Roberto Herrera (born September 5, 1963, in

San Salvador de Jujuy San Salvador de Jujuy (), commonly known as Jujuy and locally often referred to as San Salvador, is the capital and largest city of Jujuy Province in northwest Argentina. Also, it is the seat of the Doctor Manuel Belgrano Department. It lies near ...

) is an Argentinian dancer, choreographer and

dance teacher Dance education is a practice whereby students are taught a broad understanding of dance as a form of art and who are trained professionally in many different genres of dance. Dance education consists of specialized dancers who conduct original r ...

, known for the

Tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries from a combination of Arge ...

Education

Herrera first started learning Argentinian and Latin American

folk dance A folk dance is a dance that reflects the life of the people of a certain country or region. Not all ethnic dances are folk dances. For example, Ritual, ritual dances or dances of ritual origin are not considered to be folk dances. Ritual dances ...

s at the age of eight and began his training in Tango Argentino when he was twelve. Among his teachers were Antonio Todaro and Pepito Avellaneda.

Career

He has worked as dancer as well as choreographer for orchestras of renowned composers such as

Osvaldo Pugliese Osvaldo Pedro Pugliese (December 2, 1905 – July 25, 1995) was an Argentine tango musician. He developed dramatic arrangements that retained strong elements of the walking beat of salon tango but also heralded the development of concert-style ...

Leopoldo Federico Leopoldo Federico (12 January 1927 – 28 December 2014) was an Argentine bandoneon player, arranger, director and composer. Life Born in the district of Once in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Federico was one of the most prolific bandoneo ...

, Julián Plaza, Beba Pugliese, Osvaldo Berlingieri, Néstor Marconi,

Horacio Salgán Horacio Adolfo Salgán (June 15, 1916 – August 19, 2016) was an Argentine tango musician. He was born in Buenos Aires to an established Afro-Argentine family. Some of Salgán's most well-known compositions include ''Del 1 al 5 (Días de pago)'' ( ...

und José Colángelo. With some of these orchestras, Herrera went on tour multiple times throughout Europe as well as Japan. From 1986 until 1990, Herrera was

principal dancer A principal dancer (often shortened to principal) is a dancer at the highest rank within a professional dance company, particularly a ballet company. A principal may be either gender. The position is similar to that of ''Soloist (ballet), solois ...

(''primer bailarin'') of the National Folkloric Ballet (''Ballet Folklórico Nacional)'' under Santiago Ayala "El Chucaro" and

Norma Viola Norma Viola (1934–2004) was an Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections e ...

. At the same time, he worked in various Tango establishments. In 1986 Herrera featured as a solo dancer in Marcus Zurinaga’s movie '' Tango Bar''. Two years later, in 1988, he starred in the role of

Martín Fierro ''Martín Fierro'', also known as ''El Gaucho Martín Fierro'', is a 2,316-line epic poem by the Argentine writer José Hernández. The poem was originally published in two parts, ''El Gaucho Martín Fierro'' (1872) and ''La Vuelta de Martín F ...

, based on the

epic poem In poetry, an epic is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. With regard to ...

José Hernández José Hernández may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Jose Acosta Hernandez (born 1966), Cuban-born American artist * José Hernández (writer) (1834–1886), Argentine writer * Pepe Hern (José Hernández Bethencourth, 1927–2009), American ...

, in the play ''Aquí me pongo a cantar'' (english: "Here I start to sing") in the ''Teatro de las Provincias'' in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

. In 1993 Herrera worked as a solo dancer for the

dance company A dance troupe or dance company is a group of dancers and associated personnel who work together to perform dances as a sport, spectacle or entertainment. There are many different types of dance companies, often working in different list of dance ...

''Tango Pasión'' with the orchestra Sexteto Mayor. In 1994 he featured in the movie ''Muchas gracias maestro'', which is based on the life of Osvaldo Pugliese. From 1995 until 1999, Herrera was

artistic director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogu ...

as well as

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...

of the show "Tango, una Historia" in the Buenos Aires upscale bar ''El Querandí'', thus becoming one of the forerunners of similar shows found today in the various ''Casas de Tango'' of Buenos Aires. In 1997 Herrera was part of the opening show of the

movie premiere A premiere, also spelled première, (from , ) is the debut (first public presentation) of a work, i.e. play, film, dance, musical composition, or even a performer in that work. History Raymond F. Betts attributes the introduction of the film ...

of '' Evita'' in Buenos Aires as choreographer and dancer. The same year, he presided over the closing show of the

Mar del Plata International Film Festival The Mar del Plata International Film Festival () is an List of film festivals, international film festival that takes place every November in the city of Mar del Plata, Argentina. It is the only competitive feature festival recognized by the FIAPF ...

. In 2000 he featured as soloist together with his dance partner Lorena Yacono in the

Gershwin Theatre The Gershwin Theatre (originally the Uris Theatre) is a Broadway theater at 222 West 51st Street, on the second floor of the Paramount Plaza office building, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. Opened in 19 ...

’s

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

musical ''

Tango Argentino Argentine tango is a musical genre and accompanying social dance originating at the end of the 19th century in the suburbs of Buenos Aires. It typically has a or rhythmic time signature, and two or three parts repeating in patterns such as A ...

''. In 2004 he was guest dancer, together with Mora Godoy, in the leading role of Gaudencio in the musical ''Tanguera'' in the ''Teatro El Nacional'' in Buenos Aires. In 2002 Herrera founded the Tango company ''Compañía Roberto Herrera Tango'' and has been its director ever since. As part of the festivities surrounding the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

, he and his company performed the show "Tango de Hoy" together with Natacha Poberaj. In 2005 he went on his first tour through Europe with his show "Tango Nuevo de Roberto Herrera". So far, he and his company have performed more than 300 times all over the world with shows such as "Tango de Hoy", "Tango Nuevo de Roberto Herrera", "Tango, Una Historia", "Tango de Buenos Aires", "Tango Origin" and "El Tango". In 2004, in addition to his dance company, Herrera also founded his own dance school, the ''Herrera Tango Academy'', with branches in Buenos Aires,

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

and

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. The Munich branch also closely cooperates with the local Tango school ''Tango genial''. Herrera has been teaching Tango since 1979, offering workshops all over the world and regularly performs at Tango festivals. Since 2003 he has been a member of the jury of the

World tango dance tournament The World tango dance tournament (in Spanish: ''Campeonato Mundial de Baile de Tango'', also known as ''Mundial de Tango'') is an annual competition of Argentine tango, Argentine Tango, held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, usually in August, as part ...

Awards

* 2012: ''Maestro Formador y Transmisor Popular Argentino de la Danza'', awarded by the ''Consejo Argentino de la Danza'' (C.A.D.)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Herrera, Roberto Argentine choreographers 20th-century Argentine dancers 21st-century Argentine dancers Living people 1963 births

Education

Career

Awards

See also

References