Tango 2010 World Championship

A couple integrated by a Japanese woman and an Argentine man won the VIII World Tango Dancing competition, Stage Category, a modality that sees the dance from a choreographic perspective.

The winners, Diego Ortega, 21, and Chizuko Kuwamoto, 42, competed with 19 other couples in the final which took place August 31 at the Luna Park Stadium of Buenos Aires in front of a large audience of tango enthusiasts from all over the world.

Kuwamoto, born in Tokyo, and Ortega, from Colón, a town in the Greater Buenos Aires, had already participated in the 2009 edition of the competition on behalf of Tokyo, Japan, but this time they decided to dance representing Colón, Argentina. The couple took a prize of 20,000 pesos (about US$ 5,000) and a two-month contract to perform in Japan starting in January 2011.

Once again, Japan has demonstrated having world class tango dancers. Last year the couple integrated by Hiroshi Yamao and Kyoko Yamao won the prize in the Ballroom Category, and this year three couples from Japan made it past the elimination rounds. Furthermore, third place winners in the Stage Category were dancers from Argentina and Japan. The Argentina couple formed by Ariel Jimenez and Maria Ines Bogado of Buenos Aires, Argentina, won the fist prize in the Ballroom Category this year.

Besides the three Asian couples, the advanced qualifying rounds saw the performances of 22 couples from Argentina, five from Colombia, one Chilean, one Korean and one from Venezuela.

The World Tango Competition took place between August 23 and 31 in Buenos Aires, with the participation of 405 couples from 18 countries. It is estimated that no less than 138 000 people attended the event of which close to 60 000 were visiting from abroad.
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