British Embassy hosts world-class tango talent and Oxbridge alumni

There might have been a change of government in London last month but no transitional period or holiday for the British Embassy with this newspaper’s Senior Editor covering events two nights running last week.

Thursday night was the turn of the 72nd Oxford & Cambridge dinner, invariably a springtime event until this year, but the attendance was surprisingly high given the wintry cold here and the summer holiday season north of the Equator at almost 50 guests – a female majority (26-23) also among the speakers with Oxonians a tad ahead of Cantabrigians (18-16 plus 15 guests). This journalist will not identify his university beyond saying that its shade of blue is much closer to that of the Argentine flag than the other place.

The dinner was hosted by chargé d’affaires Bhavna Sharma, a PPE graduate of Wadham, Oxford, in the absence of Ambassador Kirsty Hayes (in Formosa, thus running up her total of provinces visited to 22 of the 23), and chaired by Pablo Ambrogi of Gonville & Caius, Cambridge. The toastmaster raising glasses of Luigi Bosca at strategic moments was Dennis Burton (Worcester, Oxford) who almost uniquely leaned towards a consensus style rather than feeding a grieta dating back more than eight centuries.

But not the only toasts of the night – after Ambrogi had toasted King Charles III and President Javier Milei, Raúl Echegoyen raised an ironic glass to Oxford to which Sian Kelly responded, followed by Amy Booth toasting “Los Argentinos” with Olivia Furlong replying with her tribute to the Brits. Amy Booth, Managing Editor of the revived online Buenos Aires Herald, described a long and winding road to Argentina via being a trapeze artist in Bolivia among other steps; Sian Kelly brought the archetypally English sport of cricket to a table which had hitherto heard a lot more about rowing while Echegoyen and Furlong, both MBAs from Hughes Hall, Cambridge, both showed themselves to be remarkably adept in imbibing the Varsity style in just a couple of years.

Ambassador Hayes might have been prepared to skip an Oxbridge dinner in order to pay homage to Argentine federalism but never a Tango Night in her own residence the next evening where she danced more than one milonga. The occasion was the Tango World Cup and Festival in Buenos Aires and the stars were the winners of the London Tango Week representing Britain at the international contest who displayed their skills to a full residence – the couples Chiara Benati and Andrea Vighi (Tango Pista) and Yelena Odintsova and David Ezequiel Chartoriski (Tango Escenario) who performed to the authentic music of the Los Herederos del Compas orchestra.

Not names which might normally be described as being as English as roast beef and last year’s Tango Night was hardly different – then Britain’s four representatives were Iro Davlanti Lo, Adrien Bariki Alaoui, Tanya Margarita Gutiérrez Lara and Sebastián Avendaño. Perhaps one day the British tango pair will have names like Nick Morris and Doreen Jenkins but meanwhile this just goes to show how multicultural a country Britain has become and what diversity of talent immigration brings to the table.

Whatever the names, the tango talents that Friday night were world-class. Benati and Vighi were the more purist and classical, dancing within a restricted space but with changes of pace and subtle moves. Odintsova and Chartoriski were more spectacular and acrobatic but “cheated” with whirls in the air, pirouettes more typical of ballet, Fred Astaire moves and other unorthodox movements.

Only a few minutes of dancing but the numerous guests thoroughly enjoyed a long evening with the excellent catering washed down with much more than water. 

Long may the Tango Nights continue.