JORGE NEL GIRALDO

ORGANIZER
I have devoted 40 years to tango. My parents are(were) excellent dancers of the Argentinian Melody. My father was a shoe manufacturer, and for that reason I keep (have)the love for tango, and for shoemaking, deep inside.

The best memories of my tender childhood are always in my mind. As a small child, lying in a little cradle beside my dad's workshop, I watched my father make shoes as he listened to the best tangos of that time. The tango music, as well as the sound of the hammer attaching the shoe soles, are wonderful memories.

At one point in my career as a tango dancer, I got sick and realized, even more profoundly, the fact that my body was a tool for my work: (was the tool of my work.) If I was not physically healthy, I would not have been able to make money from my passion for tango. That is when I thought of a way of being profitable without only depending on my body. (This is when I considered how to have an income that did not depend on my body.) My father suggested I started selling tango shoes. (My father said to me, “You should sell tango shoes.”) I thought very hard about it; selling shoes would take a lot of time, and what I really wanted to do was to dance. However, my dad made me realize that I would have to own a business to get an income without needing to depend on my body as a working tool. That is how I started the tango shoe business in 1990. Today, I thank my father, who encouraged me to use the tools from my childhood. The Mr. Tango Shoes Company is now known throughout the tango world. Because of this, I can spend part of my time dancing tango and dedicate the rest of my time to the shoe manufacturing business.