We knew nothing about tango but we knew they were good. Show-stopping. Eye-catching. Some say the professional flashy tango is not the real tango, nothing more than a choreographed show for tourists. But their dance had a calmness at its core, a grace, and a subtlety mixed with the lifts, kicks and spins – the flash of an eye, the tilt of a finger, a glance. They tell a story. 

They dance on Dorrego every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday and we began to fit our visits in with one of their days. We never tire of watching them. There is always something a little different, something new. Music, steps, intention. I love their Pink Panther ‘routine’ and Jim loves what we’ve come to think of as their ‘grand finale’ – usually performed after they’ve been round with the hat, as a kind of ‘thank-you’. Only 1 minute 30 seconds long, but it packs an enormous punch. 

They are Vanessa and Franco and we think of them as ‘our faves’. 

They’ve been working on the plaza for two years and dancing together for ten. ‘The square is a box of surprises’, Vanessa tells me. Their work hours vary according to season and weather. Hours are longer in the Summer when there are more people who stay out longer. We watch them dance and sweat. ‘Mucho calor’, Vanessa says as she fans herself gently with her hand, while bringing around the hat. Franco wipes his face and the back of his neck with a hand-towel. They dance, they wait (there are other performers and they take it in turns), they shift their mat to the shade. They drink big jugs of ice-cold water. They have danced in shows, and sometimes appear at private events, but they love the square for the freedom it gives them. They dance the way they chose, not the way someone else tells them to and the reaction they get from the crowd is immediate and personal – not like in a theatre. 

While Vanessa walks around with the hat, chatting, Franco often asks for a volunteer who would like to ‘have a go’. He walks complete beginners through a few steps, and often within a few minutes they’ll be at ease enough to try a back-bend or a gentle lift. Their faces light up, the crowd loves it; all round good feeling. 

This reaction feeds their dance. Vanessa told me they have a couple of choreographies, but ‘in general we improvise and let ourselves go. We are guided a lot by the public’s mood and each other’. We find this astounding. There are so many lifts – overhead, a move where Franco nudges Vanessa with his hip, high into the air, light as a feather, and she gives a flurry of kicks as she comes down, another where she steps on his feet as if using a ladder – how such complicated, nuanced steps can be improvised is beyond us. Vanessa goes on to say that improvisation is also, always a work in progress. ‘The body, the mood, the mind is not always good. That is why our dance is always different, even if it is choreography, it never turns out the same’. 

We feel that when we watch them. It’s a living, breathing, growing thing. Confident and accomplished, but at the same time there is a spontaneity, a vulnerability that makes it so beautiful. Professional tango – Just for tourists’? – Glamorised? Unauthentic? Don’t be fooled. Their dance is pure emotion and about as real as it gets. 

Vanessa Vega and Franco Martinez.