Comparsa Tragicómica Tanguera
Site-Specific Performance
Director
Overview
Comparsa Tragicómica Tanguera is a large-scale site-specific street performance created to celebrate the 8th Cambalache Festival and Argentina’s National Tango Day. Conceived as a performative procession around Parque Centenario in Buenos Aires, the project transformed the traditional comparsa into a playful exploration of contemporary tango culture, combining dance, theatre, parody and public participation.
Blending poetry, humour and the mythology of tango, the performance portrayed an eccentric parade of fictional tango celebrities whose exaggerated personalities invited audiences to join the procession. Rather than observing from a distance, spectators became part of the event, dissolving the boundaries between performers, passersby and the city itself.
Compañía Tragicómica Tanguera
Parque Centenario · Buenos Aires · 2011
8th Cambalache Festival — National Tango Day
Documentation
Context and Artistic Process
Designed as a moving performance rather than a fixed theatrical event, Comparsa Tragicómica Tanguera unfolded as a continuous procession through the public space, allowing the rhythm of the city and the reactions of passersby to shape each presentation.
Drawing on the festive traditions of carnival processions while reinterpreting the iconography of tango, the work constructed a fictional universe populated by flamboyant performers whose elegance, vanity and theatricality gently parodied the cultural myths surrounding tango identity. Humour, improvisation and audience interaction became essential compositional tools, transforming the urban landscape into a temporary stage.
As Director, I developed the artistic direction of the project, coordinating a large interdisciplinary ensemble while shaping the performative structure of the procession. Working from José Garófalo’s original concept and staging, the production embraced the unpredictability of public space, encouraging spontaneous encounters between performers and spectators that became integral to the dramaturgy of the event.
As Co-Director of Compañía Tragicómica Tanguera (2011–2015), I contributed to the company’s long-term artistic research, developing site-specific performances that reimagined tango through theatre, choreography and public space, alongside my credited role in this production.
Credits
Comparsa Tragicómica Tanguera
Site-specific performance
Direction
German Ivancic
Concept & Stage Direction
José Garófalo
Movement Research
Marcela Trapé
Mario Ferraro
Performers
Adriana Viñals
Cecilia Pagués
Dalia Hoffman
Diego Moro
Eduardo Luzzi
Fernanda Petrarca
Hernán Crida
José Manrique
Julie Benisty
Mira Barakat
Natalia Pombo
Natalia Scholnik
Natasha Arapé
Paola Chaparro
Ricardo Fernández
Sebastián Horodeski
Roxy Rivas
Vanesa Robles
Costume Design
La Banda del Tango
Make-up
Vanesa Robles
Production Assistant
Julie Benisty
Photography
Edurne Lasuen
Rehearsal Space
El Metejón Tango
Acknowledgements
Daniel Sasotta
Production
Presented at
8th Cambalache Festival — National Tango Day