Celebrating 100 years of Okinawan Immigration in Argentina, the Okinawan Center in Argentina and the City of Buenos Aires will offer a series of cultural activities on Saturday, August 30th, 2008.
The show will take place in Avenida de Mayo, between Bolívar and Bernardo de Irigoyen, from 2 PM to 4 PM, with a parade of dance, music, and Okinawan martial arts groups, a tango show, and over 1300 participants. A delegation of nearly 1000 people will arrive from Okinawa and different parts of the world to take part in the celebration.
According to the organizers, the idea is to share this celebration between sister cities, show the legacy of Okinawan ancestors, enjoy tango as an element of the identity of the culture in Buenos Aires, and the diversity of its communities.
For the opening of the ceremony, the groups of traditional dances and drums will play “Kagiyadefu”, a typical song that opens every celebration in Okinawa; afterwards, the "Shishi" will be presented (the Sacred Lion protector of the Island).
The parade will start at the intersection of Avenida de Mayo and Bolivar, with the participation of Taiko Eisa performers (dance with drums typical of the island of Okinawa), who will offer their demonstration at different stops; traditional Japanese drums; karate schools and the group Ryukyu Buyo (traditional dances); the group Miruku Yagafu (in honor to the propsperity god Miruku); and students from Argentine-Japanese Private Institute (Nichia Gakuin) will hold the altar, following the tradition of Japanese festivities. There will also be delegations from Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, United States, Hawaii, and Japan. At the end of the parede, facing the City's Government Building, all the groups will perform together the traditional dance “Kachashi”.
The event will be closed with a tango show offered by Carla Algieri's Quintet, along with dancers Malvina and Sebastián, that will pay homage to two great Argentine tango artists: Darienso and Pugliese.

The 10th edition of Buenos Aires Festival de Tango will take place from August 15th to August 24th, 2008, with over 100 free shows and concerts.
The traditional Harrods Hall (Florida 877) will open its doors to host a daily program, from 12 to 9 pm, with tango shows, lessons and seminars, conferences, collector's meetings, exhibitions, and film screenings.
Most of the concerts in the festival will take place at Teatro Avenida (Av. de Mayo 1212), Teatro Ift (Boulogne Sur Mer 549), Centro Cultural Recoleta (Junín 1930), and Academia Nacional del Tango (Av. De Mayo 833).
Other venues around Buenos Aires where different concerts and activities will take place are: Centro Cultural Torquato Tasso (Defensa 1575), Centro Cultural Resurgimiento (Artigas 2262), Centro Cultural Julian Centeya (Av. San Juan 3255), Centro Cultural del Sur (Av. Caseros 1750), Niceto Club (Niceto Vega 5510), Escuela Orlando Goñi (Independencia 584), Casa del Tango (Guardia Vieja 4049) and the notable bars of the city like Esquina Homero Manzi (Av. San Juan 3601), Las Violetas (Av. Rivadavia 3899), Café de García (Sanabria 3302), 36 Billares (Av. De Mayo 1265), Confitería Hotel Castelar (Av. De Mayo 1148).
Tickets for the free concerts must be picked up in advance at Casa de la Cultura, Avenida de Mayo 575, from 11 am to 6 pm.
The inauguration of Buenos Aires 10º Festival de Tango will be on Friday, August 15th, 2008, 9 pm, at Teatro Avenida (Av. de Mayo 1212), with a concert by Master Leopoldo Federico. On Sunday, August 24th, 9pm, Ruben Juarez will be closing the festival in the same stage.
More information: Buenos Aires 10º Festival de Tango official website.

The 6th Tango Dance World Championship (6to Mundial de Baile de Tango) will take place from August 24th to September 1st, 2008, and will be organized into 3 phases: Classifying, Semifinal, and Final, and divided into two categories: Tango Salon, in which the social dancing prevails, and Tango Escenario, with a more choreographic approach.
This year more than 400 couples from Argentina and abroad will be participating, at the Obras Sanitarias Stadium and Luna Park Stadium.
On Sunday 24th, at Harrods, a show by Mora Godoy, followed by the World Championship's Opening Milonga, will welcome the local and regional champions, as well as the champions from 2007 Dance Championship.
From August 25th, at Obras Stadium, the classifying rounds and semifanals of Tango Salon and Tango Escenario. On Saturday, August 30th, 8 pm, also at Obras, the great Final of Tango Salon will take place, with the presence of Atilio Stampone's orchestra along with Adriana Varela and dancers Gloria y Eduardo.
The great Final of Tango Escenario will be on September 1st at Luna Park Stadium, whith Mariano Mores' Orchestra, and dancer Miguel Angel Zotto, with the coronation of the winning couple of the category .
Throughout the World Championship, the public will be able to enjoy "milongas", exhibitions, free thematic classes, and work in progress by the most prestigious dance companies.
More information: 6to Mundial de Baile de Tango official website.

Before its presentation along with Paloma Herrera at the Luna Park, the ballet of Teatro Colón, with the artistic direction of Olga Ferri, will offer two performances at Teatro Coliseo of "Les Sylphides", the pas-des-deux from "Don Quixote", and Maurice Ravel´s "Bolero". They will be accompanied by Teatro Colón´s Orchestra, directed by Mario Benzecry.

The first part will be dedicated to Les Sylphides, with choreography by Michael Fokin, on the original pieces for piano by Frederic Chopin. In this "romantic dream", conceived by Fokin in 1908, the poet is surrounded by the immaterial creatures, the "Sylphides". The main roles in this part will be performed by Maricel De Mitri, Juan Pablo Ledo ( Pas-de-deux), Silvina Perillo (waltz), Karina Olmedo (Mazurca, woman), Juan Pablo Ledo (Mazurka, man), Maricel De Mitra (Prelude), Maria Eugenia Padilla, Silvina Vaccarelli (Corifeas).

The second part will consist of two pas-de-deux: the one from Spartakus, with choreography by Atilio Labis and music by Aram Khachaturian, performed by Karina Olmedo and Vagran Ambartsoumian; and the one from Don Quixote, with choreography by Marius Petipa and music by Ludwig Minkus, performed by Gabriela Alberti and Juan Pablo Ledo.

The performance will end with "Bolero", by Maurice Ravel, with choreography by José Zartmann, with its roots on the Flemish and Spanish gypsies' dances. This version was presented at the Coreographyc Workshop of Teatro Colón in 1989 and incorparated into the ballet's repertoire in 1992. The performers will be Vagran Ambartsoumian, Julián Galván, Graciela Berttoti and Analía Sosa Guerrero.

Dates:
Saturday 23rd, 8.30 pm
Sunday 24th, 5 pm
Location: Teatro Coliseo. Marcelo T. de Alvear 1125
Tickets: from AR$ 16 to AR$ 50, on sale at Teatro Colón ticket office, Tucumán 1171, from 9 am to 5 pm. On the day of the performances the remaining tickets will be on sale at Teatro Coliseo´s tickett office, Marcelo T. de Alvear 1125, from 2 pm

On Tuesday, August 26th, Ciudad Cultural Konex presents the tenth edition of Pecha Kucha Night, a “showcasing + networking” event created in Japan in 2003 by architects Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham, 12-15 creators from different disciplines have 6 minutes and 40 seconds each to show an idea or project, through 20 images screened for 20 seconds.


The participating artists confirmed for this edition are:

Marta Minujín (art)
Help Argentina (ONG)
Marcos Shayo (inventions)
Kioskerman (comics)
Julián de Dios (editorial)
SudacaPhotos (phootogrpahy)
Espacio Cabina (design)
Gabriel Vommaro (language)
Revista UR (architecture)
Alejandro Gangui (cosmos)
MySpace (internet)
Pablo Del Campo (advertising)

Once the presentations are finished, the guests gather to interchange their opinions, and the public is invited to enjoy some music and conversation.

“Pecha kucha” (which means chit-chat in Japanese), is presented in several cities around the world: Amsterdam, Atlanta, Auckland, Austin, Bangladore, Bangkok , Beijing, Belfast, Berlin, Bern, Bogotá , Budapest, Buenos Aires, Buffalo, Chicago, Cologne, Copenhagen, Costa Rica, Delhi, Dublin , Frankfurt, Glasgow, Gothenberg, Groningen, Hamburg, Harvard, Helsinki, Hobart, Lagos, Linz, Lisbon, Ljubljana, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Manchester, Melbourne, Mexico city, Miami, New York, Newcastle, Oslo, Perth, Portland, Porto Alegre, Prague, Riga, Rotterdam, San Francisco, Santiago, Seattle, Seoul, Seville, Shanghai, Stockholm, Stuttgart, Sydney, Taipei, Tokyo, Toronto, Udine, Vienna, Washington DC.

Date: Tuesday, August 26th, 2008. 8 PM
Location: Ciudad Cultural Konex. Sarmiento 3131. Buenos Aires.
Tickets: AR$ 20. Ticketek Argentina or Ciudad Cultural Konex ticket office.
More information: www.pechakucha.com.ar