We are delighted to announce that  t2i WORLD Cup will be taking place between the 14th and 17th of March 2025. This highly anticipated event will see talented dancers from around the world compete in exciting 15 categories. 

The competition will be judged by a distinguished jury that has been carefully selected from some of the best and most respected dance professionals in the Tango World. We are committed to ensuring that the judging process is impartial, fair and of the highest standard possible.

We invite dancers from all corners of the globe to participate in this prestigiousevent and showcase their skills and passion for dance. The t2i Cup provides a platform for emerging talent, established performers and dance enthusiasts to come together and celebrate the art of tango.

1st T2i World CUP General Information and Rules

            The T2i World CUP Team announces that T2i World Championship is to be held between 14th of March – 17th of March 2025 in Istanbul by the following terms and conditions;

CATEGORIES: T2i championship consists of 15 categories.

Tango Salon

Tango Escenario

Tango Vals

Milonga

Tango Salon Senior (+50 years)

Tango Salon Social (only Social Dancers)

Music of Di Sarli

Music of D’arienzo

Music of Pugliese

Music of Troilo

Multi Style (Tango, Vals, Milonga)

Tango Nuevo

Group Choreographies (3-8 Couples)

Solo Milonguero

Tango Barre

Participation fee’s are in the official website of TanGO TO Istanbul. The participation fee is non-refundable due to any reasons.

ORGANIZERS: Championship is being made by istanbulTANGO school which are also organizers of the festival TanGO TO Istanbul.

GENERAL REMINDINGS: The Organization Team has the right to change the rules, time or shape of the organization due to unexpected events or any other reasons.

The Organization Team has the right to record and film everything during the championship and use them as advertisement material by any means. The contestants must take permission from the organizers for use of this material.

All contestants must join all the ceremonies, events, photo shootings and other advertisement organizations during the championship and additionaly, the winners (the contestants who are in the first 6 of each category) must join these events after the championship.

All the contestants will have to register online and make the payment until 15th of February 2025. This date may be extended by the Organization Team. The contestants also have to be present at the first date of registration in Istanbul at 14th of March 2025. The place will be the Pullman Convention Center. At the first date of registration, they will receive a competition number and will be informed about the details of the organization.

The official web site of the Organization Team is www.tangotoistanbul.com for all announcements, registrations and questions. YOU MUST DOWNLOAD THE INNDANCE APPLICATION FOR ALL CHANGES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS.

REGISTRATION: Participation fees are in the official website of TanGO TO Istanbul.  The registration consists of 2 parts: First registration is online. They must be made until 15th of February 2025 online by the official website. The registrations are couple registrations one being leader and the other being follower. The second is to check in at 14th of March 2025 at the first date of the championship. We suggest the contestants be in Istanbul before this date because the registration time will be early in the morning. The details will be announced on the official website later.

The couples can be any nationality of a minimum age of 18. If each couple is from the same country then they will be represented from that country. If they are from different countries then they have the right to decide from which country to be represented from. But they will be represented as only one country.

The contestants can register for only once in each category. But they can register all 15 categories with the same or different partners. They have to show their passports or ID at the second registration in Istanbul. They are allowed to register for different categories with different partners. They need to show their ID at every stage of the competition. It can NOT be done by a third member. Any false statement or illegal registration will be penalized by disqualification from the competition.

The organization team can change the deadline of the registration due to any reason.

RULES AND TERMS OF CONDITIONS DURING THE COMPETITION: In Tango Salon category, each couple will compete in group performances dancing to 2-3 songs selected by the Organization Team. Each group will have the songs from the same orchestra during each elimination. The song list will be published at the official website before 1st of January 2025 and new songs will be added by recommendation until the championship. The Tango Salon Championship will be made with an elimination method, explained and examples below according to the number of contestants registered. In Stage Tango category, each couple will compete individually, dancing to one song of their choice that may not be longer than four minutes. They can perform different choreographies in different eliminations. These music pieces must be given to the organization team by any memory device at the first date of the registration and checked by the DJ and the contestant together before the competition. They will compete by the score method example below. PLEASE NOTE THAT, ONLY THE CONTESTANTS WHO ENTERED THE PRELIMINARIES OF TangotoCUP AND SCORED IN THE FIRST FIVE (5) COUPLES CAN ENTER TANGO ESCENARIO CATEGORY. If there is no TangotoCUP competition in your country then you need to get a confirmation for the entrance from the organization team by sending a video of your choreography.

ELIMINATIONS FOR TANGO SALON: All the couples will be dancing 2-3 songs chosen by the organization in small groups. The number of groups will be announced at the competition day depending on the number of contestants. Let’s explain this elimination method by an example;

Ex: If there are 120 couples attending, they will dance 2-3 songs and 40 of them will be chosen among them. Then these 40 will dance again 2-3 songs and among them 24 will be chosen. Then the qualifiers will dance again and 12 of them will be chosen. And finally 6 of them will be chosen for Finals.

ELIMINATIONS FOR TANGO ESCENARIO: All the contestants will perform once and among 6 of them will be chosen for the Finals.

FINAL OF THE COMPETITION FOR TANGO SALON: There will be 6 couples for Tango Salon category at 17nd of March 2025 at Pullman Hotel. All couples will dance 1 song alone on the stage with the music they pick randomly.

FINAL OF THE COMPETITION FOR TANGO ESCENARIO: There will be 6-7 couples dancing only once with the song they choose for Tango Escenario  Category. It will be made at 16th of March 2025 at Pullman Hotel.

SKATING SYSTEM: In all TangotoCUP Competitions Skating System is used for scoring. The skating system is a method of compiling scores in Dance competitions. It is used for the final placings of competitors and is based upon a method that prioritizes 'majority' and 'overall performance' as given by judges scores to solve problems that arise in what can be a subjective determination of quality of art as sport. In preliminary rounds (semifinals, quarter-finals, eliminations etc.). It says that for each dance of the round, the judges must mark the number of dance couples specified by the chairman of adjudicators whom they decide to advance to the next round. The score of one couple is the number of all "PASS" marks over all judges and dances. The couples with the highest score advance to the next round. If there are 6 couples in the Final, the marks from each judge for each dance are the places for the dancers, with the 1st place being the highest and 6th place the last. After that the Final result will be calculated with the formula explained in the link; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skating_system

THE JURY: The Jury of the competition for the FINALS will be chosen by the Organization Team of the competition. In all categories, there will be 5-9 jury members whose nationalities are Argentinian, Turkish, Italian, Russian, Greece, Japan, China and Colombia. They will be announced before the competition at the official website. There will be no objection for the decision of the jury in the eliminations and finals so the contestants are already accepting this.

Any jury member must have no business relationship in the past 3 months with any contestants.

EVALUATION CRITERIA OF THE JURY FOR TANGO SALON: Tango Salon is considered as an improvisation dance, where the most important aspects are the musicality, embrace,   connection, harmony and creativity at the improvisation between the contestants.

Once formed, the couple must not separate the embrace while the music is playing. During the whole dance the couples must dance in a anti-clockwise direction without disturbing the other couples. If a couple spends more time at the same spot of the dance floor, the Jury may break the points of the contestant. It is allowed but not suggested to go backwards according to the leader. The jury will break the points of the contestants or even disqualify them at the collisions who go backwards according to the leader. If this incident affects the dance of all contestants, the jury will disqualify the couple who stops the dance floor and may repeat the song/s in order to solve the inconvenience.

The couples can use any commonly used figures of social tango, like sacadas, ganchos, barridas, pasadas, enrosques, colgadas, volcadas, boleos (the leg must not be higher than the core level) and basically any tango dance figure while we improvise at the dance floor. Jump and lift figures and soltadas (break of embrace) are completely forbidden.

EVALUATION CRITERIA OF THE JURY FOR TANGO ESCENARIO: Couples are allowed to use any figures of traditional Argentinian Tango elements (sacadas, ganchos, barridas, boleos, soltadas, colgadas and volcadas) and other dance disciplines. As the competition is an Argentinian Tango Dance competition and the jury members are masters of Argentinian Tango, it is strongly advised to use more traditional Argentinian Tango elements during the choreography.

If there are any technical problems, the jury will ask the couple to repeat their choreography.

If they have a problem performing during the choreography, they can’t ask for the music restart. They can continue or stop and the Jury will evaluate accordingly.

CLOTHING FOR BOTH CATEGORIES: Competitors are encouraged to dress elegantly. We strongly suggest getting dressed up; suits for leaders and dresses or skirt/top combos for followers. Tango Escenario contestants may wear another dress related to their story in their performance during their choreography and also can use different objects to enrichen their format.

PRIZES: The prizes for Tango Salon and Tango Escenario categories will be as follows:

1st place: 1500 Euro + The winning couple will be invited as MAESTROS for TanGO TO istanbul festival 2026*** (Conditions will be told if asked by email)

2nd place: 1000 Euro

3rd place: 500 Euro

The 1st, 2nd and 3rd place contestants will also get trophies in all categories. The semi finalists and finalists may also take some other prizes from the sponsors and organizations.

All contestants will obtain a participation certificate.

*** The winning couple must be the same as leader and follower for next year's festival. If they refuse to come together and have different partners at the 2026 T2i Festival then the organization has the right to invite 2nd place contestants. If they also have the same problem then none of them will be invited. The winners must act ethically during the whole year about the advertisement of the competition for T2i festival 2026 or else they will not be invited.

DISQUALIFICATION FOR OTHER TERMS: The Organization Team will disqualify any contestant from the competition which do any of the following:

a) Do not follow the rules of the competition;

b) Trying to impose a political or religious point of view during the competition

c) Doesn’t have any respect for others, doesn’t act properly at all times during the festival.

d) Writing an unethical  statement about the TangotoCUP competition before, during and after the festival.

TANGO VALS: In the "Tango Waltz" category, the contestant couples are asked to dance in accordance with the content, concept, emotion and technique of the "Waltz" dance, one of the most important parts of Tango. The Vals rhythms has much less pausing than the tango rhythm. That's why, it will be judged a lot of fluidity and movements that do not require pausing and big embraces by the Jury. All the rules in the Tango Salon category are valid in this category.

Music: 2-3 songs of Vals Music

MILONGA: In the "Milonga" category, the contestant couples are asked to dance in accordance with the content, concept, emotion and technique of the "Milonga" dance, one of the most important parts of Tango. All the rules in the Tango Salon category are valid in this category.

Music: 2-3 songs of Milonga Music

TANGO SALON SENIOR (50+ AGE): The "Tango Salon Senior (50+ Age)" category, as its name suggests, is for couples over 50 years of age. All rules in the Tango Salon category apply to this category.

Music: 2-3 songs of Tango Music

TANGO MILONGUERO (COUPLE): In the "Tango Milonguero (couple)" category, the contestant couples are asked to dance the "Milonguero" style. All the rules in the Tango Salon category apply to this category.

Music: 2-3 songs of Tango Music, generally 1930's era.

TANGO SALON RISING STAR: In ''Tango Salon Rising Star'' category, the contestant couples are Semi Profesinals and Pro-Am Couples. All the rules in the Tango Salon category apply to this category.

Music: 2-3 songs of Tango Music

TANGO SALON SOCIAL: In ''Tango Salon Socail'' category, the contestant couples are Social Dancers. Any couple who is approved that he/she is a teacher will be eliminated from the com petition. All the rules in the Tango Salon category apply to this category.

Music: 2-3 songs of Tango Music

MUSIC OF DI SARLI: In the "Music of Di Sarli" category, the contestant couples are asked to dance in accordance with the content, music, concept, emotion and technique of the world-famous "Carlos Di Sarli" orchestra. All the rules in the Tango Salon category are valid in this category.

Music: 2-3 songs of Carlos Di Darli orchestra Music

MUSIC OF D’ARIENZO: In the "Music of D'Arienzo" category, the contestant couples are asked to dance in accordance with the content, music, concept, emotion and technique of the world-famous "Juan D'Arienzo" orchestra. All the rules in the Tango Salon category are valid in this category.

Music: 2-3 songs of Juan D'arienzo orchestra Music

MUSIC OF PUGLIESE: In the "Music of Pugliese" category, the contestant couples are asked to dance in accordance with the content, music, concept, emotion and technique of the world-famous "Osvaldo Pugliese" orchestra. All the rules in the Tango Salon category are valid in this category.

Music: 2-3 songs of Juan Osvaldo Pugliese orchestra Music

MUSIC OF TROILO: In the "Music of Troilo" category, the contestant couples are asked to dance in accordance with the content, music, concept, emotion and technique of the world-famous "Anibal Troilo" orchestra. All the rules in the Tango Salon category are valid in this category.

Music: 2-3 songs of Anibal Troilo orchestra Music

MULTI-STYLE (TANGO, MILONGA, VALS): In the ''Multi-Style'' category, the contestants will dance 3 songs; 1 tango, 1 vals and 1 milonga with their own characteristics written in Tango Salon, Vals and Milonga. All the rules in the Tango Salon, Vals and Milonga apply to this category."

Music: 1 song Tango, 1 song Vals, 1 song Milonga

TANGO NUEVO: In the "Tango Nuevo" category, the contestant couples are asked to dance in accordance with the content, concept, emotion and technique of the "Nuevo" dance, which was very popular in the world for a while and still continues. The clothes of this category must include the "Nuevo" style. In addition to Tango Salon category, contestants can make Soltadas (break of embrace), high boleos, big volume colgadas and volcadas.

Music: 2 songs of Nuevo Music

GROUP COREOGRAPHY: Group choreography, as the name suggests, is a category where more than one couple performs at the same time and is based on a certain theme. The rules are exactly the same as "escenario".

Music: With the song they choose

SOLO MILONGUERO: In the ''Solo Milonguero'' category, all contestants (Followers and Leaders) will be scored on their own. The competition is not a couple competition. When the competition starts, the contestants will dance by changing partners in each song.

Music: 3 songs of Tango Music

TANGO BARRE: In the ''Tango Barre'' category, only woman are allowed to enter the competition. During the competition, 2-8 people will compete at the same time depending on which round and how many people registered.

Music: All contestants will compete the LAST 1.5 MINUTES OF A RANDOM SONG taken from our playlist.