“I told my partner we should aim to not come in the last five, and he said that was too much pressure,” laughed Shreya Shah. “He told me we were going to come in last, and that I’d better be happy with that.” Shah and her dance partner Manoj Unni have traveled from Pune, India, to Buenos Aires, to join over 750 couples in this year’s Tango World Cup.
That number is a record for the championship. Organized by Buenos Aires City government’s culture ministry, dancers widely describe it as the world’s most renowned tango event. The competition is the centerpiece of the Tango BA festival , which runs from August 14-27 and includes more than 2,000 artists.
Events include live music, exhibitions, dance classes, and milongas, at venues across Argentina’s capital. This year, the championship has drawn competitors from 53 countries including Brunei, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Moldova and Myanmar. The competition includes categories for classic tango ( tango de pista ) and stage tango ( tango de escenario ), the more acrobatic variant in which participants are allowed to jump and break their embrace.
Both amateur and professional dancers will compete to be crowned the best in the business. The finals will be held at Movistar Arena, in Villa Crespo, on August 27. Shah and Unni are the only couple this year who made the trip from India to compete.
Many people have told her they didn’t know tango was danced in India, she says, so she feels being at the festival helps put her c.