“Each country has an identity, a colour, a sound, a flavour and Tango is what represents us."
ADVERTISEMENTThe Buenos Aires Tango Dance Festival World Cup is back from 6 to 18 September, after cancelled editions due to the pandemic.
The event takes place in more than 30 venues, in 13 districts throughout the city, with more than 1500 artists on stage.
Tango dancers from all over the world are there, thrilled that the Usina del Arte, a cultural center located in La Boca, is hosting two eagerly-awaited competitions: the Tango de Pista and Tango Stage.
Tango dancer Maria Ofelia Prado, 75-years-old, will compete in the Championship.
"For me, Tango is very important,” says Prado. “It's the most important thing in my life, apart from my children... It's fun and entertainment. We always participate in the World Championship, in the Metropolitan (Championship) because Tango is very important for us - it's when we are happy, when we have fun.”
Singer Facundo Monti goes further. "Tango is the soul of Buenos Aires. Tango is the heart that beats in all of us who love our identity.”
“Each country has an identity, a colour, a sound, a flavour and Tango is what represents us. It's being an Argentine, if you don't like Tango, you can't be an Argentine," states Monti.
Crossing genres for new generations
The festival is a space to see the established artists of the genre and to meet the new generations, and to find out what is happening in the contemporary Tango scene. The celebration of the music also extends to exhibitions, tribute concerts, classes and film screenings.
This year’s edition will also feature different events celebrating Argentina’s great figures of Tango: María Nieves, Víctor Lavallén, Walter Ríos, José "Pepe" Colangelo and Cholo Montironi are among the names being celebrated. In addition, the festival and Rueda de Milongueros Históricos will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the company Tango Pasión.
Documentaries by Nelly Omar, Ignacio Corsini and Homero Expósito, among others, will also be screened.
The festival has announced that one of its objectives is to reach all the neighbors of the city, integrating its spaces into a single Tango festival. There will be dance classes in the different venues and this year there will also be open classes in squares.
Another main objective of the festival is its openness to new generations of dancers, with activities for children and young people, including school orchestras and tango choirs, shows and tango classes for children, and artistic projects that cross different genres. In order to reach new audiences, the festival will continue to make room for genre crossovers.
