2010 Tucson Tango Festival
Tucson Tango Festival Part II
Instructors & DJs
Instructors:
| Murat & Michelle Erdemsel | Luis Bianchi y Daniela Pucci | Oscar Casas |
NEW THIS YEAR: New Festival Instructor Showcase day is Thursday:
J. Abling |Daniela Borgialli | Varo Boyajyan
DJs
| Clay Nelson & Beth Anne Osborn | Paul Akmajian | Sabah Chammas | Varo Boyajyan | Vijay Namasivayam | J. Abling
Why these instructors?
We choose instructors that are community builders. We choose instructors that dance with the community where they are teaching. We choose to bring to Tucson the type of Argentine Tango instructors that are gifted at saying the right thing at the right time. Nothing is left to chance, no detail is ignored in our instructor selection. We know the different styles of tango and we choose instructors that will enhance everyones style of tango. Pay attention here, and you may find your tango has improved for a life time.
Murat & Michelle Erdemsel
See Video
Murat Erdemsel has been described as one of the strongest leads in the United States as a dancer and Argentine Tango instructor. He has taught in most of the major Argentine tango events in North America and has influenced large numbers of dancers with his unique perspective of dance and instruction while he maintains his teaching position for Dance Manhattan in NYC. Born in Istanbul, Murat followed his parents path to art school. He has partnered with well known dancers and including with Michelle, has shared the stage with the masters of tango. Performed to the live music of important Tango orchestras such as Hector Del Curto, Raul Haurena and Color Tango. Murat can also be seen on TV and in Movies with his dance.
Michelle Erdemsel took her first steps in dance at the age of 6 at the world renowned San Francisco School of Ballet and continued with such greats as David Howard in NYC. Her dance experience can only be described as eclectic, ranging from modern, jazz, flamenco, hula and theatre dance. Michelle spent many years touring with famous Musical Artists such as Liza Minelli in prestigious venues like Prince Albert Royal Hall in London, Off Broadway theatres in NYC, Stadiums and Arenas in Europe, South America and the US. Michelle has dedicated her life to teaching and dancing tango with her husband and partner Murat. Together they travel to teach at major festivals and perform at the milongas as well as with live music such as the Color Tango Orchestra.
Murat and Michelle have been living on the road and teaching for 6 years now. Their teaching and performing style is in high demand in Europe, Australia and the USA.
Luis Bianchi y Daniela Pucci
Oscar Casas
Oscar was born in Parque Patricios (a well-known tango barrio in Buenos Aires). His parents were avid tango dancers, and, in the 1950′s and ’60′s, they organized three different milongas per week, which regularly drew in 400-500 dancers. Oscar was very much influenced by his father, both by osmosis and discussion. He absorbed the code (codigo) of the milongueros, and when he eventually decided to take up the dance seriously, he already had a background and base that was the envy of many. Mary Ann came to tango eleven years ago from a background of ice-dancing. Coincidentally, her favourite ice-dance is the Argentine Tango. Oscar and Mary Ann have spent the last years living and teaching 6 months in Bs As and 6 months in Toronto and the US. Oscar has a distinct style both in his dance and his teaching. He is very .milonguero., and is respected by the .old guard. in the milongas of Buenos Aires. He is also extremely popular with his students, who are impressed by his teaching style. He teaches with energy and humor, emphasizing concepts, specializing in improvisation, always interpreting the music and respecting the character of the different orchestras. He is especially interested in the dynamics and cadencia of the dance. Everything he teaches is applicable to crowded milongas.
El estilo de tango de Oscar Casas esta basado en una constante improvisación sin perder la esencia milonguera respetando sus códigos desde sus raíces. Este estilo Milonguero Moderno de Oscar reflejan las actuales técnicas utilizadas por diferentes estilos de hoy, sin perder el espíritu de la vieja guardia.
Mary Ann Casas nacida originalmente el Canadá realizo patinaje artístico sobre hielo por mas de 25 anos. Su experienioa como bailarina y patinadora fue muy importante en el desarrollo y crecimiento de sus 13 anos de carrera con el tango. Mary Ann y Oscar Casas coinciden que el tango es un sentimiento que se baila, una danza nacida por el tremendo choque de culturas que ocurrió en Buenos Aires el siglo pasado
Como lo quieran llamar, Nuevo, Milonguero, Salón etc., cuando dos cuerpos se unes en armonía a través de la música, para poder representarla, siempre hay un sentimiento. Ese sentimiento el lo que nosotros los Argentinos bailamos y llamamos tango.
Varo Boyajyan
Varo’s immersion into the world of Argentine Tango started in 2004 in Los Angeles, California. Over the next few years he has become an active participant and an integral part of the Los Angeles tango community. He devoted himself to becoming a skillful social dancer, mastering floor craft, musicality, and establishing connection with the partner.
TEACHING: Varo’s rapid progression and extensive knowledge has led him to being invited as an instructor for the UCLA’s Argentine Tango classes, as well as becoming permanent staff member at the “Tango Room”, one of premier Tango studios in Los Angeles. Varo has taught and performed at numerous tango and dance related events in Los Angeles and Southern California, including the recent “Flamenco Loves Tango” production at the Thousand Oaks Performing Arts Center.
See Videos
DJ’ING: Knowing how important music is for a good social tango experience, Varo has been extensively studying the music, composers, band leaders, and styles. He has become a very well respected DJ in the community, regularly playing music at the “Tango Fusion” alternative milonga, UCLA Milonga and many other elegant and traditional milongas in Los Angeles. He has also been invited on many occasions to guest-DJ at the “DIVO” Milonga and the “El Encuentro” Milonga in Los Angeles. Most recently, Varo was a featured DJ at the 2009 Tucson Tango Festival for traditional and alternative milongas.
J. Abling
J. Abling has been teaching Argentine tango since 2001, first in Seattle, then in Portland.
His teaching focuses on the relationship between movement and the music, with an emphasis on technique. His methods is influenced by his study as a pianist and vocalist, his training in sports, and experience in performance arts and teaching other social dances. Some of his influential teachers include Jaimes Friedgen, Luciana Valle, Cecilia Gonzales, Cristina & Homer Ladas, Rosa Corisco & Felipe Martinez and Tete Rusconi to name a few. J. has taught in Seattle, Portland, Ashland, San Francisco, Reno and Los Angeles. He has performed with Carrie Whipple, Silvina Vals, Jennifer Olson, Tara Fortier & Luiza Paes. He aslo has dj’d in Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Ashland, OR.
Currently, J. is traveling and teaching at different cities in the U.S. See Videos
Daniela Borgialli
Daniela is one of two Argentine Tango teachers in Arizona who has a Master’s Degree in Dance and it is her full-time profession. She has taught over 2000 people to dance, primarily Argentine Tango.
Dancing has always been a part of Daniela Borgialli’s life. She performed her first solo at the age of four and began making dances at 10. It wasn’t until graduate school that the Argentine blood in her veins manifested itself in a love and pursuit of the Argentine Tango. Once the tango spell had been cast, Daniela went where she could whenever possible in pursuit of its lure, and she discovered that her grandfather (who passed away shortly after she was born) was a milonguero.
Her studies have led her to great teachers including Luciana Valle, Cecilia Gonzalez, Fabian Salas, Fernanda y Guillermo, Brigitta Winkler, Alex Krebs, Tomas Howlin, and Eric Jørissen, to name a few.
After receiving her Master of Fine Arts in Dance and Choreography from Arizona State University in 2000, she moved to New York City and began teaching this exquisite couples dance. Her theoretical and technical background in modern dance, her enthusiasm and passion, intuitive nature, and artistry contribute to her abilities as a dance instructor.
Daniela currently teaches and performs locally in Arizona. She travels frequently to Buenos Aires to continue her professional development as a teacher. In the spring of 2005 she went to Buenos Aires on an Adjunct Faculty Professional Growth Award to further her professional development as a teacher of the Argentine Tango. She is interested in the art of teaching and attended several teachers’ conferences in 2006, including Teacher’s Week at El Corte in Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
In September 2005 she was invited to teach in San Diego where she conducted a workshop on close embrace and a follower’s technique workshop. In 2008 she was invited by Sharna Fabiano to be on the faculty of a Follower’s Weekend where she conducted a class on “musicality and listening to the music”. She has taught in Charleston, SC; Washington, DC;, Houston, TX;, Flagstaff, AZ; as well as regularly teaching 2 levels of Argentine Tango to over 80 students at Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ.
Along with Beginner and Intermediate classes, she enjoys exploring Tango’s life metaphor as a unique way to develop team-building and leadership skills, and interpersonal relationships. She is also interested in using tango to further improvisation and partnering skills with trained dancers. See Video
DJ Spotlight: Clay Nelson & Beth Anne Osborn
Clay Nelson is probably most famous nowadays for being the organizer of the Portland Tangofest – which has spread into several festivals per year.
Beth Anne Osborn studied Classical ballet and Modern Dance at the University of Cincinnati. She began studying tango 10 years ago with Homer Ladas in Tucson at the Shoebox Studio. I caught tango fever like so many others – apparently, there is no cure.
Clay and Beth Anne became partners two years ago. Currently they do two festivals in Ashland (Turkey Tango and Labor Day’s Grape Escape.
As instructors, they travel together to emerging tango communities sharing the secrets of social tango through the fundamental core values associated with “Close Embrace Style” Clay is committed to helping build healthy tango communities wherever he can. His “How to build a tango community Lecture” is a must for newer or smaller communities.
Clay and Beth Anne have obviously been bitten by Tango Fever and continue to explore the music, culture and the infinite possibilities that our beloved mistress, Argentine Tango, bestows upon us.
Clay and Beth Anne will be collaborating to bring us the quality of Solid Gold Tango we have come expect at quality milongas.
Solid Gold DJs:
Why these DJs?
I know for a fact that good DJs can make or break a festival. I have been diligently studying and DJing for a few years now and as time goes by I have become more particular and more aware of the energy that a well timed and properly mixed tanda can bring to the milonga floor. These are the qualities I looked for in the DJs I invited to keep our festival guests dancing. I know our group of DJs will keep our guests in the best of spirits, the purest of passion, while coaxing them to be blending and moving together on the crowded milonga floor.
To help you know how and why I chose these DJs, let me share what I want love in a “fantastic” milonga: I love dancing to well blended mix of golden, early, revival, transitional and progressive: I love pure tango! And these DJs play what I love! For a traditional milonga I love the golden era of tango coupled with a healthy helping of early tango then infuse this with an infrequent tanda of transitional tangos, mixed with a small measure of revival and a splash of progressive later in the night depending on the crowd. I like my tandas to be all of the same year, style, mood and rhythm. I want a playful grouping in a tanda that gets me ready to milonga, follow this with a romantic blend that pulls us close and prepares us for a vals.
I like a DJ that is aware and hip to the mood and tempo of the milonga floor, someone that is keeping an eye on the numbers dancing, their styles and fellowship on the floor thus introducing tandas that keep the seats empty and the floor moving. I want a DJ that knows when to pull the curtains and inhibit flying bumping when the floor is crowded as opposed the DJ that can put on a dramatic Pugliese when the floor is so crowded you can barely move!
I assure you that the creatively structured tandas at the milongas of the Tucson Tango Festival will leave you with a warm moist glow, a sparkling gleam and a desire for more! If you leave here with a wish, it will only be that you wish it would never end!
Vijay Namasivayam
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Vijay was one of the key instructors and DJs in the Ann Arbor tango community. He is currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He teaches the traditional Milonguero style of dancing that employs subtle body movements to generate complex choreography in a compact space. His classes have a strong emphasis on Connection, Musicality and Navigation that help students to quickly grasp the fundamentals of social dancing. His dancing style has been influenced by many teachers including Robin Thomas, Christopher & Caroline, Alex Krebs, Jaimes Friedgen in the US and by Susana Miller, Cacho Dante, Ana Maria Shapira and Javier Rodriguez in BsAs. As a DJ, he has been a part of several festivals in the US including the Portland and Denver tango festivals (http://festivals.tango.info/VijayNamas)
Paul Akmajian
Paul Akmajian (Albuquerque, NM) has been dancing tango for over 10 years and
teaching for the last five. He has been a DJ for most of his tango life and
in the last 3 years he has DJ’d in Seattle, Phoenix, Tucson, as well as on a
regular basis in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Recently, he was a DJ for the
Denver > Albuquerque Labor Day weekend Tango Festival. He is excited to
return to his hometown of Tucson to DJ for the Tucson Tango Festival.
Sabah Chammas
Sabah got addicted to Tango in the late nineties. It started with dancing and now it includes being a DJ.
Tango music occupies my thoughts and energizes my spirit and I am in constant search for good music. Although I try to vary the music I play, I am heavily influenced by the style of dance in Buenos Aires as well as the music played at the milongas there so feel free to call me old fashioned.
Varo Boyajyan
Varo’s immersion into the world of Argentine Tango started in Los Angeles, California. Over the next four years he has become an active participant and an integral part of the tango community in Los Angeles. He devoted himself to becoming a skillful social dancer, mastering floorcraft, musicality, and establishing connection with the partner.
Knowing how important music is for a good social tango experience, Varo has been extensively studying the music, composers, band leaders, and styles. He has become a very well respected DJ in the community, regularly playing music at the “Tango Fusion” alternative milonga, UCLA Milonga and many other elegant and traditional milongas in Los Angeles. He has also been invited on many occaisions to guest-DJ at the “DIVO” Milonga and the “El Encuentro” Milonga in LA.
Jay Abling
Jay loves to DJ and his tandas have been known to melt butter in refrigerators three states away! J Abling believes that a milonga is a “party where tango is danced”. Whenever he DJs, he intends to keep a good party going with select choice of music to inspire both lovers of traditional and alternative music. When not teaching or DJing, he is constantly organizing and listening to his music or looking for more music to add to his extensive collection. He has learned to dj from some of the best DJs in the country including Jaimes Friedgen, Alex Krebs, Dan Boccia, Shorey Myers and Vijay. He has DJd at festivals and regular milongas in Portland, Seattle, Houston, New York, San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, Maui and Ashland, OR.
Tags: Argentine Tango, Daniela Pucci, Guerrilla Milonga, Luis Bianchi, Michelle Erdemsel, milongas, Murat Erdemsel, Oscar Casas, Sabah Chammas, tango classes, tango workshops, Varo
