Photofusion Member | Kate Stanworth

Throughout Buenos Aires’ month-long carnival I spent the hot summer evenings with two local dance troupes as they rehearsed, dressed up and toured across the city, bringing neighbourhood streets to life with the pounding rhythms of murga. Murga is a form of street dance that was banned during the country’s last dictatorship. It has been growing in popularity since it emerged back onto the streets in the 1990s, adopted by largely working class communities as a way to create happiness and leave their everyday cares behind.

I wanted to explore how the Murga troupes transform everyday spaces – turning the pavement into a dressing room; the local park into a rehearsal space; the family kitchen into a sandwich factory for hungry dancers; the school coach into a tour bus, and the street into a stage.

© Kate Stanworth, Moni and Juanjo’s kitchen on carnival night, from the series: Murgueros, 2013

Kate Stanworth is a London-based photographer specialising in documentary and portrait photography. She undertakes commissions for NGOs, magazines and newspapers, as well as personal projects, in Europe, South America and Africa.

www.katestanworth.com
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