Festival brings tango to town

Tango, tapas, tradition.

The first annual Zero Hour Tango Fest will be a journey through the culture of tango like no other festival in the U.S.

It will take an interdisciplinary approach to tango, showcasing not only the dance itself but also the poetry, song and music of tango culture through workshops, lectures and multimedia concerts.

The various festival events include Argentinean food tastings, milongas and two live concert performances called “Tango Sensations” at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. Tickets start at $20 and are required for all events. The weekend-long festival ends Saturday night.

“The Tango Sensations are not simply tango concerts,” said Alfredo Minetti, event organizer and School of Public and Environmental Affairs visiting lecturer. “They are built around the concept of exploring and presenting audiences with the main emotions and sentiments behind Argentine tango.”

The Tango Talks will give audiences a unique roundtable experience discussing tango with artists and scholars while savoring Argentinean cuisine including tapas and empanadas. The workshops, Minetti said, will also provide a unique experience.

“Besides the traditional section in which dancers get to improve their knowledge of the dance, we go way beyond the dance and bring all the artists of the festival to discuss together — musicians, dancers and singers,” Minetti said.

Each workshop will explain how the arts interact with and influence one another, giving audiences a unique look into tango.

“You have to have artists willing to cooperate in such an event and believing in your concept and ideas,” Minetti said. “We really set the bar very high working with the best in the field.”

The union of tango enthusiasts and academics in Bloomington this weekend also provides an important contribution to international tango culture as a whole.

“Tango has been broken apart since the late 1960s,” Minetti said. “What we are doing here is promoting the synergy of something that should have never been separated.”

The Jacobs School of Music’s Latin American Music Center will sponsor the event and has collaborated with Minetti before, bringing Grammy-winning pianist and tango specialist Pablo Ziegler to IU from Argentina.

“It is wonderful for Bloomington to experience the various dimensions of tango through the collaboration between the Zero Hour Tango Festival and Ziegler’s academic residence at the Jacobs School,” said Carmen Helena Téllez, LAMC director. “We all know that we have academic priorities, but every time the opportunity arises for collaboration, we are happy to participate.