Juan Carlos Copes was an Argentine tango dancer, choreographer, and performer. He started dancing with Maria Nieves when he was 17 and she 14, and the pair later married. Copes and Nieves played a leading role in the renaissance in Tango dancing from the 1970s and, particularly, in Argentine Tango following the 1983 restoration of democracy in that country. Copes was the first to create choreographed tango stage shows and also worked on seven films. Later in his career he partnered with his daughter, Johana, from his second marriage.