An imposing couple arrives at a club. They are dressed in long black coats, large fedora hats and dark sunglasses. They are together but have a performative awareness of how the club audience sees them. A section of the audience makes a noise of appreciation as they reach the imagined dressing room where they dress for the dance.
They are together, but the title of the show Auto/Erotic Tango implies self-stimulation, maybe a suggestion of separateness that prepares us for what is to come.
In stylish clothes, they begin their dance to the fast, pulsating rhythms of the Tanguera. Carlos (Erven David Samaniego) leads with confident, intense showiness as he flips, lifts and swings Noelia (Emma Lucia Reyes). Smoothly impressive as their cross steps, jumps and turns are, we sense a tension even as we applaud their skills.
Our suspicions are confirmed in the dressing room, where Carlos irritably complains they “have done so many rehearsals. How could you get that so wrong.”
Noelia’s reaction initially is one of annoyed restraint, but the movements of the pair that follow include her angrily grabbing his face before they patch things up for their return home.
The scene changes and we are in their bedroom where they dance together but with their attention firmly fixed on the screens of their mobiles. Changing for bed, they move into a dreamlike sequence as first Carlos dances alone, with perhaps a slight look of vulnerability. As he returns to bed, it’s Noelia’s turn, her movements mixing anger, pain and determination. As she reaches the point of orgasm, Carlos, taking off his top, joins her and we see a momentary coming together in pleasure.
The dreaming sequence of hopes and lingering affection over, they wake in the morning to dance together in a manner that tells us something of their future.
Barely any words have been spoken in this short performance. Yet through the clear, versatile dancing of the two performers, we have travelled a good way alongside phases in this troubled relationship.
The excitement of the Auto/Erotic Tango never weakens. Even as it entertains us, we are reminded how powerfully our movements convey the way we feel about the world and each other.