Tango competitors reach inside for a win

By Fiona Ortiz

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Buenos Aires' reigning tango dancing champions are young and talented, but they worry youth could be a liability when they compete in the world championship this week in the capital of tango.

Maturity can be a plus in tango, a passionate and nostalgic dance, said Cristina Sosa, 25 and Daniel Nacucchio, 29, as they practice for the world competition after winning the Buenos Aires metropolitan contest earlier this year.

Gliding and pausing in a tight embrace around an empty dance hall floor during a recent afternoon rehearsal, the couple concentrated less on technique than on putting soul into their moves to tango's accordion strains and melancholy lyrics.

"The truth is I don't even know what steps I'll do. Sometimes something new comes out of me and I don't even know where it came from," said Nacucchio, a former pianist who spent his 20s teaching tango in Japan.

The competition begins on Monday with 406 couples from 23 countries competing in two categories: the improvised dance-hall style called salon tango, and a choreographed exhibition style called show tango.

TANGO IS OUR AMBASSADOR

"Tango is our ambassador to the world," Culture Minister Hernan Lombardi said on Sunday night at the championship inauguration.

Tango music and dance had their first golden-age in 1940s Buenos Aires, but Lombardi celebrated the future of the art form as thousands of Argentines and tourists flocked this year to the annual tango music festival and dance competition.

At the pre-contest social dance, sequins and cargo pants mixed on the crowded floor and couples got in a last practice before the first eliminations on Monday.

In the salon tango competition, judges give points for the way couples maintain space from other couples on the floor, as well as coordination and harmony, embrace and musicality.

"The only thing you can do to practice is to go out dancing, since salon tango is improvised," said Angeline Montoya, 33, a French competitor who lives in Buenos Aires.

In the salon tango competition couples improvise to three tango pieces. Acrobatics and lifts are prohibited -- the woman's feet must never rise higher than knee level.

"Salon tango is what people dance in the milongas (dance halls). It's not very structured. It's more about the embrace. It's more musical, with good taste, elegance, pauses, not just technique and speed," Nacucchio said.

Diego Ortega and Matias Van de Voorde, 19 year old men from Argentina, will both partner Japanese women twice their age in the flashier show tango category.

But on Sunday Van de Voorde's partner went home after her purse was stolen so he and Ortega took the floor together, drawing some attention.