Inside Tango Argentino

for a different kind of dance for his show – a more elegant, dignified, respectful dance on the floor.

Carlos and María Rivarola were then added to the cast, even though they were considerably younger than the rest of those in the cast. Carlos was considered (and is still considered to this day) to be a very physically attractive and beautiful man. He was tall and elegant, with extremely strong facial features and dark, slanted, almost Asianlooking eyes. He was quite striking in his appearance, and his wife María was even more so. With her long legs, shapely dancer’s body and piercing blue eyes, it was a well known fact that María used to cause traffic accidents on the streets of Buenos Aires, as the eyes of all male (and some female) drivers were on her and not on the traffic when she crossed the street!

Carlos was to dance one of the main roles in the show, La Cumparsita, with a then-famed vedette showgirl named Cecilia Narova. Segovia had worked with Narova in various revistas porteñas that he had directed in the Teatro Maipo with Antonio Gasalla, Nélida Lobato and other great artists. In late 1982 when Lobato, the top showgirl at the time in Argentina, became ill and died unexpectedly, Cecilia, who was a dancer in the chorus, was called in to replace her.

This was a very important step for Cecilia, and one that could have shot her to high fame.

But shortly after her promotion, Segovia called her for his new project. She was exactly what he had imagined for two roles in his show: the elegant, high class, Parisian salon dancer in La Cumparsita, and the dark, morocha, girl of the barrio turned prostitute for Milonguíta. Narova was to dance La Cumparsita with Carlos Rivarola and Milonguíta with María Nieves and all the male dancers in the show. Narova fit her role to a “T”, and it became one of the most recognized roles of her career.

The next couple added to the cast was Mayoral and Elsa María. Both were already very well known dancers in Argentina and abroad, but not so much in the tourist show market as were the other dancers. Mayoral had his own ballet for many years, the Instrumental Ballet, in which all the members danced, sang and played a musical instrument. The ballet had great success in the 1970s and traveled all over South and Latin America. It won many important prizes and awards and appeared at all the major festivals. Mayoral and Elsa María also had filmed a series of television programs that taught simple salón tango.

These programs were broadcast all over South America and not only helped to spread tango dance to the general public, but also helped Mayoral and his wife to gain recognition on a grander scale.

The style of Mayoral and Elsa María was that of tango salón, a very simple yet highly dignified dance full of small, playful movements by Mayoral. Mayoral had a tremendous sense of humor and playfulness in his dance, and this was a delight to see. Instead of the typical stiff, straight-forward tango that was popular at the time, his was a dance full of character and personality.