Welcome to the NY Tango Festival website! My name is Mariela Franganillo and I am the artistic director of the NY Tango Festival. The Tango Festival represents my desire to share Argentine Tango in New York City during Latin Heritage month. The Festival aims to combine an invaluable learning opportunity with a pleasurable experience for participants. The very nature of tango’s transmission resists the possibility of establishing concrete facts and definitive details surrounding the question of its roots. What is left to us today is to patch together a picture of multiple truths to account for the beginnings of tango—a picture of possibilities. With the help of master teachers, professors, dancers, and musicians, I hope to bring to life this picture during the Festival—the picture of rich possibilities offered by Argentine culture, dance, and music.

Tradition looks not only back, but also forward in the hope of continuation. Sharing the tradition of tango means, in part, sharing its timelessness. During the Festival we will glance back at the history of the tango and witness—through lectures, workshops, milongas, and shows—its evolution into our modern moment. Tango’s timelessness manifests itself not only through the music that is as alive today as it was over a hundred years ago, but also through aspects of the dance. The embrace, the connection created by way of the embrace, and the improvisation made possible after a connection has been established, all render the dance truly timeless—a forever living artform that cuts not only through time, but also through social structures. Tango’s capacity to connect two people in a moment of total engagement transcends both historical and cultural boundaries.

I extend my deep gratitude to our sponsors—Barnard College, Columbia University, and the World Music Institute—without whose support we could not have made the Festival a reality, as well as to the group of artists and teachers whose hard work and passion for the tango breathed life into the Festival. My heartfelt thanks goes also to all the volunteers who generously brought to the project their selfless effort and gave of their time.