7º Mundial de Baile

An opening night making a bid for the future

The festival got started at the Teatro Avenida, with tango greats accompanied by the ZAP youth orchestra. The diffe­rent festival venues were awash with the talent of musicians, singers, dancers, teachers and choreographers. This celebration of tango had taken over Buenos Aires again.

After coming through the first half of a difficult year, with electoral campaigns, an outbreak of dengue, lacking foreign tourists due to the world economic crisis and “shut up” at home for fear of the Swine ’Flu pandemic and the harsh cold of winter, the tango bonanza arrived in August with the Festival - in its eleventh edition - and the 7th World Tango Dance Championships.
There were expectations, and many… The press conference was held at “El Viejo Almacén” on Tuesday 11 August, and the opening of this popular event run by the Buenos Aires City Government’s Festivals Department, with Gustavo Mozzi in charge, was held on 14th at the Teatro Avenida with an emotional and encouraging schedule: the debut of the Orquesta Típica El Porvenir, made up of over fifty young players who belong to the youth orchestras of the ZAP (Priority Action Zone - a social action initiative with the city’s neediest youngsters), teenagers mostly from the neighborhoods of  Flores, Villa Lugano and Retiro.

Prior to their performance, Gabriel “Chula” Clausi delighted us with his bandoneon solo, and then the orchestra began, accompanying a succession of well-established greats like Leopoldo Federico, Pablo Agri’s quartet, Guillermo Fernández (who performed “Ventarrón”), Luis Salinas (playing “El porteñito”), Raúl Lavié singing “Volver”, Néstor Marconi and finally, directed by Juan Carlos Cuacci, La “Tana” Susana Rinaldi came on and addressed the orchestra saying: “You’re my grandchildren’s generation, and in the name of all those who are no longer with us I want to thank you for your effort and hard work, having taken up and continued with the art that they left to us as their legacy and which defends our identity.”
It was a night of happiness because the Festival was now amongst us, and of hope for the fervent contribution of the kids of “El Porvenir”.

The following day was the opening of the “Harrods” venue, on Florida street, with tango lessons and practice sessions in full view of passers-by who watched, so curious about such a spectacle one might say their noses were almost pressed against the glass.
On entering, the creations of the tango culture industry could be admired: dancing shoes (like those of Darcos, Tangoleike, Taconeando); exclusive outfits (Asignatura Pendiente, Tango Vip, Zotto Tango Shop, Segunda Generación, Mara Mansur), and a special stand of the AMBCTA (Association of Teachers, Dancers and Choreographers of Argentine Tango), attended by teachers and dancers.

Every day, from the 15th until Sunday 30th, there was a rainbow of musicians, singers and dancers who allowed us to enjoy their performing skills: Karina Beorlegui, the “Bandoneonazo - Ge­neración 85/90; Leopoldo Federico, Julio Pane, 34 puñaladas; the “Electroparty” with Tanguetto, San Telmo Lounge, the hip hop dancer, Mario Rizzo; the performance of Rodolfo Mederos, Julián Peralta and their Typical Orchestra, Tango Contempo, Guillermo Fer­nández and his Typical Orchestra, Narcotango, Otros Aires, Jesús Hidalgo, Quinteto Pirincho, María Estela Monti and Marcelo Boccanera were some of them.

There were also unforgettable conferences like the presentation of the book “Leopoldo Federico. El inefable bandoneón del tango”, by Jorge Dimov and Esther Echenbaum Jonisz, with the presence of Federico himself, Hermenegildo Sabat, Héctor Larrea and Oscar del Priore, and compèred by Luis Tarantino. And the book by Héctor Negro, “Cantaré hasta el final. Poemas arremangados, versos y canciones”.  Conferences on tango and boxing, run by Osvaldo Príncipi, and on tango and cabaret, run by Mariano del Mazo and Andrés Casak.
Moreover, there were screenings of movies, like “El Torcán”, by Gabriel Arregui, narrating the life of Luis Cardei; or the movie by Jana Bokova,  “Tango Salón”, immortalizing the milonga ambience of the Confitería Ideal.

And talks and relevant encounters like Gabriel Soria with the tango colector, José Soler; and the lecture by Ignacio Varchausky on Tangovía and the Digital Archive of tango.