The end of august brought around the yearly held World Tango Dance Tournament. It’s called Campeonato Mundial de Baile de Tango in spanish, or simply Mundial de Tango. There are two categories at the tournament: Tango de Pista and Tango Escenario. Today’s article talks about the winners of Tango de Pista.
Tango de Pista
Up until 2012 this category was named Tango de Salon. Couples competing in this category have to adhere to strict rules. The rules of competition include and define the way couples could dance at a milonga. For example no jumps are allowed. The musicality, connection and elegance of the couples is considered. There are three rounds: a first, qualifying round, a semi-final and a final.
Each round consist of rondas (rounds). About 7 to 11 couples dance in each ronda, in a counter-clockwise direction. They have to dance to three songs, different in style, this is evaluated by the jury. Depending on their scores the couples can either move on to the next round or drop out.
We could dedicate an entire article to the reasons of the name change of the category. Up until 2013 the rules of competition were written based on the ways people danced tango in way back in time, in the big tango salons. (For more information see the 2013 rules of competition) Due to this, Tango de Salon competitions started to get dull, lacking talented individuals. Luckily, the name change brought around change in the rules too: nowadays they are written to reflect the ways tango is danced as a social dance at milongas. (For reference, check the rules of competition from 2014 . Seeing the results, I have to agree to the change in name.
Let’s see a ‘ronda’
The couples enter the stage, spectators applaud, and the tournament begins. This is the first ronda of the finals of 2015. It gets exciting at 3.31
The winners of 2015 are a unique young couple, Jonathan Saavedra and Clarisa Aragón. At the end of the tournament a dance of victory is awarded to the best couple – during this dance they can show all their knowledge and repertoire. Watch the following video to find out why they were the best!
Europe also has competition too :)
And finally, a Hungarian-Romanian reference: this year a Hungarian lad competed in the finals of the world cup. Kicsi Csongor and his partner, Laura Iaru. Not only did they get to compete in Buenos Aires, this couple also won the European Tournament in Tango de Pista category!
If you are interested in the winners of the other category, Tango Escenario, click here.
