Bios of Gustavo Benzecry Sabá and María Olivera
Gustavo Benzecry Sabá & María Olivera are a young couple representing the most authentic way of experiencing an artistic expression known around the world for its elegance, sensuality and expressiveness. Dancers of the so-called “Tango Salón”, they show this dance the way it is danced in its original ambience: the “milongas” of Buenos Aires, the Capital city of Argentina. They teach regular classes at one of the most prestigious dance halls of that city, the “Salón Canning” located in the Palermo quarter.
They started working as a couple 6 years ago, and soon they became one of the most distinguished couples of Tango Salón, being recognized by their peers because of their elegance, musicality and creativity.
Since then, they’ve toured more than 30 cities including New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Boston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington DC and Portland, where they got the highest awards for their instruction in the several of their Festivals.
Besides teaching and performing, Gustavo Benzecry Sabá has written two tango-related books, the New Glossary of Tango Dance – Key Tango Argentino Dance Terms (Abrazosbooks - 2004, endorsed with a prologue written by Carlos Gavito and Juan Carlos Copes, and an epilogue by Miguel Angel Zotto, re-edited in 2010 by the same publisher) a dictionary containing more than 300 terms, and Embracing Tango – Techniques and metaphors between Tango and life (Abrazosbooks, 2006 - prologue by María Nieves and epilogue by Aurora Lúbiz). This last one, translated by María Olivera, is the first written approximation to the original Tango Salón (also known as “close embrace”) style, that has been danced in Buenos Aires for over a hundred years. It includes the explanation of 6 basic sequences as well as articles related to the embrace, the improvisation, the dance floor and the surrender. It is finally the first written guide to the so-called “milonga codes”, the rules of behavior and interaction of people in the context of the “milonga”.
During 2009 Gustavo produced a documentary film: “The history of Tango Dance: 1940 -1960”, edited by María. This piece contains a profound research about the way Tango developed in the so-called Golden Years, and includes interviews to several of the living legends of that period, as well as footage of the iconic dancers who made the Tango become the social phenomenon of those two decades.
Gustavo and María have both studied from worldwide prestigious Masters such as Rodolfo Dinzel, Roberto Herrera, Dany García, Alejandra Arrué, Nito & Elba, Omar Vega amongst many others.
They started working as a couple 6 years ago, and soon they became one of the most distinguished couples of Tango Salón, being recognized by their peers because of their elegance, musicality and creativity.
Since then, they’ve toured more than 30 cities including New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Boston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington DC and Portland, where they got the highest awards for their instruction in the several of their Festivals.
Besides teaching and performing, Gustavo Benzecry Sabá has written two tango-related books, the New Glossary of Tango Dance – Key Tango Argentino Dance Terms (Abrazosbooks - 2004, endorsed with a prologue written by Carlos Gavito and Juan Carlos Copes, and an epilogue by Miguel Angel Zotto, re-edited in 2010 by the same publisher) a dictionary containing more than 300 terms, and Embracing Tango – Techniques and metaphors between Tango and life (Abrazosbooks, 2006 - prologue by María Nieves and epilogue by Aurora Lúbiz). This last one, translated by María Olivera, is the first written approximation to the original Tango Salón (also known as “close embrace”) style, that has been danced in Buenos Aires for over a hundred years. It includes the explanation of 6 basic sequences as well as articles related to the embrace, the improvisation, the dance floor and the surrender. It is finally the first written guide to the so-called “milonga codes”, the rules of behavior and interaction of people in the context of the “milonga”.
During 2009 Gustavo produced a documentary film: “The history of Tango Dance: 1940 -1960”, edited by María. This piece contains a profound research about the way Tango developed in the so-called Golden Years, and includes interviews to several of the living legends of that period, as well as footage of the iconic dancers who made the Tango become the social phenomenon of those two decades.
Gustavo and María have both studied from worldwide prestigious Masters such as Rodolfo Dinzel, Roberto Herrera, Dany García, Alejandra Arrué, Nito & Elba, Omar Vega amongst many others.
