Union Tanguera Performs Tonight at Byham Theater

Pittsburgh Dance Council, a division of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, presents French Argentinean contemporary tango ensemble Unión Tanguera, tonight, March 28, 2015, at 8:00 p.m., at the Byham Theater, 101 6th Street, downtown Pittsburgh's Cultural District.

Tickets ($19-$55) may be purchased online at www.TrustArts.org, in person at the Box Office at Theater Square, or by calling 412-456-6666. Subscribe to the Pittsburgh Dance Council season by calling 412-456-1390 or online at www.TrustArts.org.

With a cast of tango dancers and musicians, Unión Tanguera will perform Nuit Blanche (Sleepless Night), a contemporary dance performance that weaves a sensual framework in and out of abrazos (embraces) and expressions of human emotions. The Village Voice shared, "Nuit Blanche honors and liberates the genre, taking tango to places you'd never expect to find it." Set in a nameless nightclub at the end of a traditional tango show and choreographed with elements of humor and the driving passion of tango, Nuit Blanche illuminates the desires and fears of the dancers that unfolds and transforms their emotional expressions in one sleepless night.

Unión Tanguera's Nuit Blanche is their third work (2010), created and choreographed by co-artistic directors, Claudia Codega and Esteban Moreneo, in collaboration with Jorge Crudo and Rolan Van Löor of Compagnie Modos Vivendi. The music of the work combines traditional tango recordings with live original compositions by Pedro Onetto. Acoustic and electronic sounds blend together to create a unique soundtrack performed by Quartet Lupanar under Onetto's direction, featuring violin, bandoneon, piano and double bass. Scenic and lighting design were created by Gonzalo Córdova.

The work has been performed throughout Europe and received its North American debut in November 2013. Performances in the United States have included a two-week season in the fall of 2014 at The Joyce Theater in New York City; as well as performances at the University of California in Berkeley, California; Portland, Oregon and Tucson, Arizona. Nuit Blanche was co-produced by Maison de la Danse, Lyon, France.

Bachtrack.com shared, "Nuit Blanche carves out its own inventive space between concert dance and dance theatre, honoring the many influences on tango music and dance over the past hundred years;" and Italy's La Cornaca exclaimed, "Nuit Blanche is a spectacle of full theatrical artistic dignity...tradition and experimentation are the two poles around which revolve the entire show."

Unión Tanguera's Nuit Blanche (Sleepless Night): http://vimeo.com/74384846.

Founded in 2002, Unión Tanguera is a French Argentinean dance company based in Lyon, France and Buenos Aires, Argentina, with choreography and direction by co-artistic directors, Claudia Codega and Esteban Moreno. Utilizing the music and dance of traditional tango as the foundation for their creative process and by incorporating elements of contemporary dance, Unión Tanguera creates new frontiers and ways of re-imagining the possibility of tango.

Originally from Argentina, Claudia Codega and Esteban Moreno have worked together since 1990. Claudia Codegatrained in ballet, contemporary dance, jazz and composition with the renowned Argentinean choreographer Ana Maria Stekelman. She performed as a contemporary dancer in various theaters, finding tango in 1990. Esteban Moreno graduated from the National College of Technical Education with a degree in electronics and began a career in graphic design. Moreno discovered tango in 1988 through courses at the Centro Cultural Gral San Martín and at Centro Cultural Fortunato Lacámera. His immersion in tango led to work with "Ciclos," directed by Alicia Orlando, where he met Codega.

Since representing Argentina in the Universal Exposition of Seville (1992), Codega and Moreno have been invited to perform and teach at the most important tango festivals around the world. They are part of a generation that has been credited with restoring tango as a social dance and increasing its awareness and popularity. As students of the greatest tango maestros of the 1980's and 90's, Codega and Moreno have created a style which serves as a reference for the new generation of tango dancers and teachers. Their dance is grave, intense and dynamic; a synthesis of styles reinterpreted, in which fantasy and imagination are joined, inside the logic of improvised tango. Unión Tanguera has been supported by Tango de Soie, a school and home for tango, located in Lyon, France, and by other important partnerships with various funding institutions in France. Since 2006, Unión Tanguera has toured and performed their repertoire throughout Europe and the United States.

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