Customer Reviews

Forever Tango: Live from Teatro Coliseo Podesta

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

From what little we could see, the tango dancing in this video is excellent. But that hardly matters... because they appear to have had about 45 cameras available -- and an idiot director who clearly hates dance himself and assumes everyone else does as well. Mr. Director evidently decided that he was hired to make all that (yawn, snore) dancing stuff interesting... and the only way he can think to do so is to smash-cut from camera to camera to camera to camera to camera, never spending more than a second and a half on any one shot.

And those shots! He adores extreme close-up (XCU). We get an XCU of the lead's sweaty face, an XCU of the follow's left ankle, an XXCU of one single eyelash (source undetermined; it could be Hugo Chavez). Any minute, I expected some electron microscope images.

My wife and I bought this DVD because we wanted to watch the dancers dance (and listen to the tango music). We want one, at most two cameras; we want full-body two-shots, or else a shot of the entire stage with all the couples... like Astaire or Kelly or Murphy or Miller were always filmed in the 30s and 40s. (This same syndrome ruins the DVD of Riverdance, Lord of the Dance, and indeed, nearly every dance video or DVD released nowadays.)

If you simply cannot get enough of smash-cutting, and you really don't like dance very much anyway, then this tango video was made for you! But if you actually, you know, kind of want actually to see tango dancers dancing tango to tango music... then pass.

Great performance and highly recommended dvd for dance lovers. I have never seen such tango performance before altough camera angles are not quiet right for such a performance.

I recently attended a live production of Forever Tango. While the orchestra size was smaller than on the DVD the quality of the performance was still excellent. I have been interested in tango music since I discovered Astor Piazzola about 6 months ago. I love the music. The musicans on Forever Tango are exceptional. And I agree that good tango music is like living an opera told in 4-5 minutes. The dancers are quite dramatic. The DVD is visually stunning. I am a fan of the music first and foremost. Great tango music and lively dance make this a rewarding experience. I highly recommend the DVD and/or the CD.

If you've ever wondered why tango was considered a prohibited dance, why it has lasted for so many years, then you have got to see this DVD. The dancing here is not stilted or in jumps like so many other views of tango that I have seen. I felt like the voyeur of a secret conversation being carried on by two people. These dancers dance for each other and that makes it real. If you love dance, you have got to see this. It is truly a sight to behold. Wonderful.

I'll get straight to the point: the camera work is atrocious. We want to see the dance here, and instead we see fast-cut glimpses of faces, partial legs, odd zooms from the ceiling, and so on. Often, the editing cuts right in the middle of a dramatic move. It seems the editor is deliberately obscuring the choreography. Only rarely do we see the entire body of any dancer, and more rarely still do we see the larger perspective of all dancers at once. I recommend you see this show live if you can, but the DVD is a waste of money.

Speaking for myself, someone who enjoys dancing and the tango especially; this is a great DVD to watch. It presents the many moods of the dance and the many moves and gestures which go along with it. The film itself is not boring or presented as some kind of documentry, but as a dance itself moving from number to number with ease. I truly enjoy watching this film and will for a long time, if someone wants to see what the tango is all about and see it well executed, this is the DVD to watch.