Tango stars dazzle as Buenos Aires crowns world champions
Nair Schinca and Nicolás Schell win Tango Escenario title with a performance celebrating romance and tenderness, 13 years after finishing as runners-up. Leer más
After a 13-year wait for runner-up status, Argentine dancers Nair Schinca and Nicolás Schell were crowned Tango Escenario champions at the 2026 Tango Buenos Aires Festival and World Championship. The pair delivered a tender performance that celebrated the embrace that defines their dance, receiving applause even as they danced. Schell, 39, explained that they had focused on "that place, on a deep embrace, but also to reclaim, in a small way, romance and tenderness."
Fellow dancer Ayelén Hassel praised their musical choreography, noting how each dancer seemed to "dance one instrument and another." Schinca and Schell were among 60 couples that made it to the finals out of 800 from 47 countries. This was their fifth appearance in the Tango Mundial, with their last finish being as runners-up in 2013.
Schinca, 40, said they've "been entering for quite a long, long time," while Schell, equally devoted to the dance, described tango as "culture, it's like football." The previous night, Argentine-Latin American duo Lucas Gauto and Greek Naima Gerasopoulou had won the Tango de Pista world title. Unlike Tango Escenario, Tango de Pista requires couples to maintain the embrace and avoid acrobatics, focusing instead on connection, musicality, and rhythmic walking.
The 2026 Tango BA Festival y Mundial, organized by the Buenos Aires City government, featured over 2,000 artists across 50 venues.
Written by urgent.news from Buenos Aires Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
