alecoyung – Page 4

Diego and Alejandra, August and October 2022

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.

September 21st, 2022: Milonga La Bruja with Hugo and Crystie

Milonga La Bruja presents live music by Hugo Satorre (bandoneon) and Crystie Nicci Shum (piano)! Hugo and Crystie play danceable favorites with electrifying energy. This is a milonga (tango social dance). We welcome dancers and listeners.

Wednesday September 21st, 2022
7:00-10:00 pm

$20 general admission (cash only)
$15 student with ID (cash only)
$10 Berkeley City Club members (cash only)

7:00 milonga begins with DJ
7:45 first live set
8:45 dance performance of Malambo Sureño by Anahí
8:50 second live set

DJ Robert plays traditional tango music. Anahi from Buenos Aires performs Malambo Sureño on stage. (This Argentine folk dance was formerly for men only–not anymore!)

This is a queer-friendly event where all genders are welcome to lead and follow.

Masks are required when not actively eating or drinking.

Drinks (full bar) and hors d’oeuvres are offered for sale. (Cards accepted.)

Hugo Satorre is a bandoneon player from Argentina, as well as a composer, arranger, and teacher. He has played tango music with the ensembles “Otros Aires”, “Orquesta Victoria”, “La tuba tango”, “Tanghetto” and the orchestra of the show “Tango Fire,” with which he made multiple world tours. In 2016 he created his first solo work, an album dedicated to the work of Máximo Mori. He also plays in two guitar-bandoneon duos, Dúo Ramírez Satorre and Dúo Faryna Satorre.

Born in Hong Kong, Crystie Shum began piano lessons at four, and studied for eight years. In 2017, she decided to play piano again, and fell in love with Argentine tango after playing in the CMC Tango Ensemble directed by Scott O’Day. Since then, she has been receiving coaching from maestros such as Hector Del Curto, Pablo Estigarribia, Gustavo Casenave, Hernan Possetti, Nicolas Ledesma, Adrian Enriquez, Cesar Salgan, Julian Peralta, Juan Pablo Gallardo, etc. through workshops and in Buenos Aires. In August, 2022, she performed in the Stowe Tango Music Festival Orchestra, and experienced playing a piece for the Che Bandoneon International Competition. Crystie is currently a pianist, vocalist, and arranger in La Orquesta Fusion Tango, Orquesta Tipica Domo, TangoLuna, and Tango Brumoso. She also began bandoneon lessons in 2021.

Berkeley City Club
2315 Durant Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94704

To enter the building, ring the bell and say “tango!” We are a 10-minute walk from Downtown Berkeley BART. No non-member parking in the City Club lot. For bike parking, use the bell to enter through the service entrance, and then go straight until you are outside again.

http://hugosatorre.com.ar/

Christopher Nassopoulos, June-July 2022

Christopher Nassopoulos is a well-known tango instructor who has taught tango at festivals all over the US and abroad. He favors a close-embrace style and teaches steps that are useful in social dancing. In his classes he asks that everyone take turns leading and following, so that we all practice both roles. Christopher provides extra help during the practica.

Christopher was first introduced to Argentine tango in 1993, and made numerous trips to Buenos Aires to study and learn the social traditions of the milongas there. Christopher has the incisive ability to analyze movement and help improve a student’s technique on even the most subtle levels. In addition, he leads and follows, giving him further insight into the technique of and relationship between the two roles.

Milonga La Bruja with Live Music by Seth and Adrian: Wednesday, June 8th, 2022

Milonga La Bruja presents the famous tango duo of Seth Asarnow (piano) and Adrian Jost (bandoneon). With DJ Robert playing traditional tango music.

7:00-10:00 pm

$20 general (cash only)
$15 for full-time students with ID (cash only)
$10 for Berkeley City Club members (cash only)

This is a milonga (tango social dance). We welcome dancers and listeners. This is a queer-friendly event where all genders are welcome to lead and follow. The duo’s sets begin at 7:45 and 9:15 pm. The floor is slippery.

Masks are required when not actively eating or drinking.

Drinks (full bar) and hors d’oeuvres are offered for sale. (Cards are accepted for refreshments.)

Mira Barakat: Apr 27th- May 25th, 2022

From Mira’s website www.mi r abarakat.com:

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*Fusión from 2016-2019, and I have performed with the dance company in Buenos Aires, Berlin, and New York City, as well as around California. I performed Tango-Contact in 2019 with Scott Wells & Dancers.

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.

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.

Felipe and Ayano, March 30th-April 13th

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

Astrid Weiske, March 16th and 23rd, 2022

Astrid Weiske is one of the pioneers of open-role dancing and is an internationally respected teacher in many tango communities worldwide, well known as a dynamic female lead and a gifted teacher. She has been dancing Tango Argentino for over 25 years, and since 2005 has been teaching in Berlin and accepting invitations to teach all over Europe and the world.

She has developed strong sensitivity in leading, great creativity in improvisation, and playful musicality, which stand out as key elements in her dance. Astrid is also recognized for her skills as a follower, which greatly expands her knowledge and understanding of the dance.

In 2011, she founded the first International Queer Tango Festival in Berlin, which has earned a reputation as the world’s largest queer tango festival.

Her exploration of the many styles of tango, from the classical to the experimental, as well as other dance forms like contact improvisation and modern dance, have led her to believe that there is no “one” Tango. She believes in a creative, liberating variety and connection of ideas, movements and technique, while always referring back to the roots of Argentine Tango. She promotes that fusion to reduce boundaries, allowing people to connect and communicate with each other and find their own expression in the dance.

Photo by Danielle Plourde. (Astrid is in white).

Wednesday, April 20th, 2022: Concert-Milonga with Ramiro Boero and Las Almas del Tango

Acclaimed bandoneonist Ramiro Boero, on tour from Buenos Aires, joins the US tango duo Las Almas del Tango, made up of San Francisco pianist Sumi Lee and Washington DC bandoneonist Heyni Solera. The ensemble will play a selection of classic tangos as well as original pieces by Maestro Boero. With DJ Robert Hammond playing traditional tango music.

6:30 pm doors open
7:00-8:00 pm sit-down concert
8:00-10:00 milonga

$20 (cash only)
$15 for full-time students with ID (cash only)

Arrive by 7:00 to hear the concert! Then dance to DJ’d music (traditional), with one live tanda of Pugliese and Troilo pieces by Sumi and Heyni.

This is a queer-friendly event where all genders are welcome to lead and follow. Drinks (full bar) and empanadas are offered for sale (cards accepted for refreshments).

Mask required except while actively eating or drinking.

Berkeley City Club
2315 Durant Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94704

This event takes place in the ballroom on the second floor. The floor is slippery!

Maestro Ramiro Boero is a soloist and teacher in the Orquesta Escuela de Tango Emilio Balcarce, and received the Carlos Gardel Award in the ‘Best Tango Album’ category in 2014. He currently teaches Bandoneon at the Escuela de Música Popular de Avellaneda. In 2012 he was awarded First Prize by the Fondo Nacional de las Artes for his album “Tres Expresiones Porteñas.” In 2018 he released a solo bandoneon album entitled “Acontece,” published in the collection El Arte del Bandoneón.

Heyni Solera received her Master of Music degree in Ethnomusicology at the University of Maryland, College Park. She regularly performs with the Da Capo Tango Orchestra, which focuses on playing danceable tangos; and is part of the cello/bandoneon duo, Arco & Aire, with cellist Maxfield Wollam-Fisher. She is also the bandoneonist of Orquesta Solidaridad Tango, which features female tango musicians in a typically male-dominated genre. Past projects include playing in the orchestra of the IN Series production of Le Cabaret de Carmen at Source Theatre in Washington, D.C. and at Baltimore Theatre Project in Baltimore, Maryland.

Sumi Lee studied piano performance at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the Universitat Mozarteum Salzburg. She studied tango music performance in Buenos Aires at the Orquesta Escuela de Tango Emilio Balcarce, where she worked with Ramiro Boero. She has taught music classes in the Redwood City school district and classical piano classes at East Bay Center of Performing Arts, the Northern California Music & Art Center and Marin Country Day School. She has performed with various tango ensembles including Las Malevas and Orquesta Solidaridad Tango, in which Heyni Solera also plays.

To enter the building, ring the bell and say “tango!” We are a 10-minute walk from Downtown Berkeley BART. For bike parking, use the bell to enter through the service entrance, and then go straight until you are outside again. Nearby parking lots.

https://ramiroboero.com
https://heynisolera.com
http://www.sumilee.com

Felipe and Ayano, Jan 12th-Mar 9th 2022

Felipe Martinez and Ayano Yoneda came together in the tango scene of the SF Bay Area, and embody the global nature of tango. They travel full-time throughout North America, Europe, South America, and Asia to teach, DJ, and lecture about tango music. They also spend time annually in Buenos Aires studying and enjoying the dance and its history.

Felipe’s background includes a degree in education and over 20 years of experience in tango. He is widely recognized for his clear teaching strategy, enthusiastic personality, and ability to make real improvements in your dancing. Ayano has been dancing tango since 2005 and is an accomplished and motivated dancer, with excellent movement technique and musicality. She has been teaching with Felipe for the past few years around the country.

Together, their demonstrations are clear and precise, offering students an excellent model of movement. Both Felipe and Ayano lead and follow interchangeably which is invaluable for teaching. Their series at Stanford University and their classes at The Beat in Berkeley are always in high demand.

For more information, see www.felipetango.com

January 5th, 2022: Seth Asarnow and Marcelo Puig

Milonga La Bruja presents the famous tango duo of Seth Asarnow (bandoneon) and Marcelo Puig (guitar and voice). With DJ Robert playing traditional tango music.

7:00-10:00 pm (doors open at 6:30)

$20 (cash only)
$15 for full-time students with ID (cash only)
$10 for Berkeley City Club members (cash only)

This is a milonga (tango social dance). We welcome dancers and listeners. All genders are welcome to lead and follow. The duo’s sets begin at 7:45 and 9:15 pm. To enter the building, ring the bell and say “tango!”

Proof of vaccination and ID required. Masks are required when not actively eating or drinking.

Drinks and hors d’oeuvres are offered for sale. (Cards are accepted for refreshments.)

We are a 10-minute walk from Downtown Berkeley BART. No non-member parking in the City Club lot. For bike parking, use the bell to enter through the service entrance, and then go straight until you are outside again. Nearby parking lots.