The Tango-L mailing list archive
Digest from 9 Dec 1999
to 10 Dec 1999
Reply-To: Discussion of Any Aspect of the Argentine Tango <TANGO-L @MITVMA.MIT.EDU>
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Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1999 03:00:14 -0500
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Subject: TANGO-L Digest - 9 Dec 1999 to 10 Dec 1999 (#1999-86)
There are 2 messages totalling 176 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. Juan Carlos Copes (2)
Date: Wed, 8 Dec 1999 11:22:29 -0600
From: Gloria <gloriously @MINDSPRING.COM>
Subject: Juan Carlos Copes
Hello, I am a new member to the list and am hoping that someone can assist
me
with biographical information about the brilliant and pulchritudinous Tango
dancer,
Juan Carlos Copes.
Thank you in advance!
Gloria Horton
Dallas, Texas USA
gloriously @mindspring.com
Date: Thu, 9 Dec 1999 18:24:27 +0000
From: Keith Elshaw <elshaw @INTERLOG.COM>
Subject: Re: Juan Carlos Copes
His family thought young Juan was going to make his living as an electric=
ian
when, in the early 1950's, he began to follow his dream of becoming a
professional Tango dancer.
Of course, he needed a partner, and wanted to dance with =D1ata (I'm putt=
ing a
tilde over the N, in case your browser isn't rendering it). She told him =
to go
away and learn how to dance. He did.
Copes and =D1iata began to work ... but she got married and her husband m=
ade her
quit. So, Copes took her young sister, Maria, who was 14 years old. He ha=
d to
sneak her into many of the places they began to work in because she was u=
nder
age.
They entered a huge competition in Luna Park. The judges picked the
traditional winners, but when the crowd went wild in opposition, Copes an=
d
Nieves were awarded top spot.
Their professional debut on the big stage came in Francisco Canaro's last
concert, I believe in 1955. In 1958 they toured Europe and played the
Waldorf-Astoria in New York.
Juan Carlos Copes was the first person to choreograph Tango for professio=
nal
dancers and put it on stage. Every big show since the 50's has used his i=
deas,
they are now so classic (the men fighting with knives being bested by a g=
un;
dancing Milonga on a tiny table; the immigrants dancing their folk dances=
and
melting it into Tango, etc.).
Juan's hero was Gene Kelly. Aspiring to be the best, he began inventing n=
ew
steps in his ambitious choreography - many of which we all dance and thin=
k are
old Tango steps. He put together a company (The Copes Tango Revue) and be=
gan
touring South America; then Puerto Rico and into the US. He and Maria fir=
st
appeared on Broadway in "New Faces of 1962." He is credited with introduc=
ing
Milonga into the United States through their appearances on the Ed Sulliv=
an
Show in '62, '63 and '64. They played the Catskills, Las Vegas (nine mont=
hs at
a time), all the hot spots.
Of course they toured Europe and the Mideast as well, always returning to
Buenos Aires and Mar del Plata; then back to New York and around the circ=
uit.
He would take a bandoneon and a couple of musicians and a singer with him=
, and
use pick-up players to fill out his orchestra.
I have heard many old-timers credit Copes with keeping the Tango flame al=
ive
through the years of the cruel military rule in Argentina when the genera=
ls
did their best to kill Tango as a popular expression.
Juan and Maria were married when she came of age, but after seven years f=
ound
that they had to divorce in order for them to be able to dance and work
together. A two year period of estrangement followed, during which time J=
uan
took Maria's younger sister, Cristina, as his partner. This little-known =
fact
- that Juan only danced with the three sisters for 40 years, says much ab=
out
his character (and their ability!).
The rest of the story is well known. Juan Carlos Copes and Maria Nieves
traveled the world showing the classic Tango Fantasia they had invented.
Then came Tango Argentino, the show that is credited with re-igniting wor=
ld
interest in Argentine Tango.
Juan has assisted the late choreographer Bob Fosse and taught Tango to ma=
ny
celebrities including Mikhail Barishnikov. He choreographed the first Ope=
ra
Tango, Piazzolla's Maria de Buenos Aires, in which he and Maria were of c=
ourse
lead dancers.
Juan married his current wife Miriam and started a family in the 70's. Hi=
s
daughter Joanna began working in his shows in 1994.
It is sad that Carlos Saura, not for want of trying, could not persuade N=
ieves
to dance La Cumparsita with Juan in his film, "Tango." She was still very
angry with Juan for splitting up the partnership.
But now, they are together again, and on Broadway.
Countless famous dancers today began their career with Copes or took thei=
r
dancing to the stage because of him. Among them: Carlos Gavito, Pepito
Avellenada, Guillermo Merlo, Cecilia Saia, Aurora and Jorge Firpo and oth=
ers.
He is always demanding, but in a gentlemanly way. He is just a pleasure t=
o be
around.
Juan has always generously given back what he could to help others grow. =
He
has for years given free classes to children and teenagers in Buenos Aire=
s to
keep the Tango alive.
It is hard to imagine how much Tango there would be in the world were it =
not
for Juan's grace, immense talent, vision and tireless hard work during th=
e
last 45 years.
In a sense, we are all his children.
Keith Elshaw
ToTANGO!
http://www.interlog.com/~elshaw/ttindex.html
Gloria wrote:
> Hello, I am a new member to the list and am hoping that someone can ass=
ist
> me
> with biographical information about the brilliant and pulchritudinous T=
ango
> dancer,
> Juan Carlos Copes.
> Thank you in advance!
> Gloria Horton
> Dallas, Texas USA
> gloriously @mindspring.com
End of TANGO-L Digest - 9 Dec 1999 to 10 Dec 1999 (#1999-86)
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