If the Pantheon of Greek gods includes Apollo, Hermes and Zeus, then the one of the Argentine street would be populated by contemporary archetypes like the cheta (snob),garca (hustler) and the milico (soldier).

Visiting Buenos Aires for the first time, I was fortunate to stumble upon the Cambalache Festival, a festival celebrating its fifth year of innovations in Tango. Entering a garage-type space into a very underground scene, I felt like a privileged native, aware that this was not the type of place your typical traveller would be able to find.

The first thing I noticed as I approached the bar was the beautiful stained glassed windows with the name ‘la Vaca Profana’ written so elegantly across. ‘The Profane Cow’: such an intriguing name. It seemed to have a quiet charm, and upon entering, I wasn’t disappointed.

‘No Avestruz’ (No Ostrich) refers to the lanky creature’s rumoured habit of burying his head in the sand when the pressures of his ostrich life become too much to endure. In the otherworldly cultural space that bears this title, such behaviour is just about the only thing that is strictly forbidden.

José Saramago, a Portuguese writer and Nobel prize literature winner, in 1995 wrote a world famous novel called ‘Ensayo sobre la ceguera’, (essay about blindness) in which he warns about having eyes when others have lost them, in a metaphoric way.

Most men hit mid-life and buy a sports car, but Arturo Goetz, an Oxford scholar, professional polo player and economist who helped to reduce global starvation, bought himself acting lessons instead. The investment, as you would expect from an economist, proved a sound one.

While the neon lights of Corrientes may seem inviting, there is a whole other scene in town to be discovered, one without billboards and big names. Alternative theatre in the capital is hotter than ever, with avant-garde plays and actors displaying their work in original spaces.

Pretend to be a balloon flying away and watching the world from above, a tortoise going to hospital or a widow whose husband has just fallen off a roller coaster and act all these situations in Spanish only!

Pablo Rotemberg is currently starring solo in ‘El Lobo’ (The Wolf), an award-winning self-directed theatre performance which combines dance, music and drama. He talks to The Argentina Independent.

Akram Khan, the internationally renowned dancer and performer, was born in the UK in 1974 and is of Bangladeshi origin. He began dancing at the age of seven, learning first the northern Indian traditional Kathak dance form. He later went on to study modern dance, graduating from the Northern College of Contemporary Dance with the highest marks ever awarded.