Production will focus on the evolution of the tango

The romance and beauty of the tango and its metamorphosis as a dance will be showcased on stage at the UNLV Performing Arts Center at 8 p.m. today.

Tango Buenos Aires, an Argentinian dance troupe, will bring their production "The Four Seasons" to Las Vegas as part of the UNLV's New York Stage and Beyond series.

The company was created 20 years ago for the Jazmines Festival in Buenos Aires; it's recast with new dancers every five years, says Lucrecia Laurel, the troupe's assistant director.

The tours have a theme; this year's "Four Seasons" revolves around the evolution of tango, with a focus more on the traditional and new forms of the dance, Laurel says.

"Tango is a social dance, but it's also a performing dance," Laurel says. "There have been lots of adaptations over the years. We will show the audience the original and how it has evolved today."

Tango evolved as a dance in the 1900s in Buenos Aires, Laurel says. The city's immigrants -- a mixture of African, English, French, German, Italian and Spanish -- would come together to celebrate or socialize; one would bring a guitar, the other a violin and another the bandeon and drums.

During that time, more than half of all immigrants to the area were men. That meant a shortage of women dance partners, so two men would often tango; audiences will see an all-male tango during the upcoming performance, Laurel says. They often met in the cabarets where prostitutes worked. The music and dance combined to create a sultry, sensual dance that many people now associate with romance.

"Tango represents culture," Laurel says. "It's also a representation of the embrace and the relationship of two partners dancing together. It's truly romantic and passionate."

Tickets to Tango Buenos Aires are $35, $50 and $80 and can be purchased at the box office; through the Internet at pac.unlv.edu, or by phone at 895-2787.

Contact reporter Sonya Padgett at spadgett@reviewjournal.com or (702) 380-4564.