THE BARREL ORGAN

In 1929, Roberto Torres  wrote for the tango Organito del Suburbio (Barrel organ of the suburbs) by Antonio Bonavena:

« But everything has now change

 Barrel organ of the suburbs,

The neighbourhoods have moved on

And you had to move away... »

This scene, inspired by the tango of the same name, pays homage to the first instrument to popularise the tango in the streets of Buenos Aires: the barrel organ. The street musicians who played the barrel organ – the organ grinders – now only exist in the memory of the tangos dedicated to them. 

Performer 

"GRAN HOTEL VICTORIA' (Feliciano Latasa)

Fabrizio Mocata (piano) 

THE EMIGRANT

In 1928, Vicente Cuitiño wrote for the tango Tanita de la Proa (Italian girl in the bow) by Salvador Merico:

« Italian girl in the bow / On your way to Argentina,

Be careful of your pride / Else you find yourself capsized... »

Inspired by the tango "Tanita de la Proa", this painting tells the story of a young Italian girl's boat trip, her arrival in Buenos Aires and her meeting with an Argentinean Creole. 

This painting offers us a real musical journey with which, thanks to emigration, we pass from the "canzonetta napoletana" to the tango, as here from the famous "Torna a Surriento" to the no less famous "Mi Buenos Aires querido". 

The emigration played in fact a very important role in the history of the tango. The meeting between the two European and Argentine cultures took place first to the rhythm of the waltz, popular with emigrants, and then to that of the "milonga", the typical musical style of Buenos Aires, at the origin of the tango. 

Performers 

"TANITA DE LA PROA" (Salvatore Merico) Libertad Lamarque (vocals)

Medley "TORNA A SURRIENTO" (Ernesto De Curtis) and "MI BUENOS AIRES QUERIDO" (Carlos Gardel) Fabrizio Mocata (arrang. and piano) 

"CORAZON DE ORO" (Francisco Canaro) Pirincho Quintet 

"EL ESQUINAZO" (Angel Villoldo) Juan d'Arienzo Orchestra 

THE BACHELOR FLAT

En 1924, Carlos Lenzi wrote for the famous tango A Media Luz (In the spotlight) by Edgardo Donato:

«3, 4, 8 Corrientes Avenue

Elevator to the 2nd floor

 No concierge and no neighbour

And inside, cocktails and love»

The Bachelor Pad is performed on a box. The box is a metaphor for a bulin, an apartment used for sexual encounters inspired by the famous apartment in Buenos Aires on the second floor of 348 Avenue Corrientes. 

Performers 

"A MEDIA LUZ" (Edgardo Donato) Roberto Firpo Orchestra

"VOUS, QU'AVEZ-VOUS FAIT DE MON AMOUR ?"(Henri Varna) 

Miguel Orlando Orchestra, Tino Rossi (vocals)

"LA VIRUTA" (Vicente Greco) Miguel Orlando Orchestra 

THE FALL

In 1926, Roberto Cayol wrote for the tango Noches de Colón (The nights of The Colón Theatre) by Raul de Los Hoyos:

« The joys of money / I myself knew them once,

And on cruel winter nights / I would leave in my car for Colón »

Inspired by the tango Noches de Colón, The Fall tells the story of the rise and fall of a Buenos Aires dandy in the 1920s who went from a nobleman to a beggar. 

Performers 

BOLERO (Maurice Ravel)

Denver Symphony Orchestra 

"NOCHES DE COLON

(Raul de los Hoyos)

Ricardo Tanturi Orchestra,

Alberto Castillo (vocals)

"HALCON NEGRO" (Francisco Canaro) Fabrizio Mocata (piano) 

"LE CYGNE" (Camille Saint-Saëns) Yo-Yo Ma (cello)

TO EACH THEIR OWN TANGO

In 1942 Marvil wrote for the tango Asi se baila el Tango (This is how to dance the tango) by Elias Randal.

« What do they know these dandies, 

With their airs and fine clothes,

What do they know about tango, 

What do they know about rhythm! »

This scene takes place in a milonga, a salon where tango lovers meet to dance. As always, the man invites the woman with a "cabeceo" (head gesture), but in their embrace two worlds as close as different meet. Their tango becomes a challenge... 

Performers 

BOLERO (Maurice Ravel)

Denver Symphony Orchestra 

"NOCHES DE COLON

(Raul de los Hoyos)

Ricardo Tanturi Orchestra,

Alberto Castillo (vocals)

"HALCON NEGRO" (Francisco Canaro) Fabrizio Mocata (piano) 

"LE CYGNE" (Camille Saint-Saëns) Yo-Yo Ma (cello)

BETRAYAL

In 1930, Iván Díez  wrote the poem Amablemente (Kindly). The great singer Edmundo Rivero put the words to music in 1963:

« He found her in the room and in the arms of another.

 But, calm and collected, he said to the seducer:

You can leave, the man is not guilty in situations like this. »

Inspired by the milonga "Amablemente", this scene  tells how, from an action, time can rush into tragedy.

Performers 

"AMABLEMENTE" (Edmundo Rivero), Edmundo Rivero (guitar and vocals) "CREPUSCULO" (Eduardo Bianco) Eduardo Bianco Orchestra 

PAPER HEART

In 1929, Alberto Franco for the tango Corazòn de Papel (Paper Heart) by Catulo Castillo: 

« Little rag doll / Dressed as Pierrot, / Though you have no soul / I want only you

Since I know you’ll always / Be faithful to me, / Little rag doll, / with a paper heart »

Poetic and dreamlike, this dance and mime performance is loosely based on the tango Corazòn de Papel and takes viewers on a journey to a fantasy world. 

Performers 

"CORAZON DE PAPEL" (Catulo Castillo) Anibal Troilo Orchestra,

Floreal Ruiz (vocals)

"EL HURACAN' (Edgardo Donato) Fabrizio Mocata (piano) 

 "CLAIR DE LUNE" (Claude Debussy, arrangement by Nick Baron)

Jenny Marasti (vibraphone)

"CANTO DE AMOR" (Osvaldo Fresedo) Osvaldo Fresedo Orchestra, 

Roberto Ray (vocals) 

"MOCATANDEM" (Fabrizio Mocata) Fabrizio Mocata (piano)

MARCELO GUARDIOLA 

Marcelo Guardiola is an Argentinean actor, dancer, musician, lighting designer and director based in France. 

He began his studies at the age of eight in the Municipal Conservatory of Bahía Blanca.

In 1976, at the age of ten, he made his stage debut as a musician and later worked with different artistic companies.

In 1996, integrating several artistic forms (music, theatre, dance, acrobatics and photography), he began his work of experimentation which led to the show "El Varieté", with which he began as a director.

Between 1997 and 1998, he undertook an artistic and anthropological journey to the European, African, Asian and American continents, following which he created the "Tango Teatro", an experimental research project whose objective is to create a new form of performance, using the tango dance as an expressive physical training, and music as a source of inspiration for the stage creation.

In 1999, during the "10th International Group Theatre Meetings" held in Humahuaca (Argentina), chaired by Eugenio Barba, he met the company "Teatro dei Naviganti" from Messina (Italy) with whom he initiated an artistic exchange to present various shows from 2000.

In 2003, he moved to Italy, created the show "Tango Migrante" and began his collaboration with Giorgia Marchiori by forming the duo "Los Guardiola".

GIORGIA MARCHIORI 

Giorgia Marchiori is a dancer, choreographer, actress and graduate in Philosophy.

Born in Rome, she began classical dance at the age of 4. She continued her studies of jazz dance at the Balletto di Roma and of Argentinean tango in Buenos Aires with the greatest masters. In parallel to her mime activity, she made her stage debut in 2003 with Goldoni's La Locandiera in the role of Mirandolina.

After her studies in Philosophy at the University La Sapienza of Rome with a thesis on the relationship between the individual and the species in Aristotle's Categories, in 2003 she began her artistic collaboration with Marcelo Guardiola, to form the duo Los Guardiola, whose originality consists in telling stories without words that mix mime and dance. 

Apart from her collaboration with Teatro Potlach in the shows Felliniana and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, from 2003 onwards her career continues to develop under the name Los Guardiola, as a choreographer and performer in the following shows: Death and the Maiden, Pasolini's Theorem, L'italiana del Tango, Borges and Tango, Once Upon a Time in Tango, Recital CanTango, Tango Querido!, Andersen's Tales, Fêtes Galantes, Tango Secret, La Comédie du Tango and Ephemera.

LOS GUARDIOLA 

In 2004, in Buenos Aires, they received the honorary diploma "Nueva Generacion" for their work as tango dancers. For their specific and original use of tango in theatre, they were invited in 2011 to Denmark, to the VIII Holstebro Festuge, organised by the Odin Teatret and directed by Eugenio Barba. In 2016, the National Tango Academy of the Argentine Republic granted them institutional sponsorship "as artists who spread the culture of Argentine tango through dance, mime and tango lyrics". 

Authors and performers of all their shows, in 2016 they premiered their latest creation, "Los Guardiola - The Comedy of Tango", in the famous Maipo theatre in Buenos Aires. 

At the same time, Marcelo Guardiola and Giorgia Marchiori are the creators and performers of the choreographies for "Recital CanTango", a show by the famous tenor Fabio Armiliato on the links between opera and tango, and "Tango Secret", a new original creation under the artistic direction of flutist Luis Rigou. 

THEY HAVE CARRIED THEIR WORDLESS ART THROUGHOUT THE WORLD: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Slovenia, Spain and Switzerland.