world tango championships

Posted by Ryan (Kaohsiung, Taiwan) on 26 August 2007 in People & Portrait.

We went and watched the finals of the World Tango Championships last night (the escenario, or 'stage', competition. Tonight is the more common (salón) tango that is danced by most people) and were completely blown away. I heard about this last year, but not until after it was finished. Definitely worth it, the dancing was terrific, the audience was wonderful, and they had extra tango in between the competitors by a tango company - male-male tango, group tango, two-man-one-woman and two-woman-one-man tango, all very well done. In fact, one of the girls in the last intermission performance had a dress malfunction and actually ended up doing the last set in her underwear and hose. Now that's dedication!

With this picture (one of my favourites from the night) I must also include the descriptive paragraph from the program (for posterity, of course):

Like an infectious passion that cannot be confined in time or space, each tango step carries with it the features of the Buenos Aires character, and the mark of a sentiment that knows no borders. They travel together, swinging with rakish elegance and unmistakable codes. The 5th Tango Dance World Championships will once again trigger that cultural convergence, the one that poses many questions: How is tango danced? Who dances tango? Why have they fallen in love with this music? On August 16th, when dance couples and the audience will come across some answers on the dance floor. Unless they choose to dodge them. Perhaps both the artists and the public will surrender rejuvenates every year. Salon Tango and Stage Tango propose two very different styles, techniques, aesthetics and even ways of feeling life. However, at La Rural exhibition center, both categories usually blend into the same leisure universe. Those who have won, those who would bet their lives they will win this time, those who come to learn, those who "only" want to have fun, they are all members of the same club, one that is both selective and generous: they are the pilgrims of a passion that continues to expand. From Tokyo or from a San Telmo corner, tango is coming. Buenos Aires awaits, to then return it to the whole world.

Such passionate language! Tango does that to a person.

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