Tango enthusiasts from Japan, Australia, Russia and beyond are polishing their dancing shoes for the world championship in the sexy dance that they say knows no boundaries.
"I like the tango because although we dance as a pair, it seems that we are just one," says Japanese entrant Yoshinoba Nagai, 36. "It is a dance that ravages my heart."
She and her partner, 37-year-old Yuriko Tsunehiro, won the last big tango tournament in Asia and they are expected to shine onstage in the Fifth Tango Dance World Championship which opens in Buenos Aires on Friday.
"I fell in love with the tango when I saw Al Pacino in the movie `Scent of a Woman,`" says Tsunehiro, whose cropped hair is dyed blond.
In all, 149 couples from 154 cities around the world have entered the contest with the hope of wooing the judges with a combination of steamy sensuality and swaying dance moves.
"The number of couples and the variety in their backgrounds has overwhelmed our expectations," says Carolina Simon, director of the competition.
On Tuesday, a handful of the entrants from Japan, New Zealand, Italy and the dance`s home country of Argentina showed off their talent for onlookers along one of Buenos Aires`s pedestrian streets.
"I am crazy about tango," says Neville Waisbrod, a 71-year-old furniture designer from New Zealand after dancing cheek-to-cheek with his partner, 34-year-old Alison Fiddler.
The competition will produce champions in two categories: Salon Tango and Stage Tango.
Around 90 couples from abroad and 30 from Colombia have signed up for the Salon Tango contest, the most common form of Argentine tango which arose from the "milongas," or traditional ballrooms.
Judging in Salon Tango will focus on "good taste and popular dance guidelines, i.e. an unbroken embrace, style, movement around the floor, closeness to the floor, cadence and rhythm," the competition`s website said.
Fifty couples have signed up for the Stage Tango category, which uses more complex choreography, sophisticated make-up and is better known on the dance floors of Europe, the United States and Japan.
Judging for Stage Tango, won last year by Colombians Carlos Paredes and Diana Giraldo, will be based on "choreographic composition, use of the stage area, rendition, couple`s synchronicity, costumes and make-up."
Qualification rounds will be held until Monday, and the serious competition begins August 21-24 when semi-finals will determine four leading couples.
The final decision is to be made by a jury of 80 experts from the prestigious Association of Teachers, Dancers and Choreographers of Argentine Tango, including the group`s president Juan Manuel Fernandez, Juan Carlos Copes, Maria Nieves and the famous tango couple Gloria and Eduardo Arquimbau.
For Australian Federico Mattiuzzi, the toughest part of the contest will be to beat the natives.
"The Argentines are going to be difficult to conquer," he said, adding that in his opinion tango is "the best couple`s dance in the world."
Competitors will also lead free tango classes for those who want to learn more during the 10-day tournament.
One participant, 25-year-old Sebastian Bianchi from Buenos Aires who has been teaching tango classes in Tokyo for years, hopes that eagerness to learn will play in his favor.
"I brought my best student," he says proudly of his partner, a young actress named Chizuko Kuwamoto.
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