This obituary is part of a series about people who died from the coronavirus pandemic. Read about others here.
Tango was originally a ballroom dance performed in neighborhood gatherings and dance halls. But Juan Carlos Copes turned it into dance for the stage, with a complex, highly polished choreography that could delight an audience for an entire evening.
Mr. Copes moved across the dance floor for seven decades. Most of the time he danced with a partner – at times with his wife – María Nieves Rego. They came to define a new style of tango called “estilo Copes-Nieves”.
“I’ve seen two styles danced,” said Copes in a 2007 interview with tango magazine “La Milonga Argentina”. “One with many steps and the other smooth and elegant. My innovation was to combine the two into one. “
Mr. Copes died on January 15 in a clinic in the suburbs of Buenos Aires. He was 89 years old. The cause were complications from Covid-19, said his daughter Johana Copes.
Mr. Copes and Mrs. Nieves may have had their greatest influence on the show “Tango Argentino”, which premiered in Paris in 1983 and became an international juggernaut. She toured Europe and Asia before coming to Broadway in 1985, where she was nominated for several Tonys. The show, in which the couple re-starred, returned to Broadway in 1999 when it was nominated for Best Revival.
“Tango Argentino” led to a worldwide resurgence of tango, which had fallen out of favor even in Argentina and was replaced by the emergence of predominantly American pop music. Tango clubs have opened all over the world.
“The fact that we tango artists today even have a profession is thanks to Copes,” said New York-based dancer Leonardo Sardella, who has often performed with Johana Copes, in an interview.
Mr. Copes stayed in the spotlight, dancing and choreographing dozens of tango shows in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1998 he starred in the dance film “Tango” by the Spanish director Carlos Saura alongside the Argentine ballet dancer Julio Bocca, to whom he had taught tango. (He also taught Liza Minnelli.)
Mr Copes was born on May 31, 1931 in Mataderos, a district of Buenos Aires, to the bus driver Carlo Copes and the housewife María Magdalena Berti and grew up in the Villa Pueyrredón, another district on the outskirts. His maternal grandfather, Juan Berti, was a pianist who specialized in tango.
As a teenager he studied electrician. But he also attended tango evenings in social clubs, where he met Ms. Nieves.
In 1951, the couple took part in a major dance competition at Luna Park Stadium, where they won the grand prize among 300 couples. This led to appearances in clubs and cabarets and in 1955 to her first tango show at the Teatro El Nacional.
Mr. Copes and Mrs. Nieves went on tour four years later with the composer Astor Piazzolla. The itinerary included the United States, where they landed the first of several spots on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1962. The footage from this first performance shows the super-fast footwork, sharp kicks, and streamlined style that had made them so popular.
They married in Las Vegas in 1964. The marriage ended in 1973, but they continued to dance together until 1997, despite being very opposed to each other.
“We’d scold each other when we went on stage and carry on when we left the stage. But in between there were the real Copes nieves, ”said Copes in a 2007 interview.
After divorce became legal in Argentina, he married Myriam Albuernez in 1988.
Together with his daughter Johana, who has become his main partner in recent years, he is survived by Mrs. Albuernez. another daughter, Geraldine; and five granddaughters.
“He taught me how to breathe tango,” said Johana Copes. “His dance had a delicacy and purity that was difficult to achieve. I now understand why he always wanted to prepare, rehearse and dance. I understand this need. “
