Petróleo (Carlos Alberto Estévez)

Carlos Alberto Estévez, universally known in the milongas as Petróleo, was born in the Almagro neighborhood of Buenos Aires; the precise year remains disputed among sources, which give 29 September 1911, 1912, or 29 September 1913.^{[10][11][12][13]} He grew up in Villa Devoto. In 1928, at approximately seventeen, he began learning from the dancer known as Negro Navarro, who had refined his technique in Paris around 1910.^[11] Petróleo later explained his nickname in a 1992 interview: he was called Petróleo “because I used to drink too much wine. I was a drunkard.”^[10] Other accounts link the name to the dark color of the cheap red wine he preferred, comparing it to petroleum.^[11]

In 1930 he met Esperanza Díaz at a milonga; they became both life partners and dance partners, rehearsing extensively and debuting together at the Club Rosa de Abril in Devoto. They danced until 1949; she died the following year, after which he refused another permanent partner, though he occasionally performed with “la negra Martita.”^[10][11] Throughout his active decades he remained a bank clerk—for thirty-six years at the Banco Ítalo-Belga—never touring because of his employment, yet he estimated he gave roughly two thousand exhibitions.^[10] He danced at clubs in Villa Devoto and Villa Urquiza, including Pinocho and Sin Rumbo, and frequented Atlanta in the years when Juan Carlos Copes was also appearing there.^[10]

Petróleo is remembered for systematic changes he introduced to social tango. In his own words he “invented the turn, the contrafrente, the change of postures, the boleos.”^[10] Contemporary analysts credit him with establishing a modern couple posture—straight bodies, faces oriented toward the same side, shoulders parallel to the floor, light chest contact, and the man’s arm held at shoulder height—and with deliberately separating erotic display from the mechanics of the dance.^[11] He insisted that “a man was after a leg not a female dancer, to squeeze not to dance. I was after dancing.”^[10] He preferred uncomplicated tango yet described the form as “a refrained emotion which later bursts” and as a creation shaped by the orchestra; his favorite ensembles were those of Carlos Di Sarli and, earlier, Anselmo Aieta.^[10]

He stopped dancing in 1988 because of knee problems. After retiring from the bank he sold his house and devoted himself to horse racing, remarking that his interests had been “Tangos, races and some woman.”^[10] In July 1993 organizer Oscar Héctor established 29 September as Día del Milonguero in recognition of Petróleo’s contribution; the date continues to be observed in Buenos Aires milongas.^[11] He died on 30 May 1995.^[12][13]

Petróleo’s influence is visible in the vocabulary of later milongueros and in the pedagogical literature that treats the giro, boleo and postural adjustments as foundational. Because he remained an amateur who documented little in writing, his legacy rests primarily on oral testimony, filmed fragments from his later years, and the continuing practice of dancers who learned directly or indirectly from his style.^[10][11] Sources continue to disagree on the exact year of his birth, a discrepancy that has not been resolved by contemporary civil records in the consulted literature.^[10][11][12]

Origins and nickname

Born in Almagro and raised in Villa Devoto, Estévez acquired the nickname Petróleo from his heavy consumption of dark red wine, a detail he confirmed in a 1992 interview.^[10][11] Birth-year citations range from 1911 to 1913; the most frequently repeated calendar date is 29 September.^[11][12][13]

Partnership and professional life

From 1930 to 1949 he danced and lived with Esperanza Díaz, debuting at Rosa de Abril.^[10][11] He held a bank position for thirty-six years and therefore never toured, yet performed in thousands of local exhibitions at clubs in Devoto, Urquiza and elsewhere.^[10]

Innovations in social tango

Petróleo claimed invention of the giro (turn), boleos, contrafrente and changes of posture.^[10] He is also credited with promoting a cleaner, less overtly sexual couple frame that became standard in later salon dancing.^[11] He described tango as an emotional release shaped by the orchestra rather than a fixed set of steps.^[10]

Later years and Día del Milonguero

Knee problems ended his dancing in 1988. In 1993 the date of his birth was chosen as Día del Milonguero.^[11] He died on 30 May 1995.^[12][13]