Author: alecoyung

Mira Barakat is a tango teacher, performer, and singer based in Oakland, CA. With a dance background in Modern dance, Contact Improv, Swing and Blues dance, Mira took quickly to tango after attending her first milonga in 2006 and felt especially drawn to the connection and embrace. A few years later, she moved to Buenos Aires to study intensively, dance, sing and soak up tango in its birthplace. She returns to Buenos Aires every year where she co-hosts a tango immersion program, BA. Tango Evolution. She works frequently with the queer tango community, teaching regularly for Abrazo Queer Tango in Berkeley, and she has taught and performed at the Berlin, New York, and Miami Queer Tango festivals. She was a member of the all women’s tango company Tango Con*Fusión from 2016-2019 and toured internationally with the company. She currently offers private classes from her home studio in Oakland as well as group classes around the Bay Area. More info: mirabarakat.com.

David Orly-Thompson is a highly experienced tango instructor who has been teaching for many years in the Bay Area. He has a deep knowledge of tango, and has developed his own understanding of the fundamental body mechanics that give rise to tango technique . David’s style of tango uses large, dramatic movements, but it also prioritizes connection. He tends to use a relatively open embrace and upright posture in order to make space for larger movements. His approach to teaching is very logical; he encourages students to understand where their own weight is from one moment to the next, which makes everything else possible.

Each week, David introduces a new element of the dance, and analyzes the most effective ways to lead and follow the moves. The class may build on previous classes, so it is helpful to attend every week. In January, the intermediate class will be focusing on boleos. This is a fantastic class to help you reach a deeper level of understanding of the dance. In addition to Wednesdays at La Bruja, David also teaches group classes with Luz Castiñeiras at the Hidden City Ballroom in Point Richmond, Fridays at 6:00 pm. He is also available for private lessons.

Céline Tiberghien is visiting from Paris in December 2023! Céline is an experienced and wonderful queer tango teacher, artist and dancer who is visiting us for the first time.

From Céline:
What tango means to me

Beyond the pleasure of dance and movement, I think tango is a unique journey towards an in-depth knowledge of yourself and your relationship to others. The search for connection, the sensation of being simultaneously light and grounded, and the ability to express my entire being lie at the heart of my passion for this dance. My teaching is strongly influenced by all these key aspects, and also by the individuals who practice the dance. It seems to me that there are as many tangos as there are tango dancers…

Super-brief bio of Céline:

2013 to present – Director of Echos Tango
2016 – 2019 – Founder and coordinator of Collectif Queer Tangolibero
2016 – 2019 – Dancer-performer and choreographer of the Tango and Burlesque Duo Edith & Marcelle
2015 – 2016 – Co-organizer of the La Vie en Rose international Queer tango festival.
2010 – 2012 – Co-founder and teacher of Tango Queer in Paris alongside Miranda Lindelow.

Read more: echos-tango.com/home-sweet-tango/

Since 2007, Jonas has been teaching classes regularly and DJing at tango events around the United States and beyond, in particular highlighting at the Taiwan Tango Marathon, San Diego Tango Festival, Austin Spring Tango Festival, DC Tango Holiday Marathon, the Southern California Tango Championship, and Nora’s Tango Week, and many other wonderful milongas throughout his travels.

Xiaomin began her tango journey in 2013, training to compete in the Argentine Tango USA Championship and was a semi-finalist in the Escenario Tango category as a first-time contestant in 2014. After immersing herself in dancing socially for a few years, Xiaomin began teaching and performing (improvisation and choreography) in 2016.

Jonas and Xiaomin met each other on the social dance floors of the Tango community in the SF Bay Area around 2014, and became life partners shortly after. They have been teaching together since 2017, hosting the All-Nighter milonga and Monday Practica at The Beat since 2018, and managing SF Loves Tango since 2019. They are known for teaching beginner classes and the milonga, a fun and playful form of tango! They most recently taught classes at the YWCA Berkeley/Oakland, the Argentine Tango Club of Berkeley, and Abrazo Queer Tango.

Visit their Facebook page and follow them on Instagram for the latest updates!

Info on Wednesday classes at La Bruja

With a dance background in Modern dance, Contact Improv, Swing and Blues, I fell in love at first embrace with Argentine Tango at my first milonga, in 2006. A few years later I moved to Buenos Aires to study intensively, dance, sing and soak up Tango in its birthplace. During more than two years there, I studied with some of today’s best dancers and teachers.​ After Argentina I moved to New Zealand, where I began teaching and performing Tango, including on behalf of the Argentine Embassy and on tour to Samoa representing Argentina.

Since moving back home to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2015, I have been teaching private classes from my home studio in North Oakland and group classes around the Bay Area including at Athletic Playground with Homer Ladas, and at Alma del Tango; and I have been performing Tango, both dancing and singing. I was a company member of the all-women’s Tango Con*Fusion from 2016-2019, and I have preformed with the dance company in Buenos Aires, Berlin, and New York City, as well as around California.

I work frequently with the queer tango community. I teach regularly at Abrazo Queer Tango in Berkeley. In July 2018 and 2019 I taught and performed at the Berlin Queer Tango Festival with Tango Con*Fusión. In April 2019 I performed at La Milonga Re Queer in Buenos Aires and in September 2019 I taught at the New York Queer Tango Festival and performed there with Astrid Weiske from Berlin. In April 2022 I taught and at Conexion Miami Queer Tango Festival and performed there with Phi Lee Lam from New York, Astrid Weiske, and Gaston Olguin from Buenos Aires.

As a classically trained singer, I was drawn into the music of Tango along with the dance. I have been singing Tango since 2012, both in Buenos Aires and in the United States, and  currently perform around the Bay Area, most frequently as a duo with guitarist Scott O’Day.

I return to Buenos Aires every year where I co-lead a Tango immersion retreat, BA. Tango Evolution, with maestro Sebastian Arrua. As one of the BA. Tango Evolution hosts, I bring with me my skills in Tango – dancing, teaching, and singing; languages and translation; organization and planning; as well as my experience integrating myself into the Tango life of Buenos Aires.

Learn more at www.mirabarakat.com

Diego Lanau and Alejandra Saravia are returning to the Bay! Diego and Alejandra teach simple tango figures as a way of helping students improve their technique. They emphasize good posture, walking, and contrabody disassociation (twisting) to create a smooth, beautiful dance. They are also beautiful to watch!

Diego Lanau is from Argentina and began studying tango in 1997. In 1999, he joined the Mora Godoy group in Club Almagro, where he met his first tango partner, Natalia Arcidiacono, with whom he started teaching in 2001. Diego participated in a variety of tango competitions and was a finalist in the 2004 Tango World Cup. Starting in 2006, Diego traveled to various cities in the USA to teach and perform. In 2009 and 2010, his travels expanded to Europe, where he taught and performed in Italy, Spain and France. He returned to the Bay Area in 2010 and 2011. In April 2013, he performed at ATUSA (Argentine Tango USA Championship and Festival). In March 2015, he was a judge at the local championship in Los Ángeles. In 2017, he performed at Buenos Aires City Hall and Club Atlético Boca Juniors (the most emblematic soccer team in Argentina). In January 2018, he participated in TANGO SALON EXTREMO in Buenos Aires. In March of the same year, he was a judge at ATUSA in San Francisco. Currently, he continues to teach and perform in Buenos Aires as well as the United States.

Alejandra Saravia is originally from Bolivia, and has also lived in Argentina and the United States. She started to dance ballet and practice gymnastics at the age of 4. In 2008, tango became part of her life. The greatest influences on her dancing are three of her favorite teachers, the world-renowned dancers Alejandra Mantinian, Moira Castellano and Pablo Veron. Alejandra performed tango for the first time the same year that she started dancing, and has been teaching and performing in the US since 2008. She has also taught in Bolivia (2018), Italy (2019), and Chile (2019). At the end of 2019, she began her partnership with Diego Lanau, with whom she teaches in San Francisco. Together they have a long and varied experience dancing tango and teaching to students of different levels and cultures. They are both professional tango dancers and milongueros, with a broad spectrum of literacy in the dance in all of its complexity.

Felipe Martinez and Ayano Yoneda are well known and beloved tango instructors who have taught in the SF Bay Area for many years. They teach regularly on Monday nights at the Beat in Berkeley and they DJ frequently at milongas all over the Bay. They are especially known for organizing the San Francisco Tango Marathon at the most extravagant venue in the Bay Area, for hosting the All-Night Milonga at the Beat in Berkeley, and for their ever-popular classes at Stanford University. Their beginner series, Tango 101, is also recommended by many!

Felipe and Ayano both lead and follow and are beautiful dancers to watch. Their classes emphasize proper technique, to make dancing comfortable and enjoyable for leaders and followers. They focus on movements that are useful and appropriate for social dancing. They use different types of tango embrace depending on the music and mood of the dance. Both have studied extensively in Buenos Aires, and spend many months traveling internationally each year to teach tango. Catch them while they are here in the Bay!

www.felipetango.com