La Cumparsita: Tango with Pole - A Manifesto

Welcome.Tonight, you’ll witness a tango performance that steps a little outside the usual boundaries.

Traditionally the "man" leads and the "woman" follows in the social tango scene. Photo credit: Volkan Erkan

Tango was born in the late 19th century in the port cities of Buenos Aires and Montevideo—shaped by immigrants arriving from Europe, Africa, and the inner lands of South America. This music emerged through the fusion of rhythms, melodies, and sorrows carried by those migrants. Tango evolved from the blending of genres like milonga, habanera, and candombe—its roots can be found in Italian opera, African drumming, Indigenous melodies, and the German-invented bandoneón.

At the time, rapid urbanization created a social imbalance: far more men than women. Bars, clubs, and street corners became the first stages for tango.There's a well-known urban myth that tango was born in brothels—though we can’t say for sure, what we do know is that tango began as a form of expression for the lower classes, the outsiders, the lonely, and the longing.

In its earliest form, tango was danced by men—practicing steps with one another, testing hierarchy, refining technique to impress, in a time when female partners were scarce.

Today, at tango nights—“milongas”—the principle is that everyone dances with everyone. You don’t come with a fixed “lead” or partner. Throughout the night, music curated by a DJ shifts in style and mood, and you dance with many different people. In fact, it’s often frowned upon to dance with the same person the entire evening.

It is not uncommon in tango for women to sit in a corner waiting for a partner to select them for the next dance. Photo credit: Volkan Erkan

The dances are fully improvised—just like the tango you’re about to watch.

Between sets, DJs play a short transitional tune called a “cortina” (Spanish for “curtain”). This non-tango track marks the moment to thank your partner and look for another for the next “tanda” (dance round).

And speaking of “looking”—tango’s partner selection begins with the eyes: mirada (eye contact) and cabeceo (a subtle nod). A gentle exchange of glances and a small gesture of the head—this is the ritual of mutual consent in tango.

🔸 You may be thinking about your own romantic experiences hearing words like “partner” and “consent,” right?

"The dance of passion" - This is how the Western world has colonialized tango; whereas such stage acts are not part of the social tango culture. Photo credit: Volkan Erkan

While Western pop culture has sold tango for decades as “the dance of passion,” the truth is, tango is a culture of heartfelt embrace—of sharing sorrow, loneliness, even hopelessness, through melancholic music.And yet, the same structural inequalities we face in daily life inevitably seep onto the dance floor.

Take for instance, one of the oldest clichés in tango: “The man leads, the woman follows.”This isn’t just about choreography. In many tango communities, most dance school owners, event organizers, and even DJs are men. A man’s outfit might not affect how his night goes—but for women, their clothes, shoes, energy, body type, age, even height, can shape their entire experience.Sometimes, these unspoken rules overpower the dance itself.So much so that a woman might spend the whole evening sitting alone, waiting.

The piece you’re about to watch is called La Cumparsita. Do you remember hearing it at Turkish weddings in the 1980s, as the bride and groom were called to the dance floor?

Originally, La Cumparsita wasn’t even a tango. In 1916, Uruguayan composer Gerardo Matos Rodríguez wrote it for a carnival marching band. It had a simple melody and marching rhythm—its name literally means “the little parade.”

Years later, two Argentine tango composers added lyrics, turning it into a typical tango of loss and heartbreak:

“If you only knew… deep in my soul, I still hold on to that love I had for you…”

When the song gained international fame in 1924, it became a symbol of the ongoing debate between Uruguay and Argentina over who “owns” tango. Eventually, it was officially recognized as Uruguayan, though many still associate it with Argentina.

La Cumparsita’s journey—from Uruguayan carnival parades to Argentina’s grieving tangos, to Turkish wedding halls—has been both ironic and deeply symbolic.Especially when it ends up glorifying marriage and family, those well-worn rituals of patriarchy and capitalism…And when the same societal pressures that urge women to “find a proper suitor” in life, follow them into the milonga too…

Rewriting the tango narrative. Photo credit: Volkan Erkan

🔸 So here we are, in 2025.Is “the man leads, the woman follows” still our only option?

If the whole story revolves around a circular piece of metal wrapped around a finger—Then we raise the stakes:Instead of letting the ring wrap around us, we wrap our fingers around the pole.

Instead of sitting prettily in our dresses waiting to be chosen—We rise up and start the dance ourselves.

Just like La Cumparsita’s ever-shifting meaning,And just like tango’s early male-to-male practice sessions—We dare to dance it now, woman to woman.Isn’t an honest, human embrace enough?

On this stage, we’re here to disrupt the script—or dance with it.

Let’s see what happens.

Enjoy the show.