ENTERTAINMENT NEWS - This festive season Capetonians can experience the passion and romance of the Argentine Tango at an immersive music and dance festival running through 4-8 December.
A substantial number of local, national and international visiting Tango dancers are expected to participate in the events featuring 8 social dance gatherings with live and DJ’d music, and 10 combined lessons and workshops.
From its beginnings in 2017, a number of Argentine Tango festivals in Cape Town have attracted numerous dancers from around South Africa and abroad. For tourists, the December summertime is an ideal month to visit the Western Cape, appealing to Tango travellers who join Cape Tango Community events during their stay.
The objective of the Tango Africano Festival is to create a pleasurable and positive environment for anyone to enjoy and celebrate the beauty of the Tango in Southern Africa, facilitating connections and building the community.
The venues are all within the proximity of the City of Cape Town. The primary full-day events will take place on 5-6 December at the Pinelands Girl Guides Hall (registration required), and on Sunday 7 December at the V&A Waterfront - in the afternoon at the TimeOut Market and later at the pierhead deck area for sunset - with a free Tango lesson and social dances open to the public. On Thursday 4 December at the SALT Food Market and on Monday 8 December at the Waterfront Theater School there are informal social dance events to bookend the festivities.
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Live Tango music performances will take place at the main festival social dances by Stanislav Angelov and the Cape Town Tango Ensemble, and Argentine duo Sylvia & Alberto Otero accompanied by Leon Oosthuizen.
Festival DJs include Matteo Radaelli (IT) Johan Steyn (RSA) Wikus Engelbrecht (RSA) Nicholas Dallas (RSA) and Monja Boonzaier (RSA).
Various Argentine Tango dance workshops and lessons will be taught throughout the weekend by a team of local and international teachers namely: Wikus Engelbrecht (RSA), Sarah Chollet-Alleau (FR), Hannah Tam (RSA/HK), Almiria Wilhelm (RSA), Catriona Ross (RSA) and Monja Boonzaier (RSA).
Additionally there will be a Tango DJ-ing workshop, an Argentine folk dance lesson, and a talk regarding the African origins of the Tango (featured on CapeTalk and Fine Music Radio).
This festival has been officially endorsed by the Embassy of Argentina in South Africa.
The early-bird registration period for the festival runs until 31 October at ZAR 850 entry per adult. Registration closes on 30 November at ZAR 1100. The events on 4 December and 7 December are free and open to the public. Newcomers and spectators are welcome to attend. Dance partners are not necessary.
If you can walk, you can Tango.
“In an age of technological isolation, endless digital distraction and a general loss of physical engagement, anyone in the world can benefit from embracing the Tango with its direct access to real human connectivity and its encouragement to be fully present and attentive in the moment with others.
"Dancing Tango opens one up to communication across all barriers, even spoken language, in an exercise which involves creative movement collaboration as a shared response to the music. The Argentine Tango is at core a dance of partnered empathy, profound in its intimacy and building mutual understanding based on touch sensitivity. Tango is for everyone and its only passport is feeling.
"In 2009 UNESCO declared the Argentine Tango an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, and with this 2025 festival we celebrate this beautiful dance in our country as well as contributions that have been made to the development of the Tango by the African continent,” says Wikus Engelbrecht, festival director.
The Cape Town Tango Community originated in the late 1990s and features a passionate, dedicated and friendly collective of dancers - currently boasting an active events calendar with near-daily Tango options year-round including lessons, workshops, music performances and social dance gatherings. A free 8-week beginners Argentine Tango course is currently being offered in Cape Town starting this October for newcomers to the dance, concluding one week before the festival in December.
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