Chacarera

Who did I have this conversation with?

‘Does it rain much in autumn in BsAs?’

‘Sure, but not as much as in London.’

‘So I won’t need wellies, then?’

‘No’.

You were mistaken. Crossing Independencia this evening, on my way home from a chacarera lesson at DNI, there were rivers about one foot deep gushing alongside the pavements. I was out in my walking sandals (I hear my daughters groan) and anxiously peering into the waters as I waded through, ready to jump out of my skin if some object, such as the contents of a bin, a rat or floating dog turd touched my feet.

I had my dad’s trusty brolly with me, though. It’s one that deploys at the touch of a button, but requires you to strain as if constipated, to close up again. Normally, I shun the attentions of the subte guard at 9 de Julio, who propositions me and makes kissing noises as I pass, but on this occasion, I was glad to see him as he rushed forward to help me close my umbrella, opened the barrier so that I didn’t even need to get a ticket out and carried my shopping through for me.

I will never be able to stop giggling about the way the men look at one in Argentina: the drawing up of the chest, the lowered head, the narrowed eyes, the flared nostrils, the pursed lips. This overt male posturing is an old school thing the under-thirties would probably be ashamed of.

Which brings me to the topic of chacarera, one of the Argentine folkloric dances, which is frequently danced at milongas and which I am determined to learn, because I love it. At Rosa’s pancake lunch, I met Scott, who writes a blog, who told me he had expressed his views on chacarera in his blog and caused quite a furore. Scott does not care for chacarera for three reasons, which as far as I recall are as follows:

1. It cuts into his tango time.

2. There is a choreographed and limited range of steps, so it becomes boring to watch, after the first few times.

3. He dislikes the male posturing and female wiles, which the zapateo and zarandeo parts of the dance express. It is now a more egalitarian society and these stereotypes are no longer apt.

This is my understanding of what he said. I have yet to read his blog, but I would like to express my own views in response.

1. If you liked doing it, this would not be an issue.

2. It’s not the steps but the unique way in which they are expressed by each individual that gives chacarera its appeal.

3. Zapateo and zarandeo are metaphors for the attention seeking part of the mating ritual, which is a timeless fact of life, however much the way in which it is done has changed over the ages. Now for zapateo, read fast cars, cool clothes, gym membership. On the other side, there’s make-up, sexy clothes, pretty underwear, no underwear. That’s the overt stuff. And then, there’s undercover posturing: researched conversation, popular or controversial website, proven skill of some kind, becoming a tango instructor... Then there’s piercings, tattoos and a whole bunch of other stuff I don’t even begin to understand. Whatever! We do stuff to pull and chacarera is a celebration of that game. Let’s celebrate!