A first – Tunisian Ons Bouali advances to semi-finals of Tango World Championship

By: Mohamed Ben Abderrazek 

Once again, non-compatriots excel in the fields of the performing arts especially dance, confirming the Tunisian people’s love of life and culture.

Tunisian Ons Bouali and Jony Longoni (Argentina) attained the semi-finals of the Tango World Championship which is being held in Argentina in the Tango de Pista category.

They are ranked 85th out of 436 participating couples from 34 countries around the globe. Ons Bouali is the first Tunisian to participate in the Tango World Championship which marks its 20th year of existence and is held every year in Buenos Aires. The semi-final will bring together 136 couples. The passage of Ons & Jony is an artistic accomplishment.

On the initiative of the governor of Buenos Aires, since 2003, the festival and world championship of tango takes place yearly. In August each year, the city favours two weeks of tango and milongas. Still non-existent 15 years ago, the event is roaring, and now draws more than 500,000 spectators each year from all over the world, to attend the stunning and talented performance of more than 500 dancing couples, we no longer know on which foot to dance!

Tango is a dance and a musical genre born in the streets of the Rio de la Plata region, which primarily concerns the cities of Buenos Aires and Rosario in Argentina, and Montevideo in Uruguay. The exact origin of the tango is difficult to define. Today, it is stated that the tango is a mix between the African rhythms that came with the slaves, and the European ballroom dances, such as the waltz, the Scottish, the mazurka…

As a musical genre, the tango has a relatively slow, melancholy rhythm and is almost always accompanied by the bandoneon, an accordion of German origin. You should know that the tango as we know it today, emerged at the dawn of the 20th century, when Argentina had 3 men for every woman, therefore the nostalgic note!