beijingtango

You travel for tango or you try to tango when you travel, you like meeting new tangueros and experiencing new milongas... Please be part of the study I am currently leading, and share with me the reasons and hopes of such travels.

Please download the questionnaire here: Tango_Traveler and sent it back to me by email or snail-mail.

The results will first be used as academic paper materials, and might lead to a documentary on our international community.

Thank you for your help!

Gwen

Since this website cannot currently be viewed in China beacause of new features of the Great Firewall of China, it won't be updated in the coming month, wihle we are working on a new China-hosted website.

In the meantime, please contact Daisy to get more info on what is going on in the Beijing tango scene.

For details, directions, questions during the marathon, fell free to call anytime:

Daisy (Mandarin, English, Spanish): +86-136613470

Sireen (Cantonese, Mandarin, English): +86-15810661442

Glen (English, Spanish, Mandarin, Korean, Japanese): +86-1511005041

Alena (Russian, English, Mandarin): +86-13511065359

Michael (German, English, Mandarin): +86-136 8139 5779

Andrés and Isabel came last year to Beijing and, for many tangueros, life has never been the same afterwards! We offer you again the opportunity to learn the very specific Villa Urquiza style, where connection between partners is of the utmost importance.
Learn how to walk with elegance, how to use pauses and change of energy, how to introduce complex figures into simple dance...

We recommand that everybody take the technique classes since we have to learn or to review this specific style to enjoy the sequences and steps classes.

To know everything about prices, venues, and class content, download the printable Andres_and_Isabel_2011_workshop_schedule. Pre-registration is highly recommanded.

Private classes

Andrés and Isabel will give more than 50 private classes. Privates will be sought after, so please make your booking as soon as possible if you want to secure specific time slots. Schedule and info here.

Who they are

Andrés Laza Moreno, known as El Bichi, began dancing when he was 14 years old. Despite his young age, his knowledge of Tango runs deep. His maestros included the late Carlos Gavito as well as Jorge Dispari, for whom he was the teaching assistant for a long period of time. Andres was also part of a special program started by the Argentinean Secretary of Culture to preserve the culture of Argentine Tango, being one of the few dancers selected by a committee to learn Tango for a year from some of the most outstanding Milongueros alive at that time. He was the dance partner of Samantha Dispari, daughter of Jorge and Maria Dispari, and gave classes in Buenos Aires and Europe before forming a new dance couple with his life partner, Isabel in 2009.

Isabel Acuna was born in Chile and began dancing in 1999, learning from the old generation masters at a local club there and shortly becoming one of their teaching assistants. At that time, milongas didn't exist in the neighborhood where she belonged. Her efforts in teaching in Chile and in promoting Argentine Tango to the young people there with a group of friends gave rise to a whole new generation of young tangueros, and she was considered one of the pioneers of the tango scene of Chile. Due to her love for Argentine Tango, she constantly travelled to BsAs to deepen her knowledge and feelings of the dance, and was invited to perform frequently in the milongas there. Her main teachers include Graciela Gonzalez, Geraldine Rojas, Javier Rodriguez and Andrea Missé. In 2008, she settled in BsAs and later started her partnership with Andrés.

The program has been finalized. You will find here all the events, In and Off, happening in Beijing during the marahton week-end.

Thursday, March 17

Andres & Isabel regular workshop class (Salon I): 7:15pm to 8:45pm

Welcome Milonga at SinoChu Wine Bar (Beijing tango regular venue, map here): 9pm to 2am.
Demo from Beijing Tangueros and instructors: TT & Amy, Daidai & Atai, Glen & XiaoPa. DJ: Alice

Friday, March 18

Andres & Isabel regular workshop class (technique) at Tango Chino Club: 7:15pm to 8:45pm

Temple milonga at 700-year old Hong’en Temple (Contempio, Doufuchi Hutong, off JiuGuLouDaJie, Dongcheng District)
10pm to 4am. Live tango music by No Name Trio + performance by Martin & Yuki and Agnes & Derrick. DJ: Tayfun Bayram.

Saturday, March 19

Agnes & Derrick beginner class at Tango Chino: 1pm to 2:30pm

Agnes & Derrick intermediate class at Tango Chino: 2:30pm to 4pm

Afternoon Milonga at Tango Chino Club (Room 05020, Floor 5, Bldg B, Chaowai SOHO; Tel: +86-10-5869 5210)   4:00pm to 7pm

Martin and Yuki Fantasia class at Hidden Dream Cafe: 5pm to 7pm

Grand Milonga at Art Bridge Gallery in 798 Art District (D09-1, No.4 798 Art Zone, Jiuxianqiao Road, Chaoyang District, Tel: +86-10-6433 1798)
10pm to 5am. Performance by masters Andrès & Isabel and Ernesto & Rika.
DJ: Mercury Park (South Korea).

Sunday; March 20

Andres & Isabel marathon special class: 2pm to 4pm

Afternoon milonga at Hidden Dream Cafe (map here)
3pm to 7pm

Farewell Milonga at SinoChu Wine Bar
9pm to 1am. Surprise performances. DJ Ernesto Borgonovo.

Monday, March 21

Ernesto & Rika milonga class: 12:15pm to 1:45pm

Andres & Isabel regular workshop class (Salon II): 7:15pm to 8:45pm

Download the Registration_form and send it to beijing.tango@yahoo.com

To learn more about classes and teachers, visit this page.

Registration for the Beijing tango marathon has begun today. You can get early-bird prices in case you get registered before February 11.

Although the full program is not entirely finalized, we do hope that the confirmed venues and guest dancers will entice you to visit "trasnochando" (from Spanish "spending the night away dancing") in Beijing! This is a marathon which means that one will be able to dance non-stop for days!

Download the Registration_form and send it to beijing.tango@yahoo.com (alternative address: gwen.denigot@gmail.com)

Overseas visitors registration will be confirmed once we receive a copy of your plane ticket.
Mainland residents will have to pay on the day of registration, either at milongas in Beijing (see Sireen, Alyona, Glen or Diego) or in Shanghai (please look for Daisy - 13661347015, she is in Shanghai until February 15).

We arranged a set of classes by visiting Asian instructors and Argentinean masters: take this opportunity to mingle with Beijingers and benefit from top-notch teaching.
30 slots are reserved for overseas tangueros (15 men and 15 women) for each class, so hurry up!

Last but not least, should you organize a whole group of tangueros from your country/club you will be regarded as a partner and will get (for every 10 people you register) one free milongas full-package as well as free entrance to local milongas. To benefit from this offer please send 11 registration forms in the same batch and indicate who the "team leader" is.

We are working hard to make March of 2011 in Beijing a memorable time for you all, please bear with us while we finalize the program!

Meanwhile you can book your ticket and make a hotel reservation: we have selected a few hotels in all price ranges, click here to access the list.

A set of master classes will be given during the marathon in order for you to take classes with teachers who do not visit your own country. It is also a great opportunity to meet people from other cities as fellow students.

The classes are limited to 20 couples each. W will arrange an equal number of men and women (no need to register as a couple).

Andrès and Isabel (Buenos Aires)

A&I: A&I:  Sunday 2-4pm (class + 30 mn practice)
Topic: Change of intentions and creation of effects for tango salon.
Level: Intermediate/advanced
Studio: SinoChu Wine bar

Andrés "El Bichi" Laza Moreno and Isabel Acuña are part of the new generation of Salon tango masters. They are highly recognized and respected in Buenos Aires milongas where they perform frequently, and in Asia as well where they teach an enthousiastic crowd with great care.

We are very pleased to have them back for more than 2 weeks in Beijing. Details of the workshop they will give from March 16th to 31st will be released soon.

They will be giving a special class during Trasnochando, crafted as a single class but which can be part of the workshop package for people who buy a pass card of 8 classes or more.

Ernesto & Rika (Buenos Aires/Kobe, Japan)

E&R: Monday 12:15-13:45pm
Topic: Milonga con traspie
Level: Intermediate/advanced
Studio: Tango Chino Club

Ernesto Borgonovo and Rika Fukuda are Tango masters well-known and acclaimed in Beijing. During the last two years they have been coming regularly to Beijing to give group and private lessons and one can say that they are, like Pablo Giorgini and Noelia Coletti, the "godfathers" of Beijing tango scene. We are very happy that are coming to support Trasnochando.

Ernesto and Rika will perform as masters at the Grand Milonga along Andrès and Isabel, and Ernesto will be the DJ at the Farewell Milonga.

Agnes and Derrick (Taiwan)

A&D1: Saturday 1-2:30pm
Topic: Explore and enjoy the leading and following
Level: Beginner
Studio: Tango Chino Club

A&D2: Saturday 2:30-4pm
Topic: Create your own tango universe : Dance to music and Play with rhythm
Level: Intermediate
Studio: tango Chino Club

Derrick Lee and Agnes Tang have been dancing together since folk dance club for several years. They have studied tango from tango masters in Argentina, United States, France, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Turkey.... Despite of having their own jobs, respectively in electronics engineering and private equity, they are professional tango dancers, teachers and choreographers giving regular tango lessons, performances and workshops in Taiwan. They have been invited for speeches, workshops and performances in several cities in Japan, China, Hong Kong and Korea.

In 2006, they won the Creative Expression prize in Asian Tango Championship in Tokyo and also entered semi-final round in Worldwide Tango Championship in Buenos Aires.
Their vibrant and breezy dancing and specific style always make them popular.

We are very pleased to welcome Agnes and Derrick for their first time in Beijing as tango dancers and teachers.

Martin and Yuki (Buenos Aires/Tokyo)

M&Y:  Saturday 5-7pm
Topic: Boleos and ganchos, working on energy (Tango fantasia)
Level: Intermediate/advanced

Martin Choren is a salon and stage dancer, teacher and choregrapher. Born in Buenos Aires, he started dancing at the age of 13 and graduated from the National Superior Institute for Folklore Teachers. In Argentina, he was a member of  the Group of Danzas Argentinas (tango & folklore), the Ballet Folklórico Nacional and was cast in the musical “Homenaje” and the famous “Drácula, ‘El Musical’”, performing in various international tours. In 2008 he established the Ballet Folklórico Argentino.
Tango dancers Osvaldo Zotto, Gabriel Misse, Claudio Billagra y Romina Levin and Maximiliano Avila were among his instructors.

He is currently working in Japan as a choreographer and teacher; in 2010 he began touring Europe and Asia with Yuki Kimura as his performances partner.
Martin has come to Beijing in 2010, brough by Taifengo. He gave a very successful week-end workshop at Hidden dream Cafe and was highly praised as a private teacher.

All the teachers are available for private classes during the marathon. Please contact the organizers (beijing.tango@yahoo.com) for reservation.

Download the Registration_form here.

OPEN means it is free for you to book. CLOSE means this time slot is already taken. This schedule is updated at least twice a day, so you can be confident that OPEN slots are really open. Call Daisy or send an email to beijing.tango@yahoo.com to book in advance.

Private classes are given at Gwen’s home: Yanyue Hutong 53, Dongcheng District, Beijing 100010. Subway: Dongsi. By taxi, enter the one-way hutong from Dongsi Nan Daijie. Classes can also be arranged at other places more convenient to the students.

Price: 850 RMB for 60 min class; 650 RMB for beijing.tango members. If you reserve 4 classes or more you can get a "package price": 650rmb.class.

Beijing Tango is proud to present Guillermo Claure's master classes inBeijing, December 28-January 5, 2011.

Guillermo is an Argentinean folklore and tango dancer, performer andteacher. He has been dancing and teaching tango for the last 11 years. You mightremember him from last year as he was performing with Maïa Glikstein atObelisco Argentine restaurant in Shunyi for several months, and ofter attendedlocal milongas.

After teaching 6 months in Japan (and performing at the Shangai Expo),and on his way back from Shanghai where he is currently giving a workshop,Guillermo stops in Beijing and will give:

1) One CHACARERA group class.
Don't miss this opportunity to learn this Argentine traditional dance with a folklore expert teacher!

When: Sunday, January 2^nd, 2011, 7:30-9PM
Where: SinoChu Wine Bar
How much: 80RMB
Free milonga will follows class.

Registration is highly encouraged so we can try to arrange equal number of men and women.

2) Private lessons of Tango Salon orTango Show.
Already several hours booked, Hurry up!

When: time slots available: from noon to 9PM, every day from Dec. 28 to January 4th.
Where: to be determined with student, at his convenience.
How much:  500RMB/hour for one person or a couple. Studio fee at student'scharge, if needed.
+ Classes are given in English (or Spanish). Chinese translation provided for100RMB/hour.

Beijing Tango members enjoy 10% discount on both group and private classes.

Info and reservation: Daisy 136 6134 7015 or beijing.tango@yahoo.com

Beijing Tango is tremendously pleased to announce the dates of TRASNOCHANDO, the first Tango marathon in Beijing. This first international tango event will take place in Beijing March 17-21: 4 days of quasi non stop milongas, from local venues to meet the Beijiners to one of the most sought-after tango venue in Asia, the Hong'en Temple.

You can expect great DJ, visitors from all over Asia, performances by local and international dancers, after-party until 6AM, afternoon milongas, live music, and trip to the Great Wall!

Thursday 17: Casual welcome milonga
Friday 18: Temple milonga
Saturday 19: Afternoon milonga + Grand Milonga + After-Grand party
Sunday 20: Afternoon milonga + Farewell milonga

Please make a note of it! More news to come soon.