Illustrated Lecture on a Possible Re-imagination of the Ballet Tango (1955)

Authors

  • Eugenia Cadús Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Universidad Nacional de las Artes (UNA), Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), Buenos Aires, Argentina, eugeniacadus@gmail.com https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0918-9095
  • Mateo de Urquiza Universidad Nacional de las Artes (UNA), Buenos Aires, Argentina, mateodrqz2@gmail.com https://orcid.org/0009-0005-3745-7789

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5216/ac.v11i1.82477

Abstract

This performative lecture is a rehearsal on the impossibility of reconstructing or reenacting the ballet Tango, which was premiered in 1955 by the ballet company of the Teatro Argentino de La Plata (Buenos Aires, Argentina). It was composed by the musician and then director of the theater, Sebastián Lombardo, and choreographed by Roberto Giachero. This ballet was the first to place the language of dance and tango music on a lyrical stage in the spirit of classical music. In this way, the way in which Argentine nationalist ballets were conceived was transformed, although some central features remained: the search for a shared imaginary past, now urban, and the yearning for modernity.

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Author Biographies

Eugenia Cadús, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Universidad Nacional de las Artes (UNA), Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), Buenos Aires, Argentina, eugeniacadus@gmail.com

Eugenia Cadús is a dance worker, activist and scholar based in Argentina. She is Assistant Researcher at the Argentine National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), based at the Movement Arts Department of the National University of the Arts, where she teaches in the Department of Folklore. She holds a Doctorate in Art History and Theory from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), where she teaches courses in Dance Studies and directs the GEDAL (Argentine and Latin American Dance Studies Working Group). She has also taught at various Argentine and foreign universities. Her research interests include Latin American concert dance and politics, representations of identity and nation, dance and archive, and decolonial studies. She is a member of the editorial board of Conversations Across the Field of Dance Studies, and the Revista Brasileira de Estudos em Dança. Cadús is also a dance practitioner and her creative work includes participation in performances by Santiago Sierra, Marina Abramovic, and others. For several years she has worked as an artistic and historical consultant and dramaturge for various contemporary dance pieces in the alternative and official sector. She is the author of Dance and Peronism (Biblos Editorial, 2020) and editor of the anthology Disobedient Dances (EUFyL, 2022), as well as editor of the recently published anthology Dance, Heritage and Decolonial Provocations (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Press, 2024).

Mateo de Urquiza, Universidad Nacional de las Artes (UNA), Buenos Aires, Argentina, mateodrqz2@gmail.com

Mateo de Urquiza nació en Jujuy en 1992. Es actor, director y dramaturgo. Su investigación está centrada en el cruce entre estética y política, entre teoría y práctica, en la producción de artefactos escénicos anfibios concebidos como un territorio común para lenguajes y tropos disímiles. Colaboró con artistas como Emilio García Wehbi, Maricel Álvarez, Marcelo Lombardero, Mariana Tellería y Santiago Sierra. Sus trabajos fueron exhibidos en diversos espacios, ciclos, festivales y bienales. Se destacan: Tito Andrónico quiere decir HABEAS CORPUS (2015), Manual del buen performer (2017), Purgatorio, Céline no está solo (2018), Centers Live (2020), Acerico (2021), Ícaro (2022) Lingua ignota, Manifiestos políticos (en el marco de “Imaginación política” - Proyecto Ballena) y La lengua idiota(2023).  Algunos de sus textos fueron publicados en E-performance (2021), Actas del Congreso Internacional de Artes “Revueltas del Arte” (2023, 2024) y el Archivo Filoctetes (2024), donde también lleva adelante una serie de entrevistas para la sección Derivas (2025). Desde 2024, es miembro del equipo del PICT-O Historiografías en movimiento, dirigido por Eugenia Cadús. Actualmente escribe su tesis para la Maestría en Teatro y Artes Performáticas (UNA; director: Fernando Davis; codirector: Rodrigo Alonso).

References

CADÚS, Eugenia. Danza y peronismo: disputas entre cultura de elite y culturas populares. Buenos Aires: Editorial Biblos, 2020. (Artes y medios).

CHONIATES, Nicetas; MAGOULIAS, Harry J. O city of Byzantium: annals of Niketas Choniatēs. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1984. (Byzantine texts in translation).

EL DÍA. «Tango» entraña una expresión atrayente. Circa 16 jul. 1955.

PAUSANIAS; JONES, William Henry Samuel; ORMEROD, Henry Arderne; et al. Description of Greece. Cambridge (Mass.) London: Harvard university press W. Heinemann, 1977. (Loeb classical library, 93, 188, 272, 297, 298).

TEATRO ARGENTINO. Programa de mano. 15 jul. 1955.

VARELA, Gustavo. Tango y política: sexo, moral burguesa y revolución en Argentina. 1a edición. Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires: Ariel, 2016. (Historia).

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Published

2025-09-02 — Updated on 2025-09-13

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How to Cite

CADÚS, Eugenia; DE URQUIZA, Mateo. Illustrated Lecture on a Possible Re-imagination of the Ballet Tango (1955). Art on Stage Journal, Goiânia, v. 11, n. 1, p. 228–230, 2025. DOI: 10.5216/ac.v11i1.82477. Disponível em: https://revistas.ufg.br/artce/article/view/82477. Acesso em: 5 dec. 2025.

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 1 (2025): Historiographies on the move

Section

Inter View

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Copyright (c) 2025 Eugenia Cadús, Mateo de Urquiza

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