CULTURE | 31-08-2023 17:21

UK dancers show off tango talent at British Embassy

Discreet elegance of Iro Davlanti Lo and Adrien Bariki Alaoui and the dramatic acrobatics of Tanya Margarita Gutiérrez Lara and Sebastián Avendaño on display at British Ambassador's Residence in Buenos Aires.

Michael Soltys

Michael Soltys, who first entered the Buenos Aires Herald in 1983, held various editorial posts at the newspaper from 1990 and was the lead writer of the publication’s editorials from 1987 until 2017.

Tango dancers show off their fancy footwork at the British Ambassador's Residence in Buenos Aires. | COURTESY BRITISH EMBASSY IN ARGENTINA

The British Embassy went out to bat for the United Kingdom contestants in this week’s Tango World Championship and Festival in Buenos Aires, holding a Wednesday night reception in the residence to give the two champion couples of London Tango Week an opportunity to display their skills to a select audience.

Presenting the event, British Ambassador Kirsty Hayes, who hit the floor something fierce herself in the course of the evening, frankly admitted that the timing (8.30-10.30pm) was a halfway house falling between the typical diplomatic reception and the much later hours of the tango world, but a good time was had by all.

The two couples took a while to appear and when they did, the accent was as much on milonga as on the tango at the heart of this week’s festivities but they were both impressive in contrasting styles – the discreet elegance of Iro Davlanti Lo and Adrien Bariki Alaoui and the dramatic acrobatics of Tanya Margarita Gutiérrez Lara and Sebastián Avendaño.