These collages were made to illustrate the book El Deseo en el Pavo Real (Historia de la academia de baile “El Pavo Real”, Buenos Aires, 1930), by the Argentine poet, composer and playwright Alberto Muñoz. Each illustration corresponds thematically, to one of the segments of the book, which was printed in Buenos Aires and distributed in Rome during the Buenos Aires Tango in 2000. Out of a total of fifteen collages, I only have a photographic record of nine.

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Willy Castellanos
 

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Information on How to Build a Tango Academy

By Alberto Muñoz

 

 

El pavo, si no es real, ¿puede tener alguna belleza?

Irene Gruss. La luz en la ventana

 

 

The history of Tango is built—like all stories—by somewhat credible narratives. The dates and names want to give more certainty than the events, but we can legitimately speak of an epic tale that has founded part of an identity. A story told by its music and its dance is always more attractive than one that is pronounced in facts and battles.

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The dance academies had a brothel origin, not so much because they were pockets of pleasure but because they were born on the fringes of social conventions. What happens and what is hidden has always carried a fate of shame. The name "academy" was given afterwards. One went to a place that had no name rather than to a housing complex to dance. It was the invention of something that had been born to hide, and that many years later would become national heritage. The Pavo Real may have existed. The history of Tango says no.
 

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