The International Tango Festival is an identity celebration for Argentineans. With the instance of the International Tango Festival there are performances presented first by the professional dancers that share this art form that has existed in Argentina 's history for many years. These performers are looked up to and their style is emulated by the pupils of the clinic. This is the time of year where this country shows off its most important past time. More importantly, it gives people from around the world a chance to embrace this identity and find out more about the tango.

This celebration is a true expression of the culture of Argentina . Each and every year the people of this country are eager to share and express their culture with the numerous people that travel to their city each October. It gives people from other nations a chance to experience the country of Argentina and embrace the culture in a way that they have never done before. In fact, there has been a tango museum constructed in the heart of Buenos Aires honoring tango's greatest vocal interpreter, Carlos Gardel. “The restoration began when residents of Abasto, one of forty-eight barrios (bar) in Buenos Aires , voted in 2002 to approve it as a priority project for the neighborhood. Businessman Eduardo Eurnekian, owner of the property, donated it to the city, and the work, budgeted for 500,000 pesos (about U.S. $175,000), was completed in two months by Aeropuertos Argentina 2000 S.A.”(Holston 2003: 3). The Museo Casa Carlos Gardel is full of artifacts honoring this legendary icon and since its construction in 2002 has become a major tourist attraction in Argentina .

Since Argentina has traditionally been known as an unwelcoming and politically unstable destination in South America , this is a great opportunity for foreigners to realize that the citizens of this country believe in a safe, hospitable environment for everyone to enjoy. It is through the tango that Argentina is creating this name for it and making their wonderful country a major tourist attraction. The tango music being sold at the International Tango Festival has attracted a great deal of world wide attention. “One of the ideas that we worked on to confront the dim perspectives for this year was the exportation of Argentine music, which in light of the devalued peso offers an interesting profit margin. And in addition to today's pop acts; we thought that reissuing our deep, extensive catalog of tango would really prove attractive for the European and Asian markets” (Fernandez 2002: 30). Tango music is making its way into the mainstream and is being put into the same sales category as some of the more popular rock and pop music. As a result of this, more capital is brought into the economy and in time stability can be attained.

  In Argentina today, tango remains at the center of the emotional life of porteños, the inhabitants of the port city of Buenos Aires . The music's lyrics are part of the essential definition of what it means to belong to this much abused city. Indeed, there seemed to be a renewed interest in the tango in the dark days of 2002. After a brief economic climax in the early '90s that filled Buenos Aires with prosperity, the country suffered the most severe economic crisis in its history. As a result, half the population was sent below the poverty level (Guillermoprieto 2003: 34 ) . Yet even as they struggled to pay their utility bills or avoid eviction, many people found new meaning in a music and dance that was neither easy nor frivolous. It seemed to be quite fitting for these times. Tango helped keep the people of Argentina going when it appeared as though things could not get any worse. Furthermore, we see just how tango can adequately reinforce culturally important ideas such as unity and kinship. When families were not sure what to do it was tango that picked them up and gave them new life. Meeting up with friends at the tango bar would temporarily eliminate the thoughts of money shortage. People banded together to provide constant support for one another. This is how thousands of Argentineans made it through one of the worst economic droughts of their time.

  While the tango might seem to be an erotic dance that is full of sexual innuendos, this is not the purpose of the dancers. As is depicted in Figure 4, the women dress in provocative dresses while the typical male dress consists of a tuxedo or very constricting attire. Throughout the course of the dance we see the man leading and then the female taking over the leadership role. This dance deals with gender roles and it can be compared to the roles that men and women play in Argentinean society. As the dance has evolved over the years we can see that the modern version has transformed into a style that allows the woman to express her individuality throughout the dance ( Holston 2003: 4). For example, when the dancers separate the women has a ‘solo' dance that she performs while the man stays back in the shadow waiting for their union. For once the spotlight is on the women. Furthermore, women in 21 st century Argentina have many more freedoms than they used to have years ago. In fact, according to the Women's International Network News, women have been fighting for changes in their rights. “ Women stated that their rights were not adequately represented in the Constitution. The civil rights of women were not protected at present --therefore reforms and changes of the Constitution must be sought.” As women have pushed to earn rights we have seen a gradual change in some of the steps of the dance. We can see that this Argentinean icon becomes dynamic with the changes in society.