Ever since age five, I’ve been identified as a dancer. It’s been the main common thread throughout my life, and so as habit (and a ridiculous necessity and passion for moving) would have it, I’ve managed to insert myself into the community of dancers here in Buenos Aires.
As the title of this page implies, this will be a place for people to go if they want information on dance studios, specific classes, shows, milongas – anything pertaining to dance that I have done or plan on doing – in Buenos Aires. If you know people who are living here and would find this interesting, pass along the word, or if you are a dancer of whatever nationality living here in Buenos Aires, holler at me and we can share info, as I’m always on the lookout for more things to satiate my appetite for dance!
Dance Dance Dance, I Was A Dancer All Along
To quote one of my recent favorite artists (well, not that recent…but to put it in the ‘favorite’ category would be to stick it on the shelf next to old-time, veteran favorites, like The Beatles, per se) Lykke Li, I was a dancer all along.
So here goes my first post on this page, the one devoted to Dance in Buenos Aires.
I am going to start by giving a brief overview of the first dance studio I dance at here since moving back in August. It’s called Reina Reech, and I chose it solely due to it’s all too convenient location, 4 blocks from the apartment I shared with my good friend Felice.
My advanced Jazz class was full of Argie girls, aged 17 – 28 (quite a large age gap, if I don’t say so myself). I don’t meant to toot my own horn here, but it’s interesting how various studios use the classification of “beginner”, “intermediate” and “advanced”. Let’s just say this was a perfect class to keep the kilo’s of delicious ice cream and bife de lomo‘s from showing…all that much. It was two blocks away from my gym American Sport (see one of the earliest entries on this blog for more on that), and though, at the beginning, I tried to leave my apartment 30 minutes early so as to have some warm-up time on the Eliptical or Treadmill at the gym, that initiative began to dwindle pretty quickly.
There were two dance studios within the larger school (that is to say two…halls, we’ll call them, one upstairs and one downstairs), and I had one favorite thing about both.
The downstairs studio featured a large, floor-to-ceiling window that faced the street. The studio was on Calle Guemes, one of the busier streets in the city, that nearly every bus going from the outskirts of town into the centro frequented. There was also lots of traffic. Read: old dirty men staring through the un-blinded windows as a bunch of teenager and early twenty-something girls did isolation’s, stretched, and generally shook their booties. I was throroughly grossed out one day when I caught someone in the act – eyes wide, faced basically pasted against the window of the bus. All I can say is, that was definitely the last time I decided to stand right next to the window.
The upstairs studio was less visible from the street, but it had it’s own obstacles. Namely the gigantic pole/pillar, essentially in the MIDDLE of the studio. Even if you aren’t a dancer, I imagine you can see how this would pose to be a problem. Across-the-floor combination always included some kind of sly maneuver to avoid the pole.
Needless to say, once I got my bearings a bit more in the Buenos Aires dance world, I took the time to do a bit more research and find a better studio. Research being: my American dancer friend and the awesome jazz class that is now an essential part of my mental and physical health.
Lesson learned: despite the fact that I still have so much to learn about the dance scene here, and that I adore (almost) everything about Buenos Aires and am having so much fun exploring the porteño dance world, I will say this; thank you, America, and my wonderful past teachers and dance schools, for affording me beautiful spaces to move in, and wonderfully talented teachers to inspire me.
Hasta la proxima, chicos! Les mando un beso grande 
DANCE CLASSES IN BAIRES:
Just thought I’d take a moment to mention some studios and give some pointers on good dance related websites here in Buenos Aires.
Reina Reech: I’ve taken Jazz there with Chipi. The studio in Palermo is small, and I can’t vouch for the other classes, but I’ve heard the studio in Belgrano is much bigger and nicer.
El Porton de Sanchez: This studio is WONDERFUL. I am currently taking advanced Jazz classes there with Michelle Kadison, a phenomenal American teacher. If you want the details holler at me and I’ll hook it up! This studio also offres a lot of other classes and has a black box’ish theater in the back. It boasts a very large (by Argie standards) and luminous studio, and the staff is super friendly.
Fundacion Julio Bocca: You can expect the competition and up-tight bunhead ambiance that goes along with most intense classical ballet studios, but this is the only ballet class that I have found in Buenos Aires that meets my standards. The studio is huge, the teachers are all very professional, and the overall level is quite high. You can get a coupon for 10 classes that you have 60 days to use, which is what I would recommend doing. Their musical comedy school is also very good, but you can only take those classes if you are enrolled in the 4 year long “carrera de comedia musical”.
Estudio de Paula Shapiro: is located in Villa Crespo. I went there specifically to take the advanced jazz class (which is very musical theater oriented) with Marcela Criquet. She is awesome. Due to schedule conflicts I’ve only been able to take a class with her once, but her energy is electrifying and she’s got the perfect bit of spunk. She is among the highly revered staff at Julio Bocca, and if I had more time (and an endless supply of money and no need to work) I would take her classes as often as I could.
