Tango Legends: Pupi Castello
As a dance that’s almost 150 years old, Argentine tango has undoubtedly made a historical, social, and cultural mark.
From the time it began in the 1880s to the present, tango has produced some of the most stunning and talented artists, both on the dance floor and as musical icons. Over the years, numerous maestros and virtuosos have had the distinction of being dubbed as legends of tango. Among the many tango legends in the community, Pupi Castello is definitely one of the tangueros you must know.
Pupi Castello: The Life of the Party
“They call me Pupi. My real name is Ernesto Castello but everyone calls me Pupi. In fact, it should be 'puppy.'”
This introduction — taken from the 2005 BBC 4 documentary “La Confiteria Ideal: The Tango Salon” — is perhaps the best way one can acquaint oneself with Ernesto Norberto “Pupi” Castello. All smiles and brimming with what could perhaps be described as subdued energy, Pupi instantly radiates an arresting personality.
From his tone of voice, body language, and expressions, it’s not difficult to see why this tango legend is often viewed as the life of the party.
In fact, a post from Todo Tango paints an unforgettable picture of the man:
“It is a challenge for any aficionado remembering an evening at any of the many milongas porteñas that are held in which [Pupi] Castello had not been present, with his porteño swagger, hands in his pockets, cigarette butt in his mouth, and his reddened face.
“A sort of amazing metamorphosis takes place in [Pupi] when he wakes up late at noon, in his home in the neighborhood of Balvanera, and is dressed [in a] T-shirt, Bermuda shorts, and slippers, turned into a venerable father and grandfather.”
It’s not difficult to imagine Pupi Castello as this kindly grandfather who’s only too happy to impart his knowledge and regale the youth with tales of his adventures. Even his style of dancing seems to exude a kind of warmth that’s always ready to celebrate the best of life with everyone in the tango community. Tanguito even describes Pupi’s style as such:
“[Pupi Castello] is definitely the most flamboyant of the milongueros we’ve seen so far as part of our dimension ‘immersion.’ He likes flashy ganchos, risqué wraps, and sacadas, and can even reverse the embrace at times! Not for the faint-hearted!”
Born in 1936 in Buenos Aires, Pupi Castello learned tango in the 1940s, which is considered part of Argentine tango’s Golden Age. A post from History of Tango describes the kind of style that Pupi has likely become familiar with:
“The huge variety of Tango dance styles in Buenos Aires in the 1940s and 1950s represents the amazing depth and richness of Tango. [...]
“The most elegant Tango dance style is, without question, the style danced in the north of Buenos Aires in the 1940s. This is a part of the city that has historically tended to be financially better off than the south. Dance floors here have tended to be larger. The shape drawn by the couple on the floor as they dance tends to be long straight lines, punctuated with a sudden, very complicated movement. The form of musicality in this style is probably the hardest for the person trained in the European tradition to understand. [...]
“In the style of the north, it is very common to see people dancing three equal steps in four beats of the music in a way that is utterly natural and completely at one with the music.
“The archetypal step in this style is a salida in which the leader takes just two steps to the four taken by the follower, followed by walking in line with frequent weight changes. The archetypal orchestra is Di Sarli.”
Pupi himself mentioned in “La Confiteria Ideal” that he likes his own style, and that the tango he learned in the ‘40s was the kind of tango danced between men. Those who are familiar with the history of Argentine tango would know that the tango of the porteños in the 1880s was, in fact, practiced by two male dancers as opposed to the male and female dance couple one commonly sees today.
In the same interview, Pupi states:
“Times change. Maybe youngsters are dancing the tango of the future. But I like my own style. It's the style of the '40s. It's got rhythm and elegance. Young people move like elephants. For instance, look at Geraldine [Rojas], who dances our style of tango. She's 20 but she dances like us. That's something else. It's the sort of tango I like.”
Pupi, Portalea, and Professional Dancing
When it comes to the 1940s style of tango, Gerardo Portalea appears to be one of the tango luminaries that have defined this decade. According to History of Tango:
“While I was doing my research on the various styles of the Golden Age, I would ask dancers that I met who, apart from themselves of course, was the best dancer of the style. In the north of the city, the answer always came back [as] ‘Portalea.’ I would ask why, and I was always told that it was the way he interpreted the music that made him the best. One evening, someone told me that Portalea was in the room, so, very excited, I scurried off to watch him dance.
And I looked at him in amazement, because I simply could not work out how what he was doing had anything to do with the rhythm of the music at all. And that, of course, was my mistake. He wasn't dancing [to] the rhythm of the music. He was dancing the phrase.”
Even Pupi Castello, who can be considered one of Portalea’s contemporaries, has high regard for the latter. Of Portalea, Pupi says in “La Confiteria Ideal:” “Most of the old milongueros, other than Portalea, are dead now. That's why we have to encourage the young people. Otherwise, tango will die with us.”
However, while they were contemporaries, Pupi and Portalea seemed to be on opposite sides of the spectrum when it came to who they were as individuals. An article published by the journal Clarín states:
“Portalea was born in 1929, and [Pupi] in 1935; both lived the glorious era, the decline, and the phenomenal comeback of tango de pista, and therefore coincided in that vital journey of the genre. They also coincided — with their obvious differences — in that style of elegant dance, walked, at the same time sober and rich, very musical, which is usually called ‘tango-salon.’ For the rest, it seems difficult to think of two more opposite people.”
The same journal goes on to describe Portalea as a “serious, modest, and reserved man” — indeed quite the opposite of Pupi who is known for his “expansive personality and overwhelming sympathy.”
Despite these differences, however, it is safe to say that without their contributions to the dance, tango would not have enjoyed the popularity it did — and still does.
Since Pupi has been practicing tango at the young age of 15, it is not difficult to believe that his influence has reached far and wide in the community. In fact, numerous tango dancers, such as Guillermina Quiroga and Geraldine Rojas, who have made their own mark as tango dancers, hail Pupi as one of their primary influences. According to 8th Style Tango:
“With his long-time dance partner, the extraordinary Graciela Gonzales, [Pupi] helped usher in the Tango Renaissance and carry forward the intelligence and subtlety of the form. As a dancer of sophisticated phrasing, humor, and character, [Pupi] has helped keep alive the mischief and flirtation of Tango amidst a backdrop of profound artistry.”
Similar to Portalea, though, Pupi seemed to be disinterested in becoming a professional tango teacher, even stating in “La Confiteria Ideal” that he has always worked a job because “tango gives you satisfaction, but no money.” A post from Todo Tango confirms this sentiment: when asked whether he would have liked to lead his life as a professional dancer like Juan Carlos Copes or Miguel Ángel Zotto, Pupi says:
“No! Being onstage is a tough job for me.
But yes, Copes is my idol as a dancer. I know him from the time when he was not an artist: he was phenomenal. As an artist, he showed tango worldwide more than anybody else.”
It is fascinating to note that, according to Clarín, Portalea has worked all his life as a gravedigger, while Pupi worked as a telephone clerk for 25 years. Nobody would have imagined that these two individuals, who held quite normal — perhaps even mundane — jobs would bring so much life to tango.
In Pupi’s case, regardless of his disinterest in dancing professionally, he was able to travel and teach in countries such as Chile, France, Germany, and Norway.
There, he would give classes and demonstrations, even going so far as to appear in shows and films. He was also included in “Bridge to the Tango,” an instructional video series created by Daniel Trenner. Of this series, Tango Voice notes:
“Direct instruction by stage tango dancers was supplemented by the creation of tango instructional videos. In this regard, Daniel Trenner created the ‘Bridge to the Tango’ instructional video series, which included instruction by stage performers as well as by milonga experienced dancers of Tango de Salon, as well as tango instructional videos with Trenner and his partner Rebecca Shulman, the latter couple representing a style of tango dancing that was predominant in North America in the 1990s — a modification of Tango de Salon Estilo del Barrio, with the embrace eliminated. Trenner also traveled widely throughout North America to seed the development of tango communities. [...]
“Included in the Bridge to the Tango series are instructional videos of Argentine Tango de Salon (i.e., tango as danced in the milongas of Buenos Aires) by Pedro ‘Tete’ Rusconi and Silvia Ceriani, whose dance is representative of Tango Estilo Milonguero, with its maintained enclosed embrace, and by Mingo, Esther, and Pablo Pugliese, and by Ernesto Norberto ‘Pupi’ Castello and Luciana Valle, whose dances, as portrayed in these videos, are representative of Tango Estilo del Barrio, with its movement into and out of the embrace. Notably, in the instruction in these videos, Tete discusses the embrace whereas Mingo and Pupi do not.”
Aside from “Bridge to the Tango,” Pupi also appeared in “Danza Maligna,” a 2003 stage show by Silvana Grill and Fabián Luca. According to Clarín, this can be considered as Pupi’s most relevant stage appearance as the show “united professional dancers with authentic milongueros like [Pupi] himself, and which was presented at the Théâtre de Chaillot in Paris.”
Though his style is one highly regarded as energetic and flamboyant, it seems that Pupi has never forgotten the fundamentals of tango. In fact, in “La Confiteria Ideal,” he states:
“The most difficult thing is the tango walk. Anyone can do the steps — me, for instance! But very few people can walk.”
A Legacy of Warmth and Good Humor
On July 23, 2007, Pupi Castello passed away — but not without leaving a tango legacy defined by both the richness of his style and personality. Coincidentally, Pupi and Portalea passed away in the same year, just two years after “La Confiteria Ideal” aired and with just a little over a month between their deaths. Even during his hospital stay, Pupi seemed to continue spreading tango to all those he could reach. An anecdote from Tango Chamuyo states:
“I heard only recently from a milonguero who knew him that when [Pupi] was hospitalized during the last months of his life, he was teaching tango to the doctors and nurses at Hospital de las Clinicas.”
To those who knew him, this would not have come as a surprise as Pupi himself said in “La Confiteria Ideal” that he could not live without tango — “It'd be like cutting off one of my legs.”
Today, Pupi’s legacy continues to shine through the dancers he taught and inspired, and through the people whose lives he changed and regaled with his warmth and everlasting good humor.