‘This is Tango Now’ spices up week with celebration

As spring comes to IU this week, so does tango.

“This is Tango Now,” the Argentine dancing show from Artango Dance Company, is preparing to sweep the John Waldron Arts Center stage.

In order to prepare for the festivities, organizers of “This is Tango Now” have declared this week to be Tango Week.

To start off the festivities, lead dancers from the show had a demonstration of some of the dances at the Bloomington Arthur Murray Dance Studio on Sunday.

“This is Tango Now” features world renowned dancers Fernanda Guillermo and Ghi Merlo.

Guillermo and Merlo are the founders of the Artango Dance Company and have been dancing together for more than a decade.

They are producers, teachers and choreographers; have taken their shows to Germany, Spain, Hawaii and France; and were the first non-Asian people to dance at the Japan’s most important stage: The Imperial Theatre.

For “This is Tango Now,” the artists are looking at identity and willpower.
The show is set to ask the questions: “What have we become?,” “Who sets our agenda?” and “Who decides our destiny?”

The show will have three central characters including a marionette, who suddenly realizes her life has been controlled by a domineering puppeteer. The puppeteer is also working under the guidance of the Duende, a character whose name stems from a Spanish word with definitions varying from an “elf-like creature” to
“pertaining to the arts.”

Tickets are available for pre-sale online and will be for sale at the door of the John Waldron Arts Center. Tickets are $25 for adults and $20 for students
with ID.

The dance concert will be the culmination of Tango Week.