ith his death a partnership of tango dancers that had officially teamed up in 1972 came to an end. They were teachers, creators of a method for learning and those who introduced dancing for therapeutic purposes.

When he was a very young kid he attended the Escuela Nacional de Danzas Folclóricas (National School of Folk Dances). That was his origin. He confessed that the only teaching he had was when he was between four and eight years old. At home —he commented— there was a mandate issued by his father. Before going to school his children had to be learning some art discipline. And so it was. He had been dancing folk music since then and in his early teen years, after having saved the necessary money, he managed that somebody would take him to the countryside to dance malambo because he had already danced it despite he had never seen a gaucho.

At age 17, with tango, the milonga arrives. One year later he met Gloria Inés Varo and they danced in a television program. For some time each one continued in their own business, separately, until the opportunity to occupy a place in the company led by Juan Carlos Copes came. It was 1972 and they teamed up in tango and in their life.

Gloria has a classical training with years of study at the Art Institute of the Teatro Colón. She began at age eight and graduated in 1967. Immediately after she traveled to Europe and in Spain she began with tango when she joined the company of the choreographer and dancer Ángel Eleta (Navarra, Spain 1908-1979) in which she succeeded in becoming lead dancer. (Eleta, later, settled in our country where he stayed for several years devoted to tango and appeared in theaters, movies and television).

In 1972 they were hired to appear in the USA. From 1985 to 1989 they were members of the successful show Tango Argentino and in 1991 they created the academy Los Dinzel.

In 1992 they founded and directed the Centro Educativo del Tango de Buenos Aires (Tango Educational Center of Buenos Aires). Another work in response to their teaching vocation was: Tango-Danza. Sistema Dinzel de notación coreográfica, published in 1997 and re-issued in 2011 and which was adopted by the Bolshoi Theater of Moscow.

They were the first ones in applying dancing as a therapeutic tool in the case of the blind, people with Parkinson’s disease, young with Down syndrome and different difficulties. Other publications to be quoted: El tango-Danza: Improvisación-Parte I. And in 2012 El tango-Danza. Mi tango. And Tango-Danza. Ansiosa búsqueda de la libertad.

To write a portrayal about Rodolfo and Gloria is filling a great space with the enumeration of all the awards given in our country and in the world, the large number of courses and seminars given, a sample: New York, Canada, Granada (Spain), Zaragoza (Spain), San Francisco, Los Angeles, Paris, Lugano, Madrid, La Sorbonne, Copenhagen (Denmark), Malmö (Sweden), Milan and others.

Their appearances as dancers comprehend cities of the five continents. The recognitions in our country and abroad are also many. We shall mention only the appointment of Rodolfo as Honorary Professor of the Academia Nacional del Tango and his being declared as Outstanding Personality of the Culture of the City of Buenos Aires in 2013.

After 43 years of continuous relationship with his female partner, he said about her: «I was lucky to dance with the best tango dancer in the world. I was fortunate to find that person who can be your friend, your lover, your wife, the mother of your children, your mother, your guide».

Within the tango milieu he always singled out the kindness and humility of Leopoldo Federico from the time when they were beginning to achieve experience at El Viejo Almacén.

Due to the medical advances of the time, he ought to have lived longer. But it was not so. His mission was accomplished.

Excerpted from a note by Laura Falcoff published in the Clarín journal, January 2015, with information added by Nestor Pinsón.