Tango Festival and World Tango Championships in Buenos Aires

If you have even the slightest interest in tango, you should be attending this festival, the largest of its kind worldwide. Even if you don’t, you may want to consider that if you are in Buenos Aires, you are in the heart of the tango culture, and this is the best chance you’ll ever have to learn more about it.

The festival is essentially two events that happen at the same time. The first is a huge tango festival, which can be described as “everything relating to tango.” The highlight is all of the tango shows, ranging from traditional to electronic tango, and some of them by the best known tango groups in the world. You get to see loads of tango performances, and all of them for free!

Nonetheless, this festival is much more than just watching tango.  If you are interested in learning more about tango, as well as how to dance, there are free seminars and dance classes. These classes are put on by some of the finest teachers in the city, and are available for both beginners and advanced.

Some other highlights of the event:

• A Tango fair, which sells all sorts of products relating to tango – specifically clothes, music, and art.
• A selection of cinema about tango
• The presentation of books about tango
• Clinics for tango musicians, or anyone interested in tango music
• Conferences

To finish off the two weeks of tango is the World Tango Championships. The top tango dancers in the world compete to be named as the top dancers in the categories of Tango Salon and Tango Escenario.  If you are not familiar with tango, you probably do not know the difference between the two, and for most people, Tango Escenario is by far the more appealing to watch.  Here is a very basic definition:

Tango Salon:  tango dancers dance in couples on stage, at the same time as various other couples.

Tango Escenario: each couple dances alone on stage to their chosen song, using their choreographed routine.

Although all performances and events are free, you still have to pick up tickets.   Most of these have to be picked up within the first few days of the festival, and if you miss it, you won’t be able to get into most shows. For more information, visit the main site at http://www.mundialdetango.gob.ar/.

When: End of AugustWhere: Various locations throughout the capital

Why: You have even the slightest desire to see Tango or to learn more about it.

Tango Buenos Aires Festival

Tango Buenos Aires Festival and World Cup 2011 will be officially launched this coming Wednesday, August 10, at 5 p.m. at Madero Tango (Alicia Moreau de Justo and Brasil), Dique 1 of the city neighborhood of Puerto Madero. There, Minister of Culture Hernán Lombardi and Artistic Director of Tango Buenos Aires Gustavo Mozzi will announce the central themes of the present edition, and also provide details of the program of what is considered to be the world’s greatest tango event, to be held from August 16 to 30 at the City’s Centro de Exposiciones. After the announcement, the official website of Tango Buenos Aires will be available with the full schedule of events and other useful information for the fans, the interested and the newcomers to the music that is part of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

Thousands of dancers from Argentina and twenty other countries are taking part in the World Tango championship in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The 8th Tango Buenos Aires Dance World Cup is part of the 12th edition of The World Tango Festival which takes place in Buenos Aires from the 13th to the 31st of August. The rich programme of the artistic and cultural events organised by the Ministry of Culture, includes workshops, conferences, exhibitions, film screenings and concerts all celebrating the culture of tango.

The importance of this Argentine born dance was recognised officially In December 2009 when UNESCO officially inscribed the form of dance onto the ‘Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.’
The eighteen day fiesta brings together 500 artists representing the various trends and expressions now live on the scene. Great figures such as Leopoldo Federico, Juan Carlos Copes, Susana Rinaldi, Néstor Marconi, Elena Roger, Iñaki Urlezaga, Chico Novarro, Rodolfo Mederos, Miguel Angel Zotto, Mora Godoy, Soledad Villamil and Virginia Luque, are just some of the tango luminaries taking part in this years’ festival.
Among the productions is the debut of the Festival Orchestra Tipica El Porvenir; composed of sixty boys Priority Action Program arranged by Poppi Spatocco, Juan Carlos and Pablo Agri Cuacci.
This years’ festival coincides with the 75th anniversary of the death of Carlos Gardel, considered by many as perhaps the most prominent figure in the history of tango.
The final of Salon Tango competitions will be held on the 30th August whereas the Dance World Cup final event in the Stage Tango will be held on Monday 31st after a week of preliminary rounds.
The Jury will choose a winning couple in each category. In addition, the jury may grant awards and special mentions for the second and third place, and will be entitled to award other special mentions if considered necessary.
The prize for the first place in each category will be TWENTY THOUSAND pesos ($20,000). The second and third places will also have prizes and special mentions. All contestants will obtain a Dance World Cup participation certificate.
Although the hosts dominate proceedings, they are far from monopolizing the event - dancers from across Latin America, North America, Europe and Asia take part, and the reigning champions are Japanese.