Dance, Tango Moderno
King’s, Glasgow
Mary Brennan, four stars
THE tremendous whoop of delight that greeted the arrival of Flavia Cacace and Vincent Simone on-stage was maybe tinged with a squeak of relief. Simone was injured and out of action at the start of last year’s tour: Edinburgh fans were among the disappointed, even though the show itself is – like the duo’s other boldly imaginative productions – decidedly more than a high end platform for their talents alone.
In cahoots with director/choreographer Karen Bruce, the pair have now conjured up a ‘lonely town, lonely street’ theme for Tango Moderno’s ensemble of young singletons who – thanks to Flavia and Vincent’s playing Cupid – find that love is just a dance away... Cue a lively mix of ballroom styles that also edges onto the street with moments of (valiant) hip hop demonstrating that we’re not channeling nostalgia.
The music choices similarly touch base with the present day, so that songs by Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran and Rag’n’Bone Man become the freshly appropriate soundtrack to bravura displays of slinky salsa or hot-to-trot tango. Those songs - performed live by the brilliantly versatile Tom Parsons, Rebecca Lisewski and house band – help create an episodic narrative where our millennials seem isolated by the pressures of modern life or indeed by the technologies meant to connect them.
The witty Bla Bla Bla Cha Cha Cha has every dancer glued to their mobile phone, not their flesh and blood partner. When bodies do collide in the same groove, then – with nice touches of humour or sudden tenderness – the cleverly choreographed sparks fly. And never more so than when Flavia and Vincent are in hold, proving all the superlatives that attach to their partnership are actually inadequate: they are breath-taking beyond words, as their final, fiercely intense tango to Oliver Lewis’s gypsy violin
patently, memorably, proves.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here