Japanese Couple Win Tango Championship in Argentina

A Japanese married couple, Kyoko and Hiroshi Yamao, surprised tango dancers around the world and just about everyone in Argentina by winning the Seventh World Championship of Tango. As if that were not bad enough in the home country of the tango, which in Argentina is so much more than just a dance, a couple from Colombia placed second, and Argentine dancers placed no better than third.

The prize that the Yamaos won, 15,000 Argentine pesos (not quite $4,000 US), is insignificant compared to the achievement of charming judges and a predominantly Argentine audience of about six thousand in the classic Buenos Aires venue known as Luna Park, where they will tonight join in a closing spectacle with world class world class tango dancers. Perhaps now, however, it should be said that the Yamaos and other world class tango dancers will participate, since they were one of over four hundred couples from twenty-five countries.

Despite having to adhere to strict rules, the dancers must also demonstrate style and "musicality," rather abstract terms, and they are permitted to use movements and gestures not related to the traditional tango.

Tango in Japan

The Japanese people have been especially fond of tango since the 1960s, with the tours of Argentine tango companies. Since then, tango has only grown in popularity in Japan. In 2003, for the first time, the Argentine Tango Dance Association (ATDA) was invited by the Japan's national television network (NHK) to teach tango on the air.

To spread the wrod about Argentine tango, Japan holds a World Tango Festival every year, reaching out, as the name suggests, not only to Japan and the rest of Asia, but to anyone, anywhere, who appreciates Argentine tango. At the festival, in addition to workshops and presentations, there are competitions with judges from Argentina and other countries.

Tango in Argentina

In the United States, we thnk of tango as a dance, but in Argentina, where it originated in the barrios of poor immigrants in Buenos Aires, tango is Argentine soul music, the music and dance of Argentina's soul. It is well-documented that in the early days of tango (I have never been able to find a credible account of the origin of the word), men danced the tango with other men, often while waiting their turns in brothels. An Argentine friend claimed that the excessive sensuality of the dance was the result of the men demonstrating what they would do when it was their turn. I have seen a woman in her eighties dance tango, and I have heard a boy of twelve sing tango.

While Kyoko and Hiroshi Yamao certainly deserve hearty congratulations for winning the World Championship of Tango in the home of tango, I doubt that Argentines are very worried, because tango is something they carry deep in their hearts, which can never be taken from them.