History Of Tango – Part 12: El Cachafaz and the Dancers of the Early 20th Century

We investigate history because we seek to better understand ourselves.

An exceptional individual leaves fragments of footprints, pieces of mirrors that reflect and indicate general aspects of that particular type of individuality.

In this case, the category "tango milonguero dancer" is a classification that allows us to construct our identity. When fortune allows us to glimpse what it was like to be one of them in the past, it enables us to see ourselves not only from a historical perspective, that is, as individuals and classes developing in history, but also, by providing information that helps us to know ourselves better, it offers us examples of values that increase our capacity for choice, making us freer.

El Cachafaz

At ten years old, Ovidio José Bianquet, born February 14, 1885, lived in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of San Cristobal. His father, Antonio Bianquet, had Italianized his surname to make it sound more familiar in a context where 80 percent of surnames were Italian, changing it to Bianchetti.

He rented a house on Rioja Street, near the Gricel dance hall today.

His mother, Petrona Celestina Cabral, was visited by a neighbor accompanied by a police officer, explaining that the child had broken one of her windows with a stone. The mother, incredulous, affirmed that it was impossible, that her son was "good," but the policeman understood the child's name as "Benito." Soon, the father appeared, agreeing with the neighbor, saying that his son was a "scoundrel" ("cachafaz" in Spanish). This led to how our character became known in history: Benito Bianquet, El Cachafaz.

At that time, the child, who had smallpox, which left marks on his face, went to school, worked as a shoeshine boy, and spent the rest of the day on the street, where he occasionally saw men dancing the tango on the sidewalks to the music of street organ grinders. He watched them very attentively when he had the opportunity to be alone at home, as his father worked in a cigarette factory and his mother went out to run errands, he stood in front of the mirror and reproduced what he had observed on the street, recreating and improving the steps he had learned according to his criteria.

One day, while watching those men dance tango, he stood beside them and began dancing, too. The men stopped, and one asked him to dance with him. Everyone was astonished by the skill of this 11-year-old boy, who, from that day on, was recognized throughout the neighborhood for his dancing.

At 18, he left his parental home and moved to Pergamino, where the government incentivized young people who wanted to settle and work there. He lived in Pergamino for a while, working in the fields and making many friends, but he missed his home, his mother, and the tango.

So he soon returned to Buenos Aires and reconnected with his passion, realizing he needed to leave his neighborhood and dance in the "forbidden places" where his art would be better appreciated. Cachafaz's tango came from his street friends, who were much older than him. Boys his age called him "maestro" and asked him to teach them, to which he responded, "I don't teach. If you want to learn, watch me and copy."

At that time, he also began to associate with essential characters in the history of tango, such as Francisco Canaro, with whom he was very close, Carlos Gardel, Discépolo's father, Ernesto Ponzio, author of the tango "Don Juan," Rosendo Mendizábal, author of "El entrerriano," and many more.

Tango was transforming. Born in marginalized neighborhoods, it now sought acceptance from the wealthier classes. This began to happen in the first "waitresses' cafes" proliferating in the La Boca neighborhood, where patrons could drink coffee and alcoholic beverages, listen to the pioneers of tango music transitioning from the primitive tango of the "Guardia Vieja" to the more elaborate tango of the "Guardia Nueva," such as Francisco Canaro, Vicente Greco, Genaro Espósito, Roberto Firpo, Arturo Bernstein, and even dance with the waitresses. It was 1903, and El Cachafaz frequented these places, not to dance but to watch.

In those places, the tango dance was also being reworked, recreated day by day. The dancers watched each other and produced their choreographic innovations, inheriting techniques from the past and inspired by the new music.

Pedrín: The Pioneer of Tango and His Influence on El Cachafaz

The most important dancer of that era was Pedrín. Everything about him is conjecture, except that he was one of the pioneering tango dancers. It is speculated that his parents were Spaniards who arrived in the Río de la Plata region between the mid and late 19th century, along with many other European immigrants. The family might have settled in a conventillo near the old Plaza del Comercio, now Plaza Dorrego. There, Pedrín inherited his love for dance and began dancing tango before the age of fifteen.

Pedrín was creative and elegant, with light and swift feet. His friends said that, above all, he knew how not to dance tango. He stood out among the suburban dancers, frequenting street corners and dance venues and developing a unique style with distinctive figures. By 1899, he was considered the most outstanding dancer of his generation. Some called him Pedrín de San Telmo, while others called him Pedrín the One-Eyed. He danced with La Flaca Rosa, but his most significant contribution was his influence on El Cachafaz's style.

The Unique and Transformative Style of El Cachafaz in Tango

El Cachafaz stood out in improvised dance, creating a style he continuously modified throughout his over 40-year career. He distinguished himself from other street dancers with his elegance, confidence, and precision in posture—qualities that, around 1910, seemed more French than Argentine. Although his technique was not always refined due to his origins in brothels frequented by rough and drunk men, his dance was unique. His figures did not follow a logical structure and often seemed unfinished.

Though smoother than street dancing, he performed "corridas" with an exaggerated sway. The speed and length of his steps varied without apparent reason. At a time when dancers often strayed from the music and took time to regain the rhythm—something unattractive—El Cachafaz was very concerned about the relationship between steps and music, and he had extraordinary musical sensitivity.

His ability to move his feet with great speed and precision allowed him to interpret a musical phrase as if his feet were playing the instruments. He divided the melody and rhythm note by note, synchronizing his foot movements with them. When the bandoneon became the main instrument of tango, he conceived the idea that his movement should represent the instrument's breathing. The richness of the bandoneon favored his dancing style, softening its rough edges and making his gestures more expressive and poetic.

Watching him dance was a spectacle from the moment he entered the dance halls. His posture, cold blue eyes, olive skin, black hair slicked with gel, and the smallpox scars on his face gave him a severe look that could instill fear when he concentrated intensely. He did not choreograph; he had studied sequences he linked according to his inspiration, often leading him to spontaneously invent figures he would never repeat.

He always danced very upright, which gave him an imposing air. He never stayed completely close to his partner and often did not lead her in a frontal position, making his movements more visible. His partners said they could never figure out what they were doing and never felt forced, sensing the impulse of delicate commands that made them perform the most complex figures with the assurance that El Cachafaz would give them time to complete them.

His style was continuously transforming, noticeable week by week. He danced very differently from the others. In a dance hall, he seemed to come from another era. Women feared being asked to dance by him and, at the same time, desired it because he did many things they were unaware of, but they also knew that, guided by him, there would be no insurmountable difficulties.

The First Triumphs of El Cachafaz and His Rise to International Fame

The first competition El Cachafaz participated in was in Rosario in 1906, at Madame Safó's house. He had visited a cousin who was making good money with several stores in the city center. His cousin took him to Madame Safó's, the most expensive brothel in the country, although the dance floor was free. There, the master dancer Gaeta, who trained the girls, mostly of Polish origin, was employed.

When they arrived at the hall, they saw Gaeta dancing with his partner. El Cachafaz asked the first girl who smiled at him to dance, and she followed him very well. He started dancing very close to Gaeta, challenging him with his "cortes and quebradas." Gaeta did not back down, and soon, Madame Safó organized a competition. They would dance a tango, a waltz, and a milonga. El Cachafaz won the first round, but Gaeta shone more in the waltz. The milonga went to El Cachafaz, securing his victory.

In 1907, he defeated the man considered the best tango dancer in Buenos Aires, Pardo Satillán, who danced with his partner, Parda Esther, both of Uruguayan origin, at the Hansen hall in the Palermo neighborhood. He danced with an unknown young lady, a regular at the place, who confessed to him after the dance that she had thought she was a beginner until then, but with him, she had done steps she did not know she was capable of. She had danced with an ecstatic smile throughout the tense competition.

El Cachafaz was famous for his habit of arriving at any milonga without a partner and establishing his dominance with a regular dancer with whom he had never danced before. This highlights El Cachafaz's leading qualities and indicates that the average level of dancing at that time was very high.

In 1911, he won another contest and, as a prize, received a contract to work and teach in New York, thus becoming the first officially recognized professional tango dancer.

In 1913, he returned to Buenos Aires, and the owner of the Teatro Olimpo, who had started organizing dances there, proposed that they partner and open a tango school on the upper floor. The venture was so successful that tango ended up displacing the theater, and the name was changed to Salón Olimpo. Within two years, attendance had grown so much that opening a second dance floor in the hall where El Cachafaz taught his classes became necessary. Consequently, the owner began a similar experience in another hall in downtown Buenos Aires. El Cachafaz did not like giving group classes, so he took the opportunity to offer private lessons only.

Rejection and Acceptance of Tango: From Moralistic Criticism to International Acclaim

Meanwhile, a moralistic reaction ensued against tango in the United States and Europe, prompting Pope Pius X to weigh in and accept it. Baron Antonio de Marchi arrived in Buenos Aires in the early 1900s and bridged the social classes of Argentine aristocracy and the lower classes through tango. For him, "Tango had to become the element of unity and solidarity of the city."

Born in Pallanza, Italy, on August 25, 1875, he died in Buenos Aires on February 20, 1934. He married María Roca, daughter of General Julio Argentino Roca, who was President of Argentina for two terms (1880-1886 and 1898-1904). De Marchi was primarily a sportsman and pioneer. He founded the Sociedad Sportiva, created the Cercle de l'Éppé to promote fencing, encouraged automobile racing, organized the Boy Scouts of Buenos Aires, and formed the school battalions that paraded at the Centennial celebrations (1910). He also promoted horsemanship, cultivated a friendship with Jorge Newbery, and provided the Aero Club with the field of the Sportiva (the current area of the city's Planetarium), from where the balloon Pampero, piloted by Newbery and Aaron de Anchorena, departed on December 25, 1907.

When World War I broke out, he returned to his country and joined the fighting troops, returning to Argentina after the armistice. In Milan, he had studied tango with Parisian masters. He had the intuition that tango should endure into the future, but for this to happen, the rejection of the upper class had to end.

In 1913, he organized a tango music competition —whose jury was composed of ladies from high society— to promote it to the upper class of Buenos Aires, and hired several dance couples. He asked the participants to moderate their performances to avoid scandalizing the audience, but this provoked harsh criticism in one of Buenos Aires' leading newspapers, denouncing this tango falsification. This worried De Marchi greatly, and he realized that public opinion agreed with the newspaper article, although they appreciated the Baron's intention to help tango gain acceptance. Many advised him to abandon the enterprise and cancel the following nights at the theater. But he decided to move forward. He lowered the ticket price, filled the theater, and allowed the dancers to perform freely without explicitly declaring it.

All the dancers began to perform tango figures without censorship. The audience responded positively, even dancing in their seats and trying to imitate the steps they saw. One of the dancers stood out, and from then on, he was mentioned whenever the topic of tango arose in conversation.

He was El Cachafaz, 28 years old.

Gardel and Razzano's Tribute to El Cachafaz: A Tango Legends Show

In 1918, Gardel and Razzano, the most famous duo in Argentine history, organized a show to honor the world's best tango dancer, El Cachafaz. This was a year after Carlos Gardel premiered the first tango song and began his career as a tango singer.

The show featured the Firpo-Canaro orchestra, which included the most famous musicians of the time, the same orchestra that had caused a sensation at the Teatro Colón in Rosario during the previous year's carnivals. It included tango stars such as Eduardo Arolas, Osvaldo Fresedo, Juan D'Ambrogio "Bachicha," and Pedro Polito on bandoneons; Julio Doutry, Agesilao Ferrazzano, and Tito Roccatagliata on violins; Juan Carlos Bazán on clarinet, Alejandro Michetti on flute, José Martinez on piano, and Leopoldo Thompson on double bass. Francisco Canaro (violin) and Roberto Firpo (piano) alternated in conducting.

The Tango Craze in Paris: 1913

In 1913, Tango was all the rage in Paris. There was a "tango color" (orange),

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