Juan Carlos Copes is an Argentine tango

Argentine tango

Argentine tango is a musical genre of simple quadruple metre and binary musical form, and the social dance that accompanies it. Its lyrics and music are marked by nostalgia, expressed through melodic instruments including the bandoneon. Originated at the ending of the 19th century in the suburbs of...

 dancer, choreographer, and performer. He contributed to worldwide revival of tango as a dance form after 1970.

Born in Buenos Aires, in 1962 debuted at the Alvin Theatre on Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

; during the 1960s, he was instrumental in creating concept of the tango show in Buenos Aires. In 1983 choreographed Tango Argentino on Broadway, which contributed to worldwide revival of tango; his notable stage credits also include his work as chief coreographer of Ástor Piazzolla

Ástor Piazzolla

Ástor Pantaleón Piazzolla was an Argentine tango composer and bandoneón player. His oeuvre revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed nuevo tango, incorporating elements from jazz and classical music...

's María de Buenos Aires

María de Buenos Aires

María de Buenos Aires is a tango opera with music by Ástor Piazzolla. and libretto by Horacio Ferrer which premiered at the Sala Planeta in Buenos Aires in May 1968....

(1988), in the Spanish National Ballet's Dance Icons series (1993), and a leading role in Manuel González Gil's Entre Borges

Jorge Luis Borges

Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...

 y Piazzolla (Between Borges and Piazzolla, 1997). Copes' film credits include Raúl de la Torre

Raúl de la Torre

Raúl de la Torre was an Argentine film director screenwriter and film producer.He was nominated for a Palme d'Or at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival for the film Pobre mariposa....

's musical, Funes, un gran amor (1993), and in a role as chief coreographer in Tango, la película (Tango, the Movie

Tango (1998 film)

Tango is a 1998 Argentine tango film written and directed by Carlos Saura and photographed by acclaimed cinematographer Vittorio Storaro. The film is an Argentine and Spanish production.-Plot:...

), a 1998 film by Carlos Saura

Carlos Saura

Carlos Saura Atarés is a Spanish film director and photographer.-Early life:Born into a family of artists , he developed his artistic sense in childhood as a photography enthusiast.He obtained his directing diploma in Madrid in 1957 at the Institute of Cinema Research and Studies...

.

Copes has received numerous artistic awards. His pupils include Robert Duvall

Robert Duvall

Robert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards and a BAFTA over the course of his career....

 and Liza Minnelli

Liza Minnelli

Liza May Minnelli is an American actress and singer. She is the daughter of singer and actress Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli....

.