ome people think he was from Villa Santa Rita, whose western edge borders the neighborhood of Monte Castro; it's also said that he worked for the Buenos Aires-Pacific Railroad, a British company.

What is certain is that el Negro Navarro was a tango dancer, born by good luck at the very start of the modern twentieth century, when the style of dancing the tango was transforming itself just as was the design of the city of Buenos Aires.

He distinguished himself so greatly in the art of dancing, that in the first decade he went off to Paris, to try his luck, and was part of that band of young adventurers who would side-step (dodge, avoid) nostalgia which spreading tango: El Cachafaz, El Vasco Casimiro Aín, and Bernabé Simarra, among others.

When the War devastated a large part of Europe, he returned and dedicated himself to transmitting his art. He was one of those teachers who preferred to help the new generation instead of criticizing it. He had a few students; among those, he worked closely with a young fellow of seventeen, from 1928 to 1930. He was from Monte Castro, his name was Carlos Estévez, and his nickname, Petróleo. A neighborhood and a man to whom twenty years later we would credit the greatest renovation known in the history of tango dance.

The author is instructor, dancer and researcher of tango dance. He is author of the Nuevo glosario de tango danza, La pista del abrazo and Tango FAQs. www.tangosalon.com.ar / info@tangosalon.com.ar