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Reviews
Tango’s faces
Tramatango. Milena Plebs’s show. The possibilities of the genre.
By: Laura Falcoff
OWN COLOURS, THE TONE OF MODERN TIMES AND
CLASSICISM BLEND PERFECTLY IN MILENA PLEBS’S SHOW.
Milena Plebs is undoubtedly an outstanding and a compelling personality of stage tango both as a performer and a choreographer. At the turn of the ‘90s, Plebs formed with Miguel Angel Zotto both a dance couple and a creative partnership that put on stage the most genuinely popular material of tango dance. After some time and much work together, they parted and Milena pursued her work on tango in various ways, both in Argentina and abroad. It could be said that her brand new Tramatango, launched in the Presidente Alvear Theatre, is surely the largest scale project from the theatrical standpoint that she has undertaken by herself since the times of Tango X 2 Company.
With her ample experience in the genre and her background in modern dance, where in the 80’s she was part of the Modern Ballet of the San Martín Theatre, Milena Plebs weaves together different threads into the three sections that make up Tramatango; the original tango of the milongas, stage tango, with no less tradition than the previous; the “new” tango, with bold physical display; and finally, modern dance proper, which here is introduced by the way in which space is dealt with and in the dynamics and relationships built between the characters. Each of the three pieces has its own axis: “Sintonías” talks about the way in which men and women relate and includes the superb performance of a dance couple, Silvia y Alfredo Alonso. “Pugliese Yumba”, on five partitures by Osvaldo Pugliese, pays tribute to the tradition of stage tango – sumptuous and technically prodigious - although with a wholly novel approach. Finally, “Tango Congo” arises out of the choreographer’s interest in the African roots of the tango, which develops along a series of scenes of diverse composition and includes a really enticing closing with milongas.
The show featured the cooperation of remarkable personalities, particularly that of Alejandro Cervera in artistic advice and superb lighting, and Mini Zuccheri in costumes - so beautiful and creative. The cast of dancers was excellent, starting by Milena herself and her dance couple Roberto Reis, as well as John Galindo, Angie González, Milagros Rolandelli, Lisandro Eberle, Teli Ortiz, Ollantay Rojas, Eliana De Bartolis, Hector Fernández, Lautaro Cancela, Lucila Segura and the already mentioned married couple Silvia y Alredo Alonso. They were all clearly defined personalities on stage that succeeding in building up a strong team work. <<
http://www.clarin.com/diario/2009/11/27/espectaculos/c-02049412.htm
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An innovative and mistifying tango show
By: Susana Freire
Tramatango . Choreography and direction: Milena Plebs. Starring: M. Plebs, R. Reis, L. Cancela, L. Segura, E. Farfaro, A. González, J. Galindo, L. Eberle, M. Rolandelli, H. Fernández, E. De Bartolis, O. Rojas, T. Ortiz, S. Alonso and A. Alonso. Music: J. Grela. Costumes: M. Zuccheri. Lighting: A. Cervera. Set Design: J. Muscia. On the Presidente Alvear Theatre.
Our opinion: very good
After a decade missing from Buenos Aires stages, Milena Plebs comes back with a new proposal that is both so innovative and mystifying that it succeeds in surprising the audience. Tramatango offers three views of the tango dance, “Sintonías” (Dance Tunings) “Pugliese Yumba” and “Tango Congo”.
“Sintonías” (Dance Tunings) makes use of modern dance to propose a look into the relationships between men and women that are built through energy and the game of opposites. To the accompaniment of music by Ulises Conti, Diego Schissi and Sonia Possetti, it includes a choreographic design close to that of the tango although with a modern resonance contributed by unfamiliar instruments and bizarre sonorities The tango “Ninguna,” played by Fernández Siro and Manzi and performed by Silvia and Alfredo Alonso, explores a confrontation between the classical and modern style.
“Pugliese Yumba” is a tribute to the renowned pianist, which allows stylized classical tango dancers to draw up an apparent diversity that rightly merges into unicity. And “Tango Congo” with a very appealing visual display, which aims to posit through a story the alleged African origin of the tango, is divided into two parts: “Rojo Ritual” (Ritual Red), a fable about an aboriginal girl who goes through a process of maturing triggered by her inception into the tango dance, followed by “Sitio de Tangos” (Tango Site) with “Milonga of the 900” by Piana and Manzi, and “La Cumparsita”, by Matos Rodríguez and Contursi.
In this section, in the milongas, the audience can appreciate the combination of rhythms and counterpoints to the beat of percussion. This is a rarity that turns out to be very appealing. The dance company is made up of seven couples, headed by Milena Plebs and Roberto Reis. Fourteen personalities traverse the dance floor and undoubtedly each defines a very particular dancing profile, revealing a classic trait in the young females, as well as ductility and poise in the males.
Among the many performers displaying airborne figures, Silvia and Alfredo Alonso stand out featuring a very defined grounded style although of a special beauty that transforms physical movement into an ethereal gliding, where legs in unison mark the blending of the couple.
Something similar happens with Milena Plebs and Roberto Reis, who perform with a traditional style yet incorporate some airborne moves. They stand out mainly in the corte and quebrada figures of impeccable resolution.
The varied and modernly fashioned costumes, along with the lighting, complete the aesthetic frame of the show.
http://www.lanacion.com.ar/nota.asp?nota_id=1202290
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Tramatango, by milena plebs
New paths for a dance style
After the dissolution of the Plebs-Zotto binomy, the female dancer has successfully met the comeback challenge, featuring a new dance partner and a show that rejects comparison
On her return to Corrientes Avenue, more than a decade after her last season with Miiguel Zotto, heading the Tango x 2 Company, Milena Plebs seemed to be facing a double challenge: on the one hand, as a choreographer, that of measuring up with the superb “Una Noche de Tango”, her last work with Zotto; on the other hand, that of coming back onstage as a dancer with a new dance partner. After the dissolution of the Zotto-Plebs binomy, Milena had performed with Ezequiel Farfaro, but for this launching at the Alvear, which is on Thursdays through Sundays, she summoned Roberto Reis.
The impression that there is a challenge that Plebs must overcome fades out shortly after Tramatango commences. The program, which puts together three very distinct works of hers, linked by means of suggestive interludes, is so personal that it does not invite comparison, in fact, it admits no such thing.
The choreographer does not compete against her unsurpassable historic production; she rather paves a new path in which it can reappear, swiftly, in a gesture, an embrace, a walk. The variety of elements of modern dance and the most exquisite tradition of hall tango, which Plebs visited as a performer and chose as a choreographer, today nurtures her personal and subtle language, interweaved in different proposals throughout the last years and now crystallized in a comprehensive program, a particular and necessary voice on the tango-dance scene. She is accompanied by a group of ten young dancers whose double background- both academic and popular- becomes one of the keys.
The delicate composition of “Sintonías”, Tramatango’s first section, on music by Diego Schissi and Sonia Possetti, exploits to the fullest the versatility of the dancers, who alternatively materialize and dilute the very essence of the tango couple. The dynamic treatment and set design by Jorge Muscia, with stunning filetes on panels that provide depth and multiply spatial planes, suggest a cosmic atmosphere. In this climate, milonguero veterans Silvia and Alfredo Alonso perform as if in a reverie to the beat of “Ninguna”, the classic tango.
“Pugliese Yumba” is the most conventional section, in which the sound of the legendary orchestra rules the style. With its version of “A Evaristo Carriego”, it also provides the chance to corroborate the good interplay between Roberto Reis and Milena Plebs, both projecting magnetism on every step
The program comes to an end with “Tango Congo”, which relates tango to the African culture, delicately tracing a dramatic situation yet, above all, exploring rhythms, dynamics and movements. From the initiation rite amid the exotic setting, to the joyous end of party over the “Milonga del 900”, Plebs studies the evolution of the dance without positing theories- what is captivating is its pure movement.
Roberto Reis
After dissolution of her dance binomy with Zotto, in 1997, Plebs performed with Ezequiel Farfaro. Now the difficult task of accompanying her has fallen onto a renowned dancer, Roberto Reis, whose technique, musicality and strong stage personality are up to the commitment. Reis is the former dance couple of Guillermina Quiroga and of Lucila Cionci, and currently performs with Natalia Lavandeira, now on maternity leave.
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