Union Tanguera dances into Centennial Hall

That title translates as “Sleepless Night,” which describes the scene shared by these performers at a fictional Argentine cabaret in the 1970s. The piece picks up with the performers after the cabaret closes — a shadowed time on life’s fringe when anything can happen.

In this piece, the dancers and musicians have decided to hang out at the cabaret after their show, mixing and mingling with some of the customers who are staying late to lounge around.

What follows is a portrayal of “the wanderings, desires, instincts and fears that unfold in one sleepless night” of restless searching, says the company’s website, “when alcohol and isolation bring people together … and tango is the only way to let the bodies express themselves.”

“I don’t know why all of them stayed so late at the cabaret,” says Unión Tanguera co-founder Esteban Moreno, with slight insinuation in his voice. “Maybe it was raining outside.”

What fascinates Moreno is seeing what happens when the artists who maintained the rigid formality of traditional tango on stage become people with more everyday feelings, just like their customers.

As this occurs, the uptight customers respond with “more animalistic” emotions, as Moreno describes them. Their tango becomes more earthy, their appetites more demanding.

“The traditional tango is always erect, and sometimes quite strict,” Moreno says. “Our company has the reputation for creating something newer ... For wanting to push the limits so that tango lives today in the real world, not in a museum.

“Just like in the story (‘Nuit Blanche’), it will take people to a different place.”

Moreno says the troupe achieves that by expanding the spirit of tango to include elements of theater, modern dance and original music composed in the tango tradition.

“We definitely love that tradition. We always will,” he says. “But tango has always represented risk and adventure, too.

“That’s what we do.”

A quartet of bandoneon, piano, violin and bass are on stage at every performance to accompany the company’s seven dancers, including Moreno and co-founder Claudia Codega.

“There are 15 original tango songs and two standards,” Moreno says of the score. “These are actual songs, with a beginning, middle and end. There is no incidental music. We say they are new standards.”

Unión Tanguera considers itself an Argentine-French dance company based in Lyon, France, where the city’s Maison de la Danse de Lyon is co-producer of “Nuit Blanche.”

The piece was in development for 18 months.

While the company has been presenting the dance on its touring programs ever since, this tour brings the work to American audiences for the first time.