Tango is the soul of Argentina. It is timeless, popular and mercurial; being simultaneously a practice and an art form. In their new piece, French choreographer Mathilde Monnier and Argentinian writer and journalist Alan Pauls explore the special significance of the tango. Commencing in 1978, when Argentina hosted the Football World Cup under the yoke of the military junta, in El Baile, they recount the history and present of both the country and the dance, combined with the childhood memories and life stories of their virtuosic dancers from Buenos Aires.

Choreographer Mathilde Monnier has been the artistic director of the Centre Chorégraphique National de Monpellier since 1994. Her choreographic works consistently draw connections with other artistic disciplines, and she has collaborated with figures such as Jean-Luc Nancy, Christine Angot, La Ribot and Heiner Goebbels. Her choreographic works, numbering more than 40 in total, have been shown at the Avignon Festival, and in Paris, New York, Vienna, Berlin and London. In 1999 Mathilde Monnier was awarded the Grand Prix National des Arts du Spectacle Vivant. She has been the director of the Centre National de la Danse Pantin since 2014.

Argentinian writer Alan Pauls was born in Buenos Aires in 1959, as the son of German immigrants who had fled the Nazis in 1936. He has taught literature and written screenplays, film reviews, essays and novels. In 2003, his novella The Past won the Spanish literature prize Herralde. Alan Pauls set up the magazine Lecturas críticas and works as an editor for the newspaper Página / 12. His works have been translated into 14 languages, and is considered one of Argentina’s most important contemporary authors.