INTERVIEW: ‘Tango After Dark’ debuts in NJ this weekend
Photo: Tango After Dark features the dance skills of Gisela Galeassi and Germán Cornejo. Photo courtesy of Federico Paleo / Provided by Tango After Dark via AMT PR with permission.
The New Jersey Performing Arts Center will soon play host to the local premiere of Tango After Dark, a sultry show featuring the dance skills of Germán Cornejo and Gisela Galeassi, along with a cast of eight tango dancers. Audience members should expect wall-to-wall mastery of the tango art form, all set to the music of maestro Astor Piazzolla.
Tango After Dark plays Saturday, Feb. 21, at NJPAC’s Victoria Theater. Recently Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Cornejo, who choreographs the entire show. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What do you love about the passion and power of tango?
What I love most is its honesty. Tango is built on connection — two bodies listening to each other in real time. The passion doesn’t come from exaggeration, but from truth. When the embrace is real, the power is inevitable. It’s a dance where emotion, precision and human presence coexist without filters.
What sets Tango After Dark apart from other tango shows?
Tango After Dark stands out because it goes beyond showcasing tango — it immerses the audience in its complexity, sophistication and emotional depth. The show is built on a strong choreographic development that balances precision, musical intelligence and individual artistry, performed by world-class dancers, including several world tango champions and leading figures from Buenos Aires’ most renowned tango houses.
What truly sets it apart is the dialogue between choreography and live music inspired by the music of Astor Piazzolla. Together, they create a contemporary, nocturnal, metropolitan atmosphere where movement, sound and emotion evolve in real time. Rather than relying on spectacle alone, Tango After Dark offers a refined, powerful experience that reveals tango as a living, evolving art form.
How do you honor the traditions of tango but also bring the art from into the 21st century?
By staying loyal to the essence rather than the form. Tango has always evolved. I honor tradition by respecting the embrace, the musicality and the human connection — but I allow the language to speak from today’s world. That means new structures, contemporary sensibilities and stories that resonate with our time.
What do you appreciate about the music of Astor Piazzolla?
Piazzolla challenges you. His music is complex, dramatic and deeply emotional. It demands risk and imagination. What I admire most is how his compositions reflect a modern Buenos Aires — urban, contradictory, poetic. Dancing to his music forces you to be present, precise and fearless.
Does the busy touring schedule allow you any time to enjoy the cities you visit?
Not as much as I’d like — but I always try. I love getting to know the cities I visit beyond the theater: walking through neighborhoods, discovering the places locals actually frequent, and learning about their history and culture. Even short moments like that feed the work and create a deeper connection with each place.
When did you first fall in love with tango?
I started taking tango classes when I was 10 years old, but I fell in love with tango much earlier. I first discovered it at family gatherings, when my great-aunt would invite me to dance with her. That early, intimate experience — the music, the embrace, the shared moment — stayed with me and shaped my connection to tango long before I ever studied it formally.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Tango After Dark will play Saturday, Feb. 21, at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center’s Victoria Theater. Click here for more information and tickets.
