The Canyengue and Orillero Tango Style

O Tango "Canyengue" e "Orillero"    El Tango Canyengue y Orillero    Ney Homero da Silva Rocha

Canyengue and Orillero are typical tango terms, which are used in the “porteño” slang known as “lunfardo” which contains countless terms, has specific dictionaries and has own Lunfardo National Academy with headquarters in Buenos Aires, chaired by José Gobello.  

 “Canyengue” means the “porteño” tango dance, which is uses “cortes” (the man leads the woman to a stop) and “quebradas” (there is a breaking movement of the body)  which give the dance a more informal identity, where the couples do not have the concern for the sober and rigid “tanguero” elegance which couples show at the ball rooms.  

This style was popular in the streets of poor outlying tenements, in the suburban neighborhoods distant from town, and in the suburbs. The term “orillero” comes from “orilla”, that is, border, limit (of the city or town). 

With the development of salon-style tango, around 1920, and the influence of ballet in show tango, tango dancing became more rigid as far as the elegance in posture in concerned. The “canyengue” style also penetrated  the tango salons and as it was greatly influenced by the posture to dance tango, it produced the “milonguero” style which, in fact, is a more sophisticated “canyengue” style, though portraying the same original characteristics of “cortes”and “quebradas”.  

As the “milonguero” style developed, “canyengue orillero” tango practically vanished, and it is no longer used, because it is considered as being a folkloric tango. But those “milongueros” who have been at the antique fair in San Telmo neighborhood, near the Plaza Dorrego, have surely seen a live “canyengue” tango exhibition by the “San Telmo Quintet”, which is a group of musicians, minstrels and tango dancers, under the coordination of the nice, romantic and charming tango couple of the “porteño” streets: Pochy and Osvaldo Boó. 

Pochy and Osvaldo are almost the only tango dancers who perform the “canyengue orillero” style, which is rarely practisedat present, and for that reason they are the living memory of this past culture “that does not come back any more”. They are a marvellous couple dressed in the old-times fashion, profoundly attractive and full of human touch.  

The visitors interested in taking tango classes with Pochy and Osvaldo Boó in Buenos Aires, may contact then in San Telmo`s square every sunday, or by telephones: + 54 (11) 4635 2042; 4674 0506; 4786 3529 (tel./fax), e-mail:oliver@arnet.com.ar,  or by The Brazilian Tango Website: Bardetango. Visitors who wish to take tango classes in Rio de Janeiro with Ney Homero Rocha, may contact him through the Thematic Bar of Tango at the Brazilian Tango Website - Bardetango, e-mails: bardetango@bardetango.com.br; neyhomero@bardetango.com.br, or telephones: (+ 55) (21) 2439 7536 (tel/fax); cel. 8151- 8406. 

You may find additional information on Pochy and Osvaldo Boó, their art, performance and style in “Tango Uma Paixão Porteña no Brasil” (Tango A Porteño Passion in Brazil), which you can buy at the adresses indicated.

Click on pages: Fls. 1/3; Fls. 2/3 and Fls. 3/3, to see the pictures of the Rio visit in Aug/Set, 2001.

 English translation: Cristina Otálora