the Latin-American Festival, which took place at the Delacorte Theatre in New York City’s Central Park during the month of August. This was the first of many extensive tours throughout the world. The Company returns in January through March 2011 to undertake a two and half month Coast to Coast tour of the United States and Canada.

Tickets range from $25 to $50 and are available at http://www.lutcher.org or by calling the Lutcher Theater box office at 409-886-5535.

This performance is sponsored by Lanxess and funded in part by the City of Orange through the Southeast Texas Arts Council.

The Frances Ann Lutcher Theater for the Performing Arts is located at 707 Main, Orange, Texas.