[Tango-L] About non-Argentines winning the tango championship

[Sergio Vandekier]

Morning newspaper "La nacion" has an article about non Argentines winning the tango championship.

 

I translated it using a computer translator:

 

 

What a night, last night! The  community milonguera burns after Fernando Bravo speaker took the microphone to announce what anyone expected of this 2011 World Tango. 

 

The Luna Park was half full, with tourists and locals that kept cheering their favorite couples. 

 

The 40 finalists, of which 18 were from Argentina, had danced his round on stage when he began to break the suspense  annoucing, in ascending order, who rose to the top five. 

 

That was when we started  losing the smile  : the fifth, fourth and third places were, successively, for a couple from Japan, Italy and the United States ... And we were hit hard when the announcer reported that they had an unusual tie between the top two spots that were for the participants of Venezuela and Colombia.
 
Such a thing had never happened. The tie had the intensity of a Boca-River soccer game, but the final feeling was that, judging by the criteria of the jury, no Argentine fell short of the most important category of this competition, the Salon Tango category, which is the style (along with the "milonguero") that locals dance with passion, frequency, and some skill in the vernacular milongas. 

 

How is it that no one has won anything?, Ask the most outraged... and... no.
 
Of course, the Colombians deserve the prize, but that does not mean that the level of local dance has declined or that we are losing the throne. What hurts a bit, I think, is that two strangers will see the world with "our" flag, because, tango, despite of being a world heritage possession,   Argentines still feel entitled to maintain custody of this beautiful creature which is leaving large dividends for those involved, directly and indirectly with it.

 

 As a friend told me, perhaps it is a feeling a bit childish, but is something like an "I lend it to you, but do not break it." And it's okay, because after all, it's all very subjective. 

 

So last night there were no winners or defeated. 

 

Champion, the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy says, is "one who vigorously defends a cause or doctrine," it is thanks to the participants in these championships, that the only one that ever will win is the tango.

 

Best regards, Sergio