When I first saw German Cornejo’s Tango Dance Company back in 2018 at Sadlers Well’s Peacock Theatre, it was a watershed moment. As an Argentine growing up in the UK, I’d only witnessed versions of tango dance on TV programmes such as Strictly. But this, to me, was clearly the real thing.
The technical brilliance and aesthetic beauty of German’s troupe of world-class dancers and the inventive choreographies were certainly astounding. What most grabbed me, however, was the spectacle as an authentic expression of culture, seeped in an understanding and knowledge of Argentine history and tango identity and a deep passion for its art. It was Argentine tango expressed within its cultural context rather than divorced from it, dumbed down, and put in a straight-jacket of rigid rules. it washed over me like a wave of inspiration.
As the lead of Tango Fire, the world's most successful tango show, German Cornejo was already the ‘hot young choreographer,’ according to The New York Times. With dance partner Gisela Galeassi, he was already world tango champions multiple times, and in 2012 won Jennifer Lopez & Marc Anthony's TV talent show Q Viva, culminating in performances in Las Vegas and at JLO's first-ever Buenos Aires stadium concert.
Spurred on by his reputation, in 2016 German began touring with his own company. For the first time ever, his show Tango After Dark, had his company exclusively dance to the compositions of the great Argentine bandoneon player and composer Astor Piazzolla, who in the 1960s had changed the traditional tango landscape by introducing jazz improvisation.
“We wanted to break away from the cliches of tango, the machista imagery of the street hustler and prostitute in the brothels that previous tango shows had focused on. We wanted to reveal the sophistication, elegance and innovation in tango today, that began with Piazzolla,” explains German.
“Our show represented Piazzolla’s vision, which modernized tango by incorporating bohemian, nuanced and abstract elements, reflecting the changing urban landscape of Buenos Aires and transforming tango into a universal art-form”
For many of us, the music of Astor Piazzolla encapsulates what it is to be Argentine or atleast Porteña (from Buenos Aires) - the nostalgia inherent in a people who feel so far away, the contradictions in an immigrant society that cherishes memories left behind whilst embracing the future. To this day, Piazzolla’s towering compositions take us to sublime musical journeys of emotional crescendos, ecstatic climaxes and melancholic descents.
In some ways, Tango After Dark is a logical result of German’s own success and confidence. Dancing to a repertoire of Piazzolla was a way bringing tango dance back home, to the place where his own passion took flight.
“When I grew up, people didn’t dance to Piazzolla; we learned to dance to traditional tangos from the 30s and 40s, but it was Piazzolla who most moved me,” says German. ”He broke with the conservatism of tango and transcended the rules. His music had a freedom, a freshness and a dynamism that gave me flight and inspired me to dance, and his courage gave me the strength to create.”
His dancers’ relationship to Piazzolla create a new kind of magic on stage. Their movement reflects Piazzolla’s exhilarating contrasts; from bold to fragile in a second, each note running through their bodies, transformed by emotion.
“Piazzolla is Buenos Aires but he is also night: peak and abyss, fierceness and mystery, lights and shadows of this city which never sleeps; all reflected in his music.” Says German. “Tango After Dark springs from this porteña night, Piazzolla’s muse and inspiration. When night falls, the mystery of tango reveals itself”
The result is a feast for the senses: you see, you listen, you feel. There is no need for an over-arching narrative, because each tango provides its own. The choreographies are connected intensely with each piece of music.
“The things that lead me to create a choreography are in my everyday life in Buenos Aires. I might be sitting in a café and it starts raining and some girls pass by putting up umbrellas, or I’m doing the washing up in my house listening to the news or the sound and the rhythm of the air conditioning, I take everything in and use it creatively.”
German’s drive for technical perfection, discipline and demand for excellence, however, lies at the heart of what he does and is also evident in the performances.
“A world class tango show is the sum of creative and ambitious choreography plus the artistic quality necessary to decode it both technically and interpretively, and for that to be matched by the musicians,” German insists.
“We have the best tango dancers and the best tango musicians in the world. We have an impeccable musical director in Diego Ramos and the depth, sweetness and drama in Jesús Hidalgo’s sublime voice is unparalleled. Without the superlative level that our musicians and singers bring, it would be difficult to tell our story so effectively.”
German’s devotion and commitment to tango, shared by his artistic team, whom he credits with ‘indulging his ‘craziness’ began at the age of ten.
“My mother had some tango cassettes and, while she was working, I used to listen to them and imagine how I would dance. Noticing my interest, she took me to lessons and by 12 I was training seven hours a day. I would finish school at 3pm then I would start tango at 5pm and finish at 11.30pm,” remembers German who, at the age of fifteen, was working professionally in tango musicals in Buenos Aires, “I would finish at the theatre 11pm and then catch the bus home to my city, Zarate, in the province of Buenos Aires, getting home at 2.30am. Then I would have to get up for school at 7am. It was hard but it was my choice.”
A consummate professional, German’s ambition and love of tango, matched by that of now assistant choreographer Gisela, has seeped into the culture of his company.
“Whenever I hold auditions in Buenos Aires, I am astounded by the talent, the new interpretative textures, flavours and personality that dancers’ bring every year.” German confesses. “It’s difficult to choose the very best dancers for the shows, because the standard is so high.” Once picked, the dancers’ evident pride in being part of this prestigious troupe is reflected in the energy and dynamism that keeps the performances fresh and has audiences returning year after year, from Tokyo or Sidney.
German Cornejo’s most recent show, Wild Tango, which made its world debut at The Peacock Theatre in May, was his most ambitious and avant-guarde yet. Tango danced to a repertoire of Argentine rock, fused with urban and contemporary dance and exploring same-sex tango dancing, Wild Tango showed this dancer-choreographer as a brave visionary, perhaps even Argentina’s finest creative of his generation. As an artist fearlessly pushing the boundaries, it’s difficult not to make comparisons between this transformer of tango dance to the late Argentine visionary of tango music.
