In the last few years, the Buenos Aires Government, which sponsors the Annual Tango Festival and the Mundial (World Tango Championships) has also authorized regional championships with the winners getting seeded directly into the semi-finals of the World Championships. The regions now include various countries with a strong Tango presence, as well as various regions of Argentina, and the city of Buenos Aires, which is considered its own region for this purpose. The so-called "Metropolitan(o)" Championship is the championship of the Buenos Aires "region." Needless to say, it is the most prestigious of all the regions, and winning or placing high in the Metropolitano is second only to doing so in the Mundial (World Championships). There is no National-level competition in Argentina.
From 2009 to 2011, the rules for who was qualified to participate in the Metropolitan got progressively tighter to limit participation in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan (but not in the Mundial, which of course is open to anyone in the world) to bona fide residents of Buenos Aires and, somewhat controversially in 2011, to Argentine citizens only. I have not seen the pertinent rules compared side-by-side anywhere, and many articles on the subject have mis-stated what the changes really are, so here they are for 2009, 2010 and 2011 (capitalized text highlights material differences between the years).[1.1][1.2][1.3] 2009: Couples must be made up of tango hobbyists OF DIFFERENT SEXES, over 18 years at the time of their participation, and at least one of the participants must be a native, or have a place of residence, in the Capital Federal part of Buenos Aires [excludes outer suburbs]. Both participants must present, at the time of enrollment, their DNI, CI, LE or Passport to verify their identities. 2010: Couples must be made up of tango hobbyists OR PROFESSIONALS, over 18 years at the time of their participation, and at least one of the participants must be a native, or DEMONSTRABLY have a place of residence FOR A PERIOD OF AT LEAST 3 YEARS in the Capital Federal part of Buenos Aires. Both participants must present, at the time of enrollment, their DNI, CI, LE or Passport to verify their identities. 2011: Couples must be made up of tango hobbyists AND/OR PROFESSIONALS, OF ARGENTINE NATIONALITY, over 18 years at the time of their participation, and at least one of the participants must be a native of the Capital Federal part of Buenos Aires OR CERTIFY WITH HIS ID CARD A PLACE OF RESIDENCE IN THE CITY [OF BUENOS AIRES] FOR AT LEAST 2 YEARS. Both participants must present, at the time of enrollment, their DNI, CI, LE or Passport to verify their identities, THEIR PLACES OF BIRTH AND THEIR PLACES OF RESIDENCE. So in 2009, in theory a tourist in Buenos Aires who had rented an apartment for a month could qualify, and could even dance with someone who was not living in Buenos Aires at all, but just flew down for the event. In 2010, at least one person in the partnership had to show a place of residence in Buenos Aires for three years (but apparently did not have to be a legal resident in terms of his or her immigration status--there are any number of expats, Tango dancers or otherwise, living in Buenos Aires on this basis). This rules out the casual tourist, but allowed the expat "retiree" or "long-term tourist" to participate, and potentially still with a "transient" visitor as a partner. In 2011, BOTH had to be Argentine nationals, and although the time to prove residency for at least one of the partnership was reduced from three years to two years, this was now LEGAL residency (not just based on physical presence or having an apartment lease or utility bill in your name), since your official national ID had to show this address as well. The second person still did not have to live in Argentina at all, but now did need to have Argentine citizenship. Presumably, this was done to tighten up on the idea of the Metropolitan being a regional qualifying event for the Mundial and to ensure that those purporting to be representatives of Buenos Aires were actually from there or resident there (one of them anyway). This is probably not much different than the rules that many qualifying sporting events have, where you represent your state (or province or region) within your country and then your country in a World Championship or Olympics, and there are probably very strict affiliation rules on how you qualify at each level, which no doubt include citizenship and/or residency requirements in most cases. Two things, however, made this change problematic for some people: One was that it WAS a change, over a relatively short time, and one that resulted in excluding people who were explicitly permitted just the year before. The second was the clause that insisted on Argentine citizenship, which to some people seemed unnecessarily nationalistic "for a city historically made up of immigrants." Probably also, to some people, Tango is still a hobby/cultural movement/artistic endeavour with relatively modest sums of money involved (compared to mainstream sporting events), so perhaps a more relaxed attitude towards qualifying was expected. Next: Part 2 - The Legal Challenge REFERENCES [1.1] Reglamento del Campeonato de Baile de la Ciudad 2009, http://www.tangobuenosaires.gob.ar/campeonato09/web/index.php/es/tango/rules.html [1.2] Reglamento del Campeonato de Baile de la Ciudad 2010, http://www.tangobuenosaires.gob.ar/campeonato10/web/es/tango/rules.html [1.3] Reglamento del Campeonato de Baile de la Ciudad 2011, http://www.tangobuenosaires.gob.ar/campeonato11/web/es/tango/reglamento.html _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
