Authentic by Choice, or by Chance? A Discussion of The Gods of Tango, by Carolina de Robertis

This novel follows the development of tango music in Buenos Aires and Montevideo from 1913 onwards through the challenges and soul searching situations encountered by the protagonist, Leda, a young Italian widow who starts her career as a tango violinist posing as a man: Dante. The story includes Leda’s growing success as a Tanguero; her unmasking and persecution as a fraud; her process of self - discovery as a wo/man; and her meeting the love of her life, the Uruguayan tango singer Rosa Vidal, whom she marri es and with whom she lives happily for 51 years, playing, singing, composing, and dancing the tango doing intercambio. My talk will be framed by definitions of ‘Authenticity’ in connection with the self, tango in general, and queer tango in particular, and will be developed by establishing links between Herminia Ibarra’s, 'Authenticity Paradox' and the novel. This theory, usually applied to women who reach positions of leadership in business or politics, will be used to show how the adoption of certain gendered attributes (stereotypical male/female behaviours) can become problematic for women in leading positions and what strategies are needed in order to facilitate the delivery of an authentic performance (assuming that such a thing exists).

"If the tango itself could dance with me, would it lead or follow?“ (Catolina De Robertis 207)