Rodolfo González Alcántara, photograph by Diego Sampere

Their average age is twenty-three. They don’t smoke, they don’t drink, they don’t stay up late. Many of them listen to punk or heavy metal or rock, but all are able to differentiate a pericón from a Chilean cueca, a waltz from a vidala. They have pored over books such as Martín Fierro, Don Segundo Sombra, and Juan Moreira: epitomes of the gaucho tradition. These sagas and certain period movies — like The Gaucho War — are as inspiring for them as Harry Potter or Star Trek is for others. They place importance on words such as respect, tradition, nation, flag. They want to have, onstage but also offstage, the attributes commonly ascribed to gauchos — usterity, courage, pride, sincerity, directness — and to be rugged and strong enough to endure the blows they’ve always taken. That they still take.

Héctor Aricó is a dancer, choreographer, researcher, author of books and articles on traditional Argentinian dances. He’s been a judge at Laborde for fifteen years and he has an impeccable reputation. Today, Friday, he’s been at the judges’ table, like every day, from eight at night to six in the morning. He gave a talk on attire at ten this morning. He now stands smoking under an awning in the field, dressed in black, carefully modulating his words and gesticulating a lot, as if he were an actor in a silent film.

“Laborde doesn’t have the recognition that other festivals have at the commercial level, because the organizing committee and the delegates have preferred it that way. But it’s the bastion of the malambo, and for a dancer it’s the highest recognition.”

“What things are the judges evaluating when they watch the dancers?”

“First of all, symmetry. This is a perfectly symmetrical dance by a human figure that’s naturally asymmetrical. The first step in training — and the biggest challenge — is to create symmetry: in ability, intensity, sound, in spatial equality. The second problem is stamina. Here, everyone knows they’re not going to win with a two- or three-minute malambo: they have to get close to five. So the capacity for stamina is also evaluated. Then the structure, which has to be attractive, but also has to be within the regulations: we have to see, for example, that the legs aren’t raised above the limits, because this isn’t a show, it’s a competition. And the musical accompaniment — often the musicians don’t really accompany the malambo dancer, and instead the music becomes the protagonist and detracts from the dance. And last, the attire: the design on their ponchos must correspond to the correct province,...