Tango returns to Kolašin

"The legend is here again" - the organizers briefly announced the return of the event to Kolašin yesterday on the official website of the Tango camp.

The winner of the Wild beauty award of the Montenegrin National Tourist Organization and one of the nine events that NTO put on the list of those "you must not miss if you come to Montenegro", after five years, will dance again in that tourist spot. Next summer's international event will be held from July 14 to 29.

The event ceased to exist after the 2018 edition, when, after eight years of enthusiastic work, the organizers got tired of the financial, logistical, and even security obstacles that accompanied them throughout the organization of the event.

Darko Dožić, the founder of the Kolašin tango camp and one of the key people in "Tango Natural Belgrade", the largest European tango organization, tells Vijesti that "returning to Kolašin was a long process".

"Interest in the city never stopped, in fact it grew from year to year after the event stopped. Previous mayor Marta Šćepanović she made a turning point by showing a high level of seriousness and professionalism by giving a series of guarantees that started us to imagine this event as possible again. The new president of the municipality Vladimir Martinovic maintained the same level of quality in relation to us and the event, gave additional guarantees and encouraged us with his expediency and commitment to solving all important challenges that were an obstacle for harmonious work in Kolašin. We feel it makes sense to be there again," he says.

He reminds that the last edition of the Tango camp hosted 700 guests from 25 countries of the world for more than two weeks, making the entire city live in a Maltese carnival atmosphere. Photos and videos that combine the beauty of Montenegro with mass dance scenes have gone around the world attracting a lot of attention to this rarely attractive event.

"In the tango world, the Tango camp has become a legend. As long as it existed, the world tango community talked about this small town in the mountains, which is turning into a tango city full of various contents. Many tango tourists have experienced this adventure, but most were just about to discover it. And then the Tango camp ceased to exist and became a legend that those who experienced it told about to those who didn't," says Dožić.

According to him, "tangeros are not only guests who flood the city, but also a unique tourist offer". For years, he recalls, tourists reacted with "a mixture of amazement and delight to the fact that in a Montenegrin town they encountered hundreds of people dancing in the streets and squares".

According to the words Duško Raketić, one of those whose merits made the camp successful, this year's date of the event is a great opportunity for all those who, directly or indirectly, live from tourism in Kolašin.

"This year, together with the MOSI games at the beginning of July, we will make Kolašin have the longest summer season ever, which is a big thing for our city. In addition, we should not forget the rainy summers when the whole of Montenegro was poorly visited while Kolašin was teeming with people precisely because of the Tango camp. We must also be aware that these are guests who stay in the city for about nine days on average, as opposed to transit and weekend guests who are the most frequent visitors to Kolašin in the summer. This event, with its long duration and safe guests, is a guarantee that no city in Montenegro has when it comes to the certainty of a successful season," he claims.

The local administration is ready, as the President of the Municipality told Vijesti Vladimir Martinovic, "not only to continue the started cooperation, but also to improve it in every subsequent edition of the camp". Martinović reminds that this event "mapped Kolašin at numerous addresses around the world as a recognizable tourist brand".

"We expect that, in cooperation with the organizers of the Tango camp, we will provide quality content to the visitors of our city and the participants of the camp in the summer. With this, we will enable Kolašin, along with all other sports and cultural events, to win the title of not only a winter but also a summer tourist center during the coming summer. The team that I lead and I will always be open to cooperation and undertaking all activities in order to realize to mutual satisfaction this and similar projects that are not only of local but also of international importance", promises the President of the Municipality.

As it turned out during the eight years of the event, Tango Camp is much more than a dance event. In addition to dance and music content related to Argentine tango, every day includes various excursions, many hikes, yoga classes, relaxation and anti-stress programs, cycling, climbing, horseback riding, archery, creative workshops for children, music workshops, lectures, projections, Argentine folk dances... During the event, a tango school for complete beginners is also open every day. And all this was free for the people of Kolašin and all tourists, non-dancers who visit Kolašin.

As in the previous editions, the Tango camp, the organizers announce, will host some of the top Argentinian tango musicians, as well as well-known European instructors, dancers and DJs, next summer.