Photo credit Guillermo Monteleone. Featuring Nayla Coulton
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BiographyI was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, where I started tango with José Artigas and Verónica Cordero in 1996.
Five years later they left the country, leaving me in charge of their lessons. I then started travelling to Buenos Aires continuously, to improve my own dancing and teaching. I quickly became addicted to the milongas, and still go dancing seven days a week if at all possible. My background in music, including music theory , harmony and composition, proved extremely useful when reaching the advanced stages. I strongly believe in adapting one's dancing to what is being played, so I've studied with many different traditional tango maestros, and make a point of continuing to do so. I'm particularly fond of close embrace traditional tango, ranging from the milonguero/apilado style which suits the majority of Buenos Aires' rhythmic pieces, to the more elegant salón style when the music calls for it. I deeply enjoy every aspect of traditional tango, especially the intimate connection that's shared within the embrace. As of 2024, I've been teaching and DJ-ing traditional tango for 23 years in many countries, including Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, USA, England, Germany, Cyprus, Ukraine, Poland, and Russia. In the words of Aníbal Troilo: "Tango's given me much more than what I've given tango" |
InfluencesIn my quest to become versatile enough to interpret the wide spectrum of traditional tango music, I've learnt from lots of maestros, from quasi-anonymous hardcore milongueros to big names to world champions, including:
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Photo credit Guillermo Monteleone. Featuring Nayla Coulton
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Below you will find a rendition of "Torrente" by Lucio Demare, singer is Horacio Quintana, recorded in 1944. Music by Hugo Gutiérrez, lyrics by Homero Manzi
Tango teaching
I love teaching, and strive to generate as much progress as each student is currently capable of making in my classes. Through the years, I have developed more than one approach to presenting concepts and exercises, ensuring all personal differences in the learning process are accounted for. Having been exposed to many maestros also helped me tell apart what's essential, from what's a question of personal style, which proves priceless to help students find their way through the different, sometimes even contradictory information they had been previously presented with.
If you are an organizer, we can schedule group seminars and semi-private coaching, tailored to the needs of your community. I'm always available for private lessons wherever I am at the moment, just get in touch and we'll agree where and when. Whenever I'm travelling, I am happy to offer my hosts a private lesson as a way to reciprocate.
If you are an organizer, we can schedule group seminars and semi-private coaching, tailored to the needs of your community. I'm always available for private lessons wherever I am at the moment, just get in touch and we'll agree where and when. Whenever I'm travelling, I am happy to offer my hosts a private lesson as a way to reciprocate.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (with Alice Vasques)
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Stuttgart, Germany (with Judita Zapatero)
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Paphos, Cyprus (with Leyla Salafunditis)
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Sample seminar topics
I am very passionate about every aspect of traditional tango, so I'm very open to customizing contents to your specific scenario. The following are just examples of seminars which I have conducted with great feedback:
Musicality and phrasing weekend: move beyond dancing to the beat by working with phrasing - when dancing to the beat is not enough:
Milonguero weekend: learn to express yourself on a single tile
- Tango technique - individual: training your body to work smarter
- Tango technique - couples: connecting and sustaining an intimate, yet very functional embrace. Clear leading and accurate following while staying attentive to the two bodies and reactions
- Milonguero vs. Salón: Similarities and differences. Correspondences between the two. When and how to use them -music, orchestras, fashionable years and city locations for each one
- Extreme Expression: Empower your musical interpretation with advanced tools. Use contrast and cadence. Height changes, breathing to the phrases, and changing embrace tone to maximize communication
- Milonga con traspié: Technique and phrasing using different rythmic patterns
- Vals: drawing the music with quick giros and cadenas
Musicality and phrasing weekend: move beyond dancing to the beat by working with phrasing - when dancing to the beat is not enough:
- Beat and part-end "chan-chan" pauses that you absolutely cannot miss, half and double beat plus phrase-end pauses
- Traditional tango piece anatomy: canonical structure, stacatto vs. legato phrases and their corresponding dance elements, instruments' functions and correlations to the dance
- Syncopation, dancing to the accents (after finding them!), starting not before the first strong accent comes, and rythmic vs. legato movement choosing
Milonguero weekend: learn to express yourself on a single tile
- Milonguero style part I: From attitude to technique and steps for tiny spaces
- Milonguero style part II: Rythmic phrasing for tiny spaces. Adapting already acquired "steps" to the music
- Improvising: Keys to go from repeating sequences, to coming up with your owncreative combinations
Tango DJ-ing
After years of attending milongas everywhere I go, it was inevitable to get a feel for what social dancers crave for (and complain about), at any given point during a tango evening. As a result I've been DJ-ing at almost every place I've ever taught.
A balanced mix of all-time favourite rhythmic and melodic pieces is what you can expect when I'm at the console. I won't lure you into choosing your perfect partner out of an superb first track, only to follow with the most obscure three pieces I can find, in an attempt to come up as "original".
On the contrary, I'll read the crowd's energy and play what you would most love to dance next, and keep the tanda tightly put together by respecting the mood, the time period, and the singer if present.
My promise to you: I won't DJ for myself, I will DJ for YOU to have amazing tandas!
A balanced mix of all-time favourite rhythmic and melodic pieces is what you can expect when I'm at the console. I won't lure you into choosing your perfect partner out of an superb first track, only to follow with the most obscure three pieces I can find, in an attempt to come up as "original".
On the contrary, I'll read the crowd's energy and play what you would most love to dance next, and keep the tanda tightly put together by respecting the mood, the time period, and the singer if present.
My promise to you: I won't DJ for myself, I will DJ for YOU to have amazing tandas!