'An epic of noble proportions' Spectator A thrilling journey in search of the legendary malambo dance of Argentina, and one Gaucho who faces the biggest contest of his life Every year, at the height of summer, the remote Argentinian village of Laborde holds the prestigious national malambo contest. Little known outside the Argentinian pampas, the malambo is a centuries-old gaucho dance, governed by the most rigid rules and shatteringly physically demanding. It is the object of obsession for thousands of young working-class men, who sacrifice their spare time, their bodies and what little money they have to try to win the title of Malambo Champion. The twist is that a Malambo Champion may never compete again. In 2011, Leila Guerriero travelled to Laborde for what was supposed to be a brief investigation into this intriguing contest. But on the second night, one dancer's towering performance takes her breath away - he doesn't win, but Guerriero, irresistibly drawn, spends the next year following him in his preparations for the 2012 festival. In this remarkable work of reportage Guerriero proves herself to be as sharp-eyed as Gay Talese, as lyrical as Norman Mailer.

An Argentinian epic about dance "This is the story of a man who took part in a dance contest." It is thus that Argentine journalist and author Leila Guerriero opens her book. It tells the most difficult of all epic stories: that of the common man. This is an electrifying work that spans the genres of journalism and fiction. It tells a moving and strangely intimate story about malambo, a traditional dance of the Argentine gauchos, and about the Malambo Festival of Laborde in the southeast of the Argentinian province of Cordoba. It is also about Rodolfo Gonzalez Alcantara, who won the dance competition in 2012. Leila Guerriero is a gifted chronicler. Her internationally acclaimed work A Simple Story was published in Spanish in 2013 and in English in 2017, and now appears in German for the first time, in a translation by Angelica Ammar. First German translation of the impressive chronicle "A foray through life, suffering, sacrifice, silent despair, the dread of loss, solidarity, and glory." (El Pais) "[a] level of excellence: [...] rigorous work, exhaustive research" (Mario Vargas Llosa)