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Macho Gaucho The gauchos of old Argentina were a proud, tough and nomadic people. They had to be. As people of mixed Spanish and Native American ancestry, they were claimed by neither Indians nor Europeans and forced to survive as best they could as outcast animal herders, hands for hire, or mercenaries.
Whirling weighted balls are part
of the drama and danger of this
Argentinian dance formBy John Berger
Special to the Star-BulletinThe nomadic gaucho lifestyle came to an end along with Argentina's version of the "Wild West" sometime early in the 20th century, but the culture exists in romanticized form today as a dramatic and dangerous type of Argentine dance known, logically, as gaucho.
As danced by Argentine-born Claudio Otero, gaucho surpasses flamenco in terms of raw machismo. The danger comes from performing with whirling boleadoras, implements that consist of weighted balls on the end of long cords, that the dancer twirls like supersonic Maori poi balls while executing intricate footwork and playing to the audience.
"I have friends who have given themselves concussions," Otero says of the risks involved in gaucho dancing. Otero learned early. He started dancing at 5, was dancing gaucho professionally at 12, went from there into Argentine tango, and was teaching dance professionally at 15. After "about 20 years" as a professional, Otero looks like he's barely out of his teens. Talk with Otero after he's spent 15 or minutes or so in rehearsal and there's no doubt that gaucho offers a tremendous aerobic workout.
ON STAGE
What: "Mardi Gras Follies"
Otera says learning to do the dance without killing yourself with the boleadoras takes time and mental discipline.
"It can be discouraging, because when you're starting you want to learn but you can hit yourself so hard that you don't want to go on, and you have to go on."
Mariko Lyons has had plenty of experience in getting past the occasional painful mistake since she began studying gaucho with Otero last spring. They met when Otero came to Honolulu to conduct a tango workshop.
Gaucho is raw and earthy while the tango suggests more urbane passions. Both excite the senses, fire the imagination, and inspire the heart.
Lyons, who is a professional-caliber Argentine tango dancer, found gaucho a perfect counterpoint. She and Otero are dancing both as a featured act in the Pearl Harbor Performing Arts Association's production of "Mardi Gras 2001" this month.
Otero explains that their costumes reflect traditional gaucho garb. The boleadora is derived from the gaucho bola (or bolas) which consisted of three cords tied together with a weighted ball on the free end of each cord. When a bola was thrown properly, the weights would cause the cords to wrap around the target.Otero and Lyons perform some of their gaucho routines without music; for others they add the beat of Argentine bombo drums. Posture, form and attitude are as important for female gaucho dancers as for men, although the style is softer. Lyons dances with a single boleadora that has a lighter ball than those on the boleadoras Otero uses but says that a mistake is still a painful experience.
"Gaucho is still not well known outside of Argentina, but it's only been in the last few years that people started to learn about Argentine tango," Otero says of the dances that made it possible for him to leave Buenos Aires and perform and teach in Europe, Asia and the United States.
He thinks it's time the rest of the world learns about gaucho as well.
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