Gran Milonga Nacional
When? December 2020
Where? Avenida de Mayo between Bernardo de Irigoyen and Perú
To celebrate Argentina’s National Tango Day, enjoy music and dance in the street in the very centre of the city.
Every December 11 is National Tango Day, celebrating this emblematic and passionate music and dance created in Argentina. The date was chosen because it was the birthday of two of the genre’s biggest icons, the singer-songwriter Carlos Gardel and the composer and orchestra leader Julio de Caro. The following Saturday after the date itself, the city celebrates with the Gran Milonga Nacional - a huge free event that fills one of the city’s most famous avenues with music and dance.
Avenida de Mayo will be closed to traffic between Bernardo de Irigoyen and Perú, with several stages set up for a milonga - a social dance event - accompanied by live orchestra performances, dance shows and more. One of the city’s major avenues is effectively transformed into a huge dancefloor for thousands of dancers as the city celebrates tango, a music and dance that was declared world heritage by Unesco in 2009.
The event, which is also broadcast live by the city’s public 24-hour tango radio station
radio 2x4, is run by the Buenos Aires City Government, the Academia Nacional del Tango and the Asociación de Patrocinadores del Turismo, la Hostelería y la Gastronomía de la República Argentina.