Tango: See it and understand

It takes two to tango, or so we've been told, but it actually takes 23 to stage the traveling "Forever Tango" show.

The ensemble performing in Santa Rosa next Friday includes 12 dancers, a singer and 10 musicians, including the show's creator, Luis Bravo.

"This time, in Santa Rosa, I'm going to be playing the cello in the orchestra, because it's something I really enjoy," Bravo said by phone from Buenos Aires. "I work on the choreography with the dancers, but I'm a classically trained musician."

The spotlight will be on six couples chosen by Bravo to showcase his homeland's intricate and emotional trademark dance. In an elaborately costumed stage production, the dancers and orchestra present a history of the tango, told entirely by example. There are songs, but no plot or dialog.

The tango cannot be explained, Bravo contends. It simply must be seen.

"I've seen 'Forever Tango,' and it's one of the better tango shows traveling around," said Petaluma tango teacher Donna Agoitia. "It's an excellent production. They do a beautiful job. They always have the best dancers."

Although Bravo, 52, first came to the United States nearly 30 years ago and now lives in Kentucky, he returns to Argentina every year to audition new dancers for the show.

"They're all from Argentina because they have to know the form," Bravo explained. "It's cultural. This is how we express who we are."

Originated in the 1880s by immigrants streaming into Buenos Aires from all over the world, the tango juxtaposes a man and woman, advancing and retreating. It has acquired a reputation as the dance of passion, but Bravo takes a different view.

"It has a sense of melancholy, drama and tragedy, but it doesn't have any extra sexual charge compared to any other art form," he said. "Probably because the dancing itself is so close, people relate it to a subliminal sexual message, but I don't agree with that at all."

In her local dance classes, Agoitia approaches the tango on a more spiritual level. "You have to have an awareness of both mind and body," she said. "It's like having a yoga practice or martial arts practice. It involves so much more than just physical movement. There's a silent communication between the partners. You have to be so present in the moment."

Bravo first staged his tango production in San Diego in 1990, but the show really began its long history with its 1994 revival in Beverly Hills. "Forever Tango" has been playing ever since.

"Then we went to San Francisco in 1994 to play three weeks, and we ended up playing 98 weeks," Bravo recalled. "I opened our second company on the West End in London in 1995. Then we were touring all over the world with both companies. We ended up on Broadway in 1997 for almost two years, and we came back to Broadway three times."

An established classical cellist who played with the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra, Bravo felt compelled by his love for his native culture to create "Forever Tango."

"Of course, I never expected such a success," he conceded. "Over the years, it's unbelievable how many people discover Argentina through what they see onstage. We have people coming to Argentina and becoming involved with tango after they saw the show."

Popularized partly by "Forever Tango," and other traveling productions such as "Tango Fire," playing in Marin next month, the tango has become a global phenomenon, Agoitia said.

"In any major city in the world, you'll find a tango community, and here in the North Bay we have our own," she said.

"The traveling shows are done by professional dancers. These are people who have trained in ballet and other dance since they were little kids. They're seasoned athletes. Nobody can do what they do," Agoitia added. "But tango is also a social dance, and was to begin with."

The "Forever Tango" show remains popular decades later, Bravo reasons, because the production never stops changing.

"When I come back to Argentina, I take auditions and I select a couple, or people individually, and put them together to work in a routine. It's like a laboratory where I mix different elements," Bravo explained.

"Every time we come, we bring a different production with different performers. That makes each show completely different from the show that people saw four years ago, or 10 years ago."

You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at 521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com.