Buenos Aires Herald
8 Sept 2025
Dance partners from Buenos Aires topped the competition’s top two categories
A packed Gran Rex theater was the stage for the 2025 Tango BA Festival and World Cup finals on Tuesday. Argentine dancers Leandro Bojko and Micaela García were crowned as world champions in the competition’s Stage Tango category. Second and third place were for Fede Ibáñez and Nuria Lazo (La Pampa), and Facundo Cabral and Mara Navarro (Salta), respectively.
“Tango is providing us with a huge door,” García told the media after the awards ceremony. “It’s a bridge for us to express our ideas, our desires, our curiosities and doubts. Tango goes right through us,” added her partner Bojko.
The couple, who competed for the second time after failing to make it out of the qualifiers phase last year, performed a dark-mood choreography to Astor Piazzola’s Kicho, with García wearing a hood over her face. The award includes a trip to Tokyo, a tango stronghold, granted by World Cup sponsor Min-On Concert Association.
On Monday, Aldana Silveyra and Diego Ortega, from the town of Colón in Buenos Aires province, topped the Dancefloor category.
“This is a dream we have had since we were very young. We knew it would be hard because the level is very high. We tried to give our best, and it paid off,” said Silveyra. “We’re lucky enough to be able to make a living out of tango dancing, which is our passion,” she added.
Her partner Ortega also chimed in, saying that tango dancing was their “way of life.”
The finals included a couple of mishaps. The Senior category was wrongfully announced on Monday, forcing a new announcement the next day, when the award was given to Rosana Luján Porres and Gustavo Hipólito.
The top prize announcement also stirred a bit of controversy as Buenos Aires City Mayor Jorge Macri, who handed the award, was booed by the audience. “You’re out of tune for something as beautiful as tango, guys. We’re here to honor tango, so let’s just enjoy culture in Buenos Aires City,” he said, dismissing the chants.
“Tango is a unique way of expressing who we are; it’s our present and also our future. That’s why we will never stop supporting these spaces,” he added.
The Dance Floor finals on Monday also included a show by famous bandoneón player Walter Ríos, who played Astor Piazzolla’s all-time classic Adiós Nonino. Iconic dancer Miguel Ángel Zotto celebrated his 40 year-long career with her long-time partner Daiana Guspero, dancing to the live music of Andrés Linetzky’s quartet. The Stage Tango finals program featured the Café de los Angelitos Company, a show with ten dancing couples — four of them previous world cup winners — led by renowned choreographers Gabriel Ortega and Sandra Bootz.
The world’s largest tango gathering, the 2025 BA Tango Festival and World Cup took place from August 20 to September 2, with more than 500 activities and over 2,000 artists spread across 50 venues.
The dance competition featured participants from more than 50 countries, including Argentina, Germany, Canada, France, Taiwan, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Russia, Republic of Korea, USA, and China.