CE: Thank you for taking the time for this interview. As you know it’s to mark your forthcoming season in London, so could you start by describing the creative and practical process involved in developing and putting on a new performance?
MAZ: I start by putting ideas for choreography onto paper. Then I improvise with different music and different orchestras. Since each orchestra has a different rhythm, it’s important to find one that suits. I also take photos of the different movements and start creating ideas for the costumes. So there are three angles: the story, the visual effect and the rhythm. Then I start improvising with the dancers. The idea is already clear in my mind but of course the details change.
CE: Can you describe the intention behind your new show?
MAZ: It tells the 18 year history of Tango X 2 (tango por dos) Company. It’s also an homage to my maestros, my greatest artistic influences and to those originally involved in Tango X 2 - my ex-partner, Milena Plebs and my brother, Osvaldo.
CE: How do you decide on the cast and support?
MAZ: I know seven thousand tango pieces and don´t only go for the most well known pieces. I simply choose what moves me most. In this show I wanted to emphasise the two most important elements of tango: the woman and the bandoneón . There is no tango without these, and they are so similar with their beauty and curves. So I used auditions to choose dancers that I felt demonstrated this aesthetically.
Zotto performing at the Peacock Theatre
© Donna Desborough
CE: What are the most important ingredients in the recipe of a good performance?
MAZ: To be in good physical shape, look after yourself well, eat well, don’t take drugs or smoke. Sex is also very important for good health! But obviously also practice a great deal to stay on form.
CE: Who would you credit with significant influence on your early career?
MAZ: My father and grandfather taught me the essence of tango. My first maestro was Roberto Dinzel (now Curriculum Director at the prestigious University of Tango, he and his partner were among those who kept tango alive in the dark years, when the military, didn’t like more than 7 people meeting together, abducted, tortured and killed so many people).
Dinzel taught me the basics, but the maestro that influenced me the most was Antonio Todaro (famous for his masculine style and precise and complex figures and embellishments). Tango is essentially a combination of different choreographies and Antonio taught me to piece these together and how to start and finish a sequence. I felt that he gave me the key to open the door to the possible combinations of tango.
Zotto’s influences make impressive reading. His list includes the dancers Juan Carlos Copes (who first choreographed Argentine Tango for the stage), Petróleo (who changed the tango embrace from a crouch) and famous musicians such as Osvaldo Pugliese and Astor Piazzolla. His greatest influence is the legendary Carlos Gardel, whose interpretation of the Tango Song and popularity in Europe, the US and eventually Argentina changed the course of tango history. His collection of 1,286 recordings; everything that Gardel ever made, is a source of pride as well as a valuable resource.
CE: Could you choose one musician and one dancer; living or dead, who you would like to have performed with.
MAZ: This is a very good question. I would say El Cachafaz (the dancer) and the musician Eduardo Arolas - and obviously Carlos Gardel!
CE: If you had to take just one significant experience that made you grow as a performing Tanguero (tango dancer), what would it be?
MAZ: Lunch with Enrique Cadícamo. He made 26 records with Gardel and died in 1999 at the age of 99. We talked about his work with Gardel and it was one of the most emotional experiences of my life.
Romina Levin and Miguel Angel Zotto
© John Ross
CE: You have won a huge number of awards and prizes, but to be described as one of the three best tango dancers of the century must be one of the most significant. How does it make you feel?
MAZ: Because it was the result of a vote by the Argentine public and not by an academy or a panel of judges I feel that I have a constant responsibility to live up to their expectations. It means I have always to give my best.
CE: What advice would you give to people who would like to start dancing tango and to those who already think of themselves as Tangueros but want to improve?
MAZ: Dance in the close embrace, listen to the music, make tango personal to you. Don’t bore the woman with your steps, surprise her. It’s best if she never knows what’s coming next. It’s the same as in real life ... or love!
CE: What do you believe are the most desirable characteristics of a female and male social tango dancer?
MAZ: Always be elegant, dress well and be polished. Respect the codes of the milonga on how to ask a woman to dance (the man always invites the woman), respect other people’s space on the dance floor and dance in the close embrace. The woman must learn to wait. This is fundamental. The woman must not anticipate the man’s lead and move on her own.
CE: What do you think you’d be doing if you had not become a Tanguero?
MAZ: This is an impossible question! I can´t imagine a life without dancing, without tango.
Zotto performing at the Peacock Theatre
© Donna Desborough
CE: Finally, how would you summarise your approach to tango, and has it changed over the years?
MAZ: I take a less formal approach. Today; because it’s more than just a dance, tango is the greatest manifestation of popular music, dance and poetry that exists. There is no other music, dance or poetry that is so complex or with the same ingredients. I realised this very early on in my career, although when I first started dancing tango it was considered to be popular rather than artistic. I always knew that one day the art would be recognised and that tango would enjoy the revival that it is currently enjoying and so justly deserves.
CE: Thank you once again for taking the time out of your schedule to answer my questions
MAZ: No. Thank you!
Miguel Angel Zotto’s Tango Por Dos, La Historia is at the Peacock Theatre from Wednesday 24th May to 11th June. book here or call 0870 737 7737
The Bandoneón
Invented by Heinrich Band, and first sold in Germany in 1850, it became a popular instrument for waltzes and polkas in Buenos Aires at the same time that Milonga was becoming fashionable. Milonga slowed down to enable the bandoneón players to join and many mark this as the birth of Tango.
His nine shows:
La Historia (the most recent)
Z x 2 Tango Sinfónico (with pianist Pablo Ziegler) - performed on 2 occasions in the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall
Tango - Una Leyenda
Second version of María de Buenos Aires,
Maria de Buenos Aires
Una Noche de Tango,
Perfumes de Tango,
Homenaje a Gardel,
Tango x 2 ,
More
Born on August 7th, 1958 in Vicente López, Buenos Aires, Miguel Angel Zotto was named after his father and grandfather. For more information go here
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