Maria Nieves

María Nieves Rego (born September 6, 1934) is an Argentine tango dancer and choreographer who starred in the 1983 musical Tango Argentino.

Born in the Saavedra district of Buenos Aires, she was the daughter of modest Galician emigrants. After her father died, she left school in the 4th grade to work as a maid in La Boca. She was introduced to the tango by her elder sister known as La Ñata.

Nieves and Juan Carlos Copes brought the tango and the milonga to audiences throughout the world. By 1956 Nieves and Copes had created a dance based on music by Astor Piazzolla but it was after touring through Central America, Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico and Cuba that they were asked to meet Piazzolla in Mexico City. The three of them shared tango music and got on well together. They flew to Puerto Rico in October 1959 where they packed out Club Flamboyan in San Juan with "Companina Argentina Tangolandia". Piazzolla was serving as the musical director and he dreamt of taking them to North America. The tour continued in New York, Chicago and then Washington. The last show that the three of them did together was an appearance on CBS the only colour TV channel in the US. They featured on The Arthur Murray Party in April 1960.

They continued to be dance partners for decades. In the 1980s, they created and starred in Tango Argentino. The show's run had to be extended as Nieves and Copes had been only booked for a week. It moved to another theatre in October and continued there until the following year. With different dancers, it went on for a number of years in New York. In 1986, it received Tony Award nominations for best musical, best director, and best choreographer, and during the 40th Tony Awards show a dance excerpt from Tango Argentino was performed. The book The tango in the United States : a history incorrectly reported that the show had won a tony Award.

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