La Rogaia Tango Holidays 2012
in Umbria, Italy, at the border to Tuscany
Want to know how to Tango? Are you looking for a Tango travel? A Tango workshop under the mediterranean sun with famous teachers such as Fabian Salas & Lola Diaz, Ricardo Barrios & Laura Melo or Brigitta Winkler? A Tango vacation with Tango Argentino classes and Italian Dolce Vita? Come to La Rogaia and learn how to dance under the stars on our terrace overlooking the rolling hills of Umbria.
LATEST NEWS: !!! Book a Tango holiday at La Rogaia and support "Doctors without borders". 5 % of your class fee will go to this organization if you book before Jan 31, 2012. !!!
In 2012 La Rogaia is going into another year of wonderful Tango holidays - with a firework of many new and old top teachers from all over the world.
Come in 2012 to celebrate with us ! Choose among many internationally acknowledged Tango teachers. There surely is a workshop just right for you !
Our tango teachers 2012:
Fabian Salas & Lola Diaz
Ricky Barrios & Laura Melo
Brigitta Winkler
Filippo Avignonesi & Yulia Yukhina
Daniela Pucci de Farias & Luis Bianchi
Yvonne Meissner & El Pibe Avellaneda
Michael Lavocah & Siobhan Richards
Wolfgang Sandt
Andreas von Maxen & Laura Priori
Susanne Illini & Harald Rotter
Kathrin Holtz & Jens Dörr
Andrea Hernandez & Andrès Morán
Tango Travel April Tango Travel May Tango Travel June Tango Travel July Tango Travel September Tango Travel October Tango Travel November
Contact us for more information in order to find out which teachers meet best your particular needs. We know all of our teachers personally and for many years, know there styles and teaching methods and will give you our advice accordingly. In order to find out which class is best for you read the description of levels at the bottom of this page.
- Come to Italy for a combination of Dance, Arts, Culture, Food, Wine and more...
- Profit from individual teaching: our classes are limited to 9 participating couples. There is enough space to practice and of course dancing every night. And if your feet or your back hurt: we offer wellness massages and beauty treatment.
- Spend a relaxing week at Villa La Rogaia, an old country house with a large garden. It is situated in the hills above Lake Trasimeno between Rome and Florence. Participants stay in individually crafted double or single rooms (shared bathroom for two bedrooms) or in holiday apartments (for two persons), partly at the village of Castel Rigone at 4 km distance from La Rogaia.
- Get inspired by Italy's wealth of culture and history: visit historical towns like Arezzo, Assisi, Perugia and many others.
- Combine your Dance vacation with cooking classes, olive harvest or learn how to paint or sculpt marble.
- Our dance instructors work on your body language, to enhance the quality of movement and your feeling of balance and grace. Classes will be held for approximately three hours per day (15 hours on 5 days ), allowing for plenty of time to enjoy the surroundings of the villa and to go for trips to the nearby lake or towns. At the end of each course there will be a dance at Villa La Rogaia or a visit to a Milonga close by.
By the way: If you would like to know about our guests’ experiences at La Rogaia please visit our guestbook and read a story about a Tango holiday at La Rogaia.
Tango Classes 2012
| Date | Title | Instructor | Rate in EUR per person (lodging in double room) | Rate in EUR per person (lodging in single room) |  |
| March 31 to April 7, 2012 | Tango Argentino intermediate level | Filippo Avignonesi & Yulia Yukhina | 695 | 815 | Babysitter available |
| April 7 to 14, 2012 | Tango Argentino intermediate level | Brigitta Winkler | 695 | 815 | Babysitter available |
| May 5 to 12, 2012 | Tango Argentino intermediate level | Michael Lavocah & Siobhan Richards | 695 | 815 | Babysitter available |
| May 12 to 19, 2012 | Tango Argentino intermediate level | Ricky Barrios & Laura Melo | 745 | 865 | Babysitter available |
| May 26 to June 2, 2012 | Tango Argentino absolute beginners | Wolfgang Sandt | 645 | 765 | Babysitter available |
| June 2 to 9, 2012 | Tango Argentino improvers level | Wolfgang Sandt | 645 | 765 | Babysitter available |
| June 9 to 16, 2012 | Tango Argentino advanced level | Fabian Salas & Lola Diaz | 875 | 995 | Babysitter available |
| June 16 to 23, 2012 | Tango Argentino intermediate level | Yvonne Meissner & El Pibe Avellaneda | 745 | 865 |
Babysitter available |
| June 30 to July 7, 2012 | Tango Argentino intermediate level | Andrea & Andres | 695 | 815 | Babysitter available |
| Sept 1 to 8, 2012 | Tango Argentino improvers level | Wolfgang Sandt | 645 | 765 | Babysitter available |
| Sept 22 to 29, 2012 | Tango Argentino advanced level | Daniela Pucci de Farias & Luis Bianchi | 745 | 865 | Babysitter available |
| Sept 29 to Oct 6, 2012 | Tango Argentino intermediate level | Laura Priori & Andreas von Maxen |
695 | 815 | Babysitter available |
| Oct 6 to 13, 2012 | Tango Argentino intermediate level | Susanne Illini & Harald Rotter | 695 | 815 |
Babysitter available |
| Oct 13 to 20, 2012 | Tango Argentino intermediate level | Kathrin Holtz & Jens Dörr |
695 | 815 |
Babysitter available |
| Oct 27 to Nov 3, 2012 | Tango Argentino beginners' and improvers level | Wolfgang Sandt | 645 | 815 | Babysitter available |
Prices valid from Dec 1, 2011.
Above mentioned prices include:
- Instruction fee for the classes for 1 person. The number of hours of teaching (15 hours) is specified in the description of each single class further down on this page.
- Lodging for 1 week for 1 person in double room or single room (shared bathroom for 3 to 4 persons)
- Half board (two meals - by catering service or in restaurants - including all beverages) for 1 week for 1 person.
Not included in the price are:
- Extra charge for lodging in apartments for 2 persons (with private bathroom and kitchenette): EUR 100 per person per week (double occupancy).
- Travel arrangement to and from La Rogaia. A detailled map and description how to get to La Rogaia and futher information about trains and flights you can find here
- Extra meals, extra beverages, tips
- Entrance fees to Milongas
Please contact us for if you need further information about instruction, lodging and food.
La Rogaia dance holidays in the press:
Lucky beginners: Dance holidays in Umbria – an article on how to do the first steps in Argentine Tango during a holiday workshop – Travel-quest Specialist Holidays
All classes 2012 in detail:
Tango Holidays April - Tango Travel Easter
Filippo Avignonesi & Yulia Yukhina - Tango elegante
"Tango is Tango without style limits -- neither old nor new -- neither in the dance nor didactically. What among other things is very important to me is to learn to have fun with each other when dancing and during the lessons. " (Filippo Avignonesi)
Filippo Avignonesi is based in Rome, Italy. He has been teaching and performing for over 12 years in Italy, Germany, USA, France, Russia, Ukraine, Japan, Portugal, Cyprus, Sweden and England. Currently he is working mainly together with Alejandra Mantiñan. In the past he has worked together with dancers such as Alejandra Gutty, Emilia Cerutti, Eliana Sanchez, Francesca del Buono, Valencia Batiuk, Samantha di Paolo, Anna Maria Ferrara, Natalia Ochoa and several other accomplished dancers.
In Buenos Aires he learned from well over 100 different teachers and then developed his own teaching concept for which he is now sought after around the world. He's especially requested for workshops and is also part of the teaching staff of Alejandra Mantiñan, because of his didactical abilities which he applies with a lot of humor and zest for life. He distinguishes himself therefore from most other teachers.
In the lessons besides clarifing any doubts about the basics we will develop the respective gender role and the relationship between man and woman as a game which results in a deeper understanding of how to have fun with together - which will solve most technical difficulties. Understanding tango as a social system of relations between man and woman. Learning to take yourselves and the dance less seriously so you can always have fun together. Musicality, dancing between rhythm and melody, using tension and expressivity, dancing in a small space, and understanding the structure of tango for a free improvisation. And of course giving you enough elements to make your dance a little richer.
Yulia Yukhina from Moscow is one of the young shooting stars of the Russian Tango scene. She started to dance at the age of 5. She studied as a professional dancer and a teacher of choreography for 3 years and participated in an number of dancing shows. She took classes of ballet, folk dances and historical dances before she studied tango with the best Russian and Argentinian teachers. In 2009 she started to teach tango in one of the biggest tango schools in Moscow, where she still works now. She also performs in international festivals with partners from different countries, gives classes in Russia and abroad.
More about Filippo Avignonesi at www.filippoavignonesi.com
Level: Intermediate
Languages of instruction: English, German, Italian, Spanish and Russian.
Fee: EUR 695 per person per week
Brigitta Winkler - Dance Tango with Energy ... and Relax
Brigitta Winkler is an internationally acclaimed dancer. She divides her time between New York and Berlin, where she studied ballet and modern dance for many years. In 1980, her life changed when she discovered Argentine tango. She then spent some years in Paris studying with Virulazo, a star of Tango Argentino. At that time she met Coco Orlando Diaz, and they began performing together at Les Trottoirs de Buenos Aires in Paris. In 1986, they took their own show to Montreal and Toronto. Brigitta travelled often to Buenos Aires to study with such noted dancers as Juan Carlos Copes, Antonio Todaro, Pepito, Gustavo Naveira, and Eduardo Arquimbau.
In 1987 she opened Tanzart dance studio together with her partner Angelika Fischer, where she hosted Arquimbau's visits to Berlin. In 1994 Brigitta choreographed and danced in Tango Marathon in the Theaterhaus Stuttgart and Tango Vision in the Podewil Berlin. She incorporates into her interpretation of tango Body-Mind Centering, which she studied in a four-year program with Bonnie Bainbridge-Cohen.
Today Brigitta Winkler is a Tango legend, famous for being among the first who integrated training of body awareness and.body work in her teaching concept.
You will profit strongly from her concept, used by professional tango dancers worldwide. At the intensive workshop at La Rogaia Brigitta´s comprehensive body training will help you to perceive your body in a new very agreeable way.
You will reduce tensions and blockades in your body, dance more relaxed and with less stress.
Jeanne Marie Castle writes about Brigitta: "Tango has begun to seep into my body as deeply as Authentic Movement. In Brigitta Winkler, I have discovered not only a wonderful tango teacher, but a woman trained in Body Mind Centering and group improvisation. I have witnessed her take a hundred nervous strangers and transform them into a group with one or two simple warm-ups emphasizing contact. Her aproach inspired me. The mingling of Authentic Movement and Tango so polar in their outer form has made a spicy new soup of experience within my conscious body. It seems to me that any beginning may summon our original beginning. For a continuity of being to begin to unfold, it takes two."
More about Brigitta Winkler at www.brigittatango.de
Level: Intermediate
Languages of instruction: English, German
Fee: EUR 695 per person per week
Tango Holidays May - Tango Travel May
Sat May 5 to Sat May 12, 2012
Siobhan Richards & Michael Lavocah
Taking your dance to the next level is less a matter of what you dance than how you dance it. In this week we will help you to improve your quality of movement and expression, to deepen and refine your connection with your partner and the music, and to increase your pleasure in this beautiful dance. For the morning workshops we will focus on the fundamentals of dancing together: body awareness, balance, grounding, posture, the embrace, and the 'how' of creating elegant and fluid movements without stiffness or tension. During the evening workshops we plan to focus on one genre - milonga - building up each evening from the absolute basics to traspie combinations in an effective, self-contained course.
Michael & Siobhan teach and DJ regularly at events across Europe. They're known for their gentle, humorous, patient approach and they are at their best with this type of concentrated, intimate teaching. Their aim is to help you to develop your dancing in a relaxing, supportive environment.
Their combined tango lives amount to more than 20 years of dancing, teaching and DJ-ing. Together they emphasize the foundations of tango – body awareness, axis, presence, musicality, and a subtle, reciprocating connection with your dance partner. They both firmly believe that the more you can relax and enjoy your dancing the better it gets. Michael knows tango music inside out and brings this depth of knowledge with humour, passion and clarity into his lessons.
The week is designed for intermediate dancers who want to boost their dancing ability and enjoyment.
More information about Siobhan and Michael at
http://lasrosasdeltango.net/index_engl.html
www.milonga.co.uk
Level: Intermediate
Languages of instruction: English and Dutch
Fee: EUR 695 per person per week.
Price includes 15 hours of teaching, lodging in doubleroom and meals (beverages included) for the entire week of the course, including the booking charge. There is an extra charge for single rooms of an additional EUR 120 per week. Please contact us about details of instruction, lodging and food.
Sat May 12 to Sat May 19, 2012
Ricardo Barrios & Laura Melo
Ricky and Laura will be back to La Rogaia with a class on Milonguero style Tango. They express with passion, tradition and innovation an elegant and precise style of dance, characterised by great virtuosity.
Ricardo is an actor, dancer, choreographer, director and teacher. In 1985 he graduated from the National School of Dramatic Arts. Since then he has performed, playing various roles, in over 60 productions of dance and theater in Latin America, the United States, Europe and Asia. He began his work with tango in 1988. His teachers were Juan Bruno, Miguel Balmaceda, Antonio Todaro, Oscar Casal and Domingo Pugliese. In recent years, he was part of the highly acclaimed company "Tango x 2" of Miguel Angel Zotto, was artistic director of "Tango Emoción" of the Mora Godoy Company, and participated as actor, dancer and choreographer in the Musical "Tanguera" and in the operetta "María de Buenos Aires" by Astor Piazzolla, in this latter play, he worked with the Italian singer Milva.
Laura is a highly acknowledged dancer, teacher and choreographer. Her degrees are in Psychomotricity and Music. She began studying tango in 1997 with Pedro Monteleone, Marcela Guevara, Osvaldo Zotto and Lorena Ermocida. She has taught and performed in International Tango Festivals in Belgium, Italy and Austria. She has done documentaries for the BBC of London and for RAI TV in Italy, as well as commercials for Austrian, Italian and Ukrainian television. Most recently, she was an instructor for the Mora Godoy Studio and for Tango Elite Argentino.
Ricardo and Laura have been working together professionally since 2002. They have done exhibitions, workshops and concerts in many European cities. They have performed with Orchestras including Color Tango, Juan José Mossalini, Hyperion and Tango Seis.
More about Ricardo and Laura at www.tangoargentinodoc.com.ar
Level: Intermediate
Language of instruction: English, Italian, Spanish
Fee: EUR 745 per person per week
Price includes 15 hours of teaching, lodging in doubleroom and meals (beverages included) for the entire week of the course, including the booking charge. There is an extra charge for single rooms of an additional EUR 120 per week. Please contact us about details of instruction, lodging and food.
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Sat May 26 to Sat June 2, 2012
Wolfgang Sandt
Two hearts beat in Wolfgang's breast, and it is difficult to say, whether his bigger passion is sculpture or tango. In any case he is an excellent teacher, who imparts to his students with patience, artistic creativity and a lot of humour the joy for those things, that fill himself with enthusiasm. Wolfgang has been dancing tango since 1994. Among his teachers are Gustavo Naveira and Giselle Anne, Fabian Salas and Carolina del Rivero, Mariano"Chicho" Frumboli and Eugenia Parilla, Kely and Facundo Posadas, Amira Campora, Metin Yazir, Graciela Gonzalez, Nestor Ray, Gloria and Eduardo Arquimbau, Yvonne Meissner and Eduardo Aquirre, Ruben Terbalca and many others.
Wolfgang Sandt doesn´t simply teach you prefabricated unchangeable figures and rigid steps, which you cannot really use on the dance floor, but the ability to recognize the structure of Argentine Tango and its different elements.
Armed with these real life tango secrets you will move confidently on the dance floor inventing playfully your very own, always new "figures". Consequence of this is a concept for a "dialogue of the dancers ", where there are (almost) no "wrong steps".
For you this means you will have lots of joy and very little stress dancing Argentine Tango even as a beginner !
Languages of instruction: English, German, Italian
Fee: EUR 645 per person per week.
Price includes 15 hours of teaching, lodging in doubleroom and meals (beverages included) for the entire week of the course, including the booking charge. There is an extra charge for single rooms of an additional EUR 120 per week. Please contact us about details of instruction, lodging and food.
Tango Holidays June - Tango Travel June
Sat June 2 to Sat June 9, 2012
Wolfgang Sandt
The Quest for the Magic Moment: Dance Tango without stress
Two hearts beat in Wolfgang's breast, and it is difficult to say, whether his bigger passion is sculpture or tango. In any case he is an excellent teacher, who imparts to his students with patience, artistic creativity and a lot of humour the joy for those things, that fill him with enthusiasm. Wolfgang has been dancing tango since 1994. Among his teachers are Gustavo Naveira and Giselle Anne, Fabian Salas and Carolina del Rivero, Mariano"Chicho" Frumboli and Eugenia Parilla, Kely and Facundo Posadas, Amira Campora, Metin Yazir, Graciela Gonzalez, Nestor Ray, Gloria and Eduardo Arquimbau, Yvonne Meissner and Eduardo Aquirre, Ruben Terbalca and many others. For him it is important not to teach figures and steps, but to impart to his students the ability to recognize the structure of the dance and its different elements.
Who is this class for ?
You already have attended several Tango classes and visit regularly practicas, milongas and tango balls. You like dancing Tango but sometimes the following might happen to you ...
· You feel that dancing can be pretty exhausting for you.
· You cramp up easily and have backpain or hurting arms when you dance for a longer time.
· You cannot dance nicely because your dance partner is clinging to you like a burr.
· Your right arm hurts because your dance partner pushes it with his left arm all the time.
· You think you have to dance a lot of “figures” to be “real” Tango dancers.
· You get annoyed fairly often, because the other couples are blocking your dance all the time.
Then “The Quest for the Magic Moment - Dance Tango without stress”, is exactly right for you!
In this workshop we show you
· How you can dance enjoyably using a simple method.
· How you can dance without stress even on the crowded dance floor.
· How you can stay relaxed and keep dancing even though the dancers in front of you block the dance floor worse than an anti-tank obstacle
· How you can finally succeed in understanding “figures” you learned once but can´t dance very well. And how you can finally dance them completely relaxed
· How you can use the "line of least resistance" to make your dancing more agreeable.
· How you can dance even more relaxed
· How you succeed to understand your partner better while you dance
· How you stop running after all kinds of fancy „figures“ and „sequences of steps“ and start your quest for the “Magic Moment” instead .
Requirement for this class: This Tango course is not tied so much to a certain level. It is for you if you want to dance more relaxed and with less stress. You should have already a little dancing experience (A beginners class at La Rogaia would be a good start for instance)
Level: Improvers
Languages of instruction: English, German, Italian
Fee: EUR 645 per person per week
Price includes 15 hours of teaching, lodging in doubleroom and meals (beverages included) for the entire week of the course, including the booking charge. There is an extra charge for single rooms of an additional EUR 120 per week. Please contact us about details of instruction, lodging and food.
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Sat June 9 to Sat June 16, 2012
Fabian Salas & Lola Diaz
Tireless researcher and maestro, remarkable dancer and connoisseur of the secrets of tango - Fabián Salas has brought light to old beliefs and opened new ways in the conception of the dance, creating an unmistakable style of dancing the Tango. Since the early nineties he has performed in the most important Tango shows and has taught all around the world. In 1997 he starred as one of the three principal dancers in the award-winning movie "The Tango Lesson" by Sally Potter.
His partner Lola Diaz has been dancing since she was 5 years old and has enjoyed an education in classical and modern ballet. Until 2002 she danced as a ballerina in the ensemble of the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires. As a tango dancer she partnered Pablo Veron and since 2009 been she has been working and teaching worldwide with Fabian Salas.
More information about Fabian and Lola at http://www.cosmotango.com/
Languages of instruction: English, Spanish, Italian
Fee: 875 per person per week
Price includes 15 hours of teaching, lodging in doubleroom, meals (beverages included) for the entire week of the course and entrance to Milonga with show of the masters, including the booking charge. Please contact us about details of instruction, lodging and food.
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Sat June 16 to Sat June 23, 2011
Yvonne Meissner & El Pibe Avellaneda
Yvonne Meissner (Amsterdam) starts to dance Tango in 1987: First Tango Fantasía, then 1994 Tango de Salon (with Pepito Avellaneda, Tete y Maria and Cacho Dante and Susana Miller) and Canyengue (with Pocho Pizarro). Yvonne is trained in Contact Improvisation, Modern Dance Techniques and holds titles in Focussing and Somatic Experiencing and will be an Alexander-Technique teacher. From 1996 she has taught all over Europe and from 1999 in the USA/Canada/Brazil/Argentina. After Brigitta Winkler she was the second non-Argentinian female teacher to be invited teaching in the USA. From 1999 onwards she worked with her partner in life Eduardo Aguirre who sadly has passed away in April 2010.
Yvonne emphasizes the use of the torso and torsion, hip movement, synchronization of the movement inside the couple and interaction between lead and follow resulting in a conversation of bodies. For Yvonne tango functions as a way of tender communication in general and starts with a decisive, elegant way of walking and overall awareness and physical presence in space. These communication aspects became the philosophy of her teaching. It is based on contact improvisation as well as rational explanation with the help of modern dance body techniques to understand where a movement starts from and consecutively arrives at the dance partner. Sublimation of this bodily communication can result in moving as 'one heart with four legs'. Yvonne Meissner uses tango movement schemes that might be part of figures though not being aimed at figures. Her teaching includes music listening studies. Musical patterns function as the primary inspiration, the `compas`, that creates movement patterns in space. Rhythm and pauses, turns and staccati become a challenging game within the couple. She is famous for the rhythmical decorations of her footwork, being taught by the older milongueras in Buenos Aires she witnessed in the 90ies plus Canyengue delivering an unbridled sense of communicative play for the couple. To watch her dance is to realize that there is a tremendous amount of freedom in the follower's role. Yvonne's style redefines the role of the follower in Tango.
Yvonne will teach together with El Pibe Avellaneda, a living legend with 50 years of Tango experience will work in march and june with Yvonne Meissner with a total of 75 years of tango dancing.....! Very few (living) Tango dancers in the world can match his CV. El Pibe did live performances with almost all tango orchestras that we now enjoy on CD. He worked in all countries in the Americas and almost all ... on the western hemisphere from USA, Russia, France, Germany, Italy. He worked in many famous theatres and tango espectaculos in Argentina and toured with Forever Tango. From the age of 13 he won numerous prices in the then so popular contestos. He dances in a style which some define as 'milonguero' style, but actually is called Tango de Salon Apilado in Argentina. He is next to Pepito, Arquimbau, Virulazo, Petroleo close to the salon origins and only performs without choreography. His preferred music is rhythmical music as from the Rey Del Compas D'Arienzo to Donato.
More about Yvonne at www.torito.nl/yvonne
Video of Yvonne Meissner and Eduardo Aguirre at youtube
Video of El Pibe Avellaneda and Guillermina Quiroga at youtube
Level: Suitable for dancers of at least 1 year experience. To get the most out of this week, you will have been dancing improvised tango and attending regular classes for at least a year . You should be able to confidently lead/follow ochos, giros, the cross, and walk in parallel and cross basic systems.Language of instruction: English, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, French
Fee: 745 per person per week
Price includes 15 hours of teaching, lodging in doubleroom and meals (beverages included) for the entire week of the course, including the booking charge. There is an extra charge for single rooms of an additional EUR 120 per week. Please contact us about details of instruction, lodging and food.
Tango Holidays July - Tango Travel July
Andrea Hernandez & Andrès Moran
Andrea & Andres from Darmstadt, Germany, have been teaching tango together for over ten years, drawing on over 20 years of teaching experience of the various forms of dance and movement. Their most important teachers are Juan Carlos Copes, Eduardo & Gloria Arquimba, Martha & Antón "El Gallego" Manolo Salvador, Gustavo Russo & Samantha Garcia, Julio Balmaceda & Corina de la Rosa, Eduardo Cappussi & Mariana Flores and Fernando Galera and Vilma Vega. In their teaching they deal intensively with the functionality of the body and the contact with the partner.
The focus is on issues such as:
o How to find and protect my axle?
o How do I get a good and relaxed body position?
o What "tricks" to help me to do a beautiful Molinete?
o How can we perceive our partner better?
o How can I lead the lady without the use of force?
o Musicality - what should I do?
o How can I translate into motion what I hear in the music?
A clear didactic structure and playful exercises based on individual movement elements lead the participants to the answers. You will find a much more intense contact with the partner and the dance thus becomes more harmonious and musical. The principle of improvisation will be clearer, the tango is free - so we can enjoy the togetherness even better!
More about Andrea and Andrès at www.encantado-del-tango.de
Level: Intermediate
Languages of instruction: English, German
Fee: EUR 695 per person per week
Tango Holidays September - Tango Travel September
Sat September 1 to Sat September 8, 2012
Wolfgang Sandt
Two hearts beat in Wolfgang's breast, and it is difficult to say, whether his bigger passion is sculpture or tango. In any case he is an excellent teacher, who imparts to his students with patience, artistic creativity and a lot of humour the joy for those things, that fill him with enthusiasm. Wolfgang has been dancing tango since 1994. Among his teachers are Gustavo Naveira and Giselle Anne, Fabian Salas and Carolina del Rivero, Mariano"Chicho" Frumboli and Eugenia Parilla, Kely and Facundo Posadas, Amira Campora, Metin Yazir, Graciela Gonzalez, Nestor Ray, Gloria and Eduardo Arquimbau, Yvonne Meissner and Eduardo Aquirre, Ruben Terbalca and many others. For him it is important not to teach figures and steps, but to impart to his students the ability to recognize the structure of the dance and its different elements, thus giving them the ability to invent playfully their own, always new "figures". Consequence of this is a concept for a "dialogue of the dancers ", where there are (almost) no "wrong steps". This is certainly an excellent presupposition to have lots of joy with Argentine tango even as a beginner.
Improvers' workshop
You already have attended one or more Tango Argentino classes and visit regularly practicas, milongas and tango balls. Maybe some of the situations described below sound familiar to you?
· You have already learned by heart a lot of fancy "figures" but every time you want to dance them on the dancefloor somebody gets in your way.
· You succeed to dance fairly well with your regular dance partner but the moment you dance with someone else nothing seems to work out anymore.
· You are asking yourself often whether the music played is Tango, Milonga or Tango Valtz.
· When Milonga or Tango Valtz are played you leave the dance floor because you believe that this is still too difficult for you.
· You are annoyed because your partner never dances what you "lead".
· You are annoyed because your partner only drags you through the ballroom and you don ´t understand what he wants.
· You want to know why some of the "figures" you have learned don´t work out so well.
· You are dancing already fairly well but want to improve your understanding of the music .
Then our beginners to intermediate workshop is exactly right for you !
In this workshop we show you
· how you can improve your understanding of the music and how you can play with the rythm
· how you avoid unpleasant collisions with other couples (and what you to do if it happens)
· how you still can dance on the crowded dancefloor
· how you can dance Tango Valtz and Milonga
· how you get a better understanding of the "figures" which still don´t work so well and in consequence how you can dance them right
· how you can understand different possibilities in the dance and how you can use this knowledge to develop spontaneously your own "figures"
· how you can dance even more elegant
· how you can improve your understanding for your partner while you dance
· In short how you will have even more fun dancing Tango
Level: Improvers
Languages of instruction: English, German, Italian
Fee: EUR 645 per person per week
Price includes 15 hours of teaching, lodging in doubleroom and meals (beverages included) for the entire week of the course, including the booking charge. There is an extra charge for single rooms of an additional EUR 120 per week. Please contact us about details of instruction, lodging and food.
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Sat Sept 22 to Sat Sept 29, 2012
Daniela Pucci de Farias & Luis Bianchi
"Understanding Milonguero, Salon and Nuevo Styles"
What characterizes milonguero, salon and nuevo style? Do you know the difference? Do you have a preference?
We believe that each style offers beautiful and unique resources for expression, and that the best tango is that which is well-danced and expressive, beyond labels. The workshop at La Rogaia was designed from this point of view. Our goal is to give students a better understanding of the different styles of social tango and to equip them with an expanded set of resources for expressing the music.
More specifically, we will explore:
• the techniques for walking in each style, looking at their inherent staccato, legato and pendular qualities;
• the techniques for turning, looking at how they differ completely in terms of use of pivots, dissociation, momentum and space, creating very different sensations;
• some of the vocabulary that is characteristic of each style, including the tiniest and most playful (and useful!) milonguero turns, sublime salon turns with sacadas, enrosques and planeos, and dynamic nuevo turns combined with very gently led (but very powerful!) boleos;
• most importantly, how to apply the different techniques to rhythmic, melodic and dramatic music, matching the quality of movement to the quality of the sound and making your own choices to create personal interpretations.
Daniela from Brazil and Luis from Mar del Plata, Argentina met during her first trip to Buenos Aires. What was supposed to be Luis's last tanda for the night turned into two hours of dancing together. The magical connection they experienced that night led them to share their tangopaths. Daniela left her career as an MIT engineering professor to join Luis as his tango partner. Luis left Buenos Aires to join her in New York City, where they currently reside. In 2010 they also coached World Champions and Olympic Silver Medalists Meryl Davis and Charlie White in their Argentine tango-based ice dance routine. In New York City, they are co-founders of "The TangoZone Dance Company", which produces shows combining tango, theatre,video and comedy.
More information about Daniela and Luis and videos from their lessons at www.luisbianchi.com
Level: Advanced
Languages of instruction: English, Spanish, French
Fee: EUR 745 per person per week
Price includes 15 hours of teaching, lodging in doubleroom and meals (beverages included) for the entire week of the course, including the booking charge. There is an extra charge for single rooms of an additional EUR 120 per week. Please contact us about details of instruction, lodging and food.
Sat. September 29 to Sat October 6, 2012
Laura Priori & Andreas von Maxen
Laura originally from Brescia, Italy, has been living in Berlin for 25 years. She has started with Argentine Tango 14 years ago with Brigitte Winkler. She has partnered for several years "El Pajaro" Diego Riemer and organized a Milonga together with him. During her regular stays at Buenos Aires she was trained by Gustavo Naveira and Giselle Anne, Marianna Flores and Eduardo Capussi, Fernando Galera and Vilma Vega, Analisa Vega and Marcelo Varela and Chicho and Lucia.
Andreas got into Argentine Tango 14 years ago. He has taught for several years in Bremen (Northern Germany) together with Thomas and Catalina and was mainly influenced by Fernando and Vilma, Nancy and Damian and Analia and Marcelo.
Laura and Andreas originally preferred the Milonguero-Style in close embrace. In the past years however they started to adopt elements of Tango Nuevo and to experiment with the open embrace. It is their aim to interpret the unique character of Tango music also in the “Nuevo Estilo”. In their lessons they emphasize on musicality, communication within the couple, playful movements. For preparation they also integrate body exercises with elements from Yoga and Feldenkrais.
More information about the teachers at www.tangotanzenmachtschoen.de
Level: IntermediateLanguages of instruction: English, German, Italian
Fee: EUR 695 in double room per person per week.
Price includes 15 hours of teaching, lodging in doubleroom and meals (beverages included) for the entire week of the course, including the booking charge. There is an extra charge for single rooms of an additional EUR 120 per week. Please contact us about details of instruction, lodging and food.
Tango Holidays October - Tango Travel October
Sat October 6 to Sat October 13, 2012
Susanne Illini & Harald Rotter
Susanne Illini and Harald Rotter run a Tango school at Bonn, Germany and organize every year the Bonn Tango Festival. Tango for them is fun, creativity, spontaneity, feeling, emotion, perfection, harmony, music and much more ... Tango is improvisation, freedom to move and to communicate. They like traditional music but also modern Tangos like Electrotango and Non-Tango-music to experiment with different moves.
More information about Susanne and Harald at http://www.tangobuehne.de/ (in German only)
Languages of instruction: German and EnglishFee: EUR 695 per person per week
Price includes 15 hours of teaching, lodging in doubleroom and melas (beverages included) for the entire week of the course, including the booking charge. There is an extra charge for single rooms of an additional EUR 120 per week. Please contact us about details of instruction, lodging and food.
October 13 to October 20, 2012
Kathrin Holtz & Jens Dörr
Their common dancing and teaching is particularly influenced by the organic and flowing Tango of the 'Young Generation' in Buenos Aires. Their teaching concentrates on leading and following as a condition for improvisation along with a solid technique of the dance. They focus on natural movements, musicality, creativity and dialogue rather than on memorized and automatically reeled off figures.
More information about the teachers at www.tango8-koeln.de
Languages of instruction: English, German
Fee: EUR 695 in double room per person per week.
Price includes 15 hours of teaching, lodging in doubleroom and meals (beverages included) for the entire week of the course, including the booking charge. There is an extra charge for single rooms of an additional EUR 120 per week. Please contact us about details of instruction, lodging and food.
Tango Holidays November - Tango Travel November
Sat Oct 27 to Sat Nov 3, 2012
Wolfgang Sandt
Two hearts beat in Wolfgang's breast, and it is difficult to say, whether his bigger passion is sculpture or tango. In any case he is an excellent teacher, who imparts to his students with patience, artistic creativity and a lot of humour the joy for those things, that fill him with enthusiasm. Wolfgang has been dancing tango since 1994. Among his teachers are Gustavo Naveira and Giselle Anne, Fabian Salas and Carolina del Rivero, Mariano"Chicho" Frumboli and Eugenia Parilla, Kely and Facundo Posadas, Amira Campora, Metin Yazir, Graciela Gonzalez, Nestor Ray, Gloria and Eduardo Arquimbau, Yvonne Meissner and Eduardo Aquirre, Ruben Terbalca and many others. For him it is important not to teach figures and steps, but to impart to his students the ability to recognize the structure of the dance and its different elements, thus giving them the ability to invent playfully their own, always new "figures". Consequence of this is a concept for a "dialogue of the dancers ", where there are (almost) no "wrong steps".
Improvers' workshop
You already have attended one or more Tango Argentino classes and visit regularly practicas, milongas and tango balls. Maybe some of the situations described below sound familiar to you?
· You have already learned by heart a lot of fancy "figures" but every time you want to dance them on the dancefloor somebody gets in your way.
· You succeed to dance fairly well with your regular dance partner but the moment you dance with someone else nothing seems to work out anymore.
· You are asking yourself often whether the music played is Tango, Milonga or Tango Valtz.
· When Milonga or Tango Valtz are played you leave the dance floor because you believe that this is still too difficult for you.
· You are annoyed because your partner never dances what you "lead".
· You are annoyed because your partner only drags you through the ballroom and you don ´t understand what he wants.
· You want to know why some of the "figures" you have learned don´t work out so well.
· You are dancing already fairly well but want to improve your understanding of the music .
Then our beginners to intermediate workshop is exactly right for you !
In this workshop we show you
· how you can improve your understanding of the music and how you can play with the rythm
· how you avoid unpleasant collisions with other couples (and what you to do if it happens)
· how you still can dance on the crowded dancefloor
· how you can dance Tango Valtz and Milonga
· how you get a better understanding of the "figures" which still don´t work so well and in consequence how you can dance them right
· how you can understand different possibilities in the dance and how you can use this knowledge to develop spontaneously your own "figures"
· how you can dance even more elegant
· how you can improve your understanding for your partner while you dance
· In short how you will have even more fun dancing Tango
Level: Improvers
Languages of instruction: English, German, Italian
Fee: EUR 645 per person per week
Price includes 15 hours of teaching, lodging in doubleroom and meals (beverages included) for the entire week of the course, including the booking charge. There is an extra charge for single rooms of an additional EUR 120 per week. Please contact us about details of instruction, lodging and food.
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How to find the right Tango class
Looking for a Tango course you may ask yourself which is the right level for you. You certainly don´t want it to be boring, i.e. not learning anything new,or even worse a class on a level which is so overwhelming you become totally frustrated.
Actually for many dancers it´s not so easy to estimate their own level of dancing. Especially in Argentine Tango it is not so important how many different sequences of steps you have memorized. Important is the quality of the movement. A classification by memorized sequences of steps (which you can dance more or less well) like in ballroon dancing, is difficult and according to our opinion not even desirable in Argentine Tango.
Here we want to give you a little help to estimate your level of Tango dancing. Thus you can choose those Tango classes at La Rogaia which give you the best learning experience and of course the most fun.
Beginners
That’s an easy one. You never have been dancing Tango before? Everything clear, isn´t it? -
By the way this applies also if you already have been dancing Ballroom Tango. Ballroom Tango and Argentine Tango are completely different dances. Thus you should consider yourself a complete beginner in Argentine Tango if you have exclusively experience in Ballroom Tango.
Improvers
You should already have some knowledge about walking to the rhythm of the music. Right posture, a feeling for your own axis and the contact with your partner in open and close embrace shouldn´t be completely unknown to you. Preferably you have already about six months to one year of dancing experience.
Intermediate
Intermediate level is right for you if you know the basic concepts for improvers. Additionally you should have a minimum knowledge of the following elements: The cross of the lady, Ochos, Molineta, walking in parallel system and cross system. That doesn´t mean you have to be able to master all this perfectly… It shouldn´t be complete news for you that Tango has to do with music and that you can and should move in harmony with the other couples on the dance floor. For most people it takes about one and a half or two years to learn this.
Advanced
You should be able to dance well everything described above. Additionally you should be able to dance Milonga and Vals. Ocho Cortado, Barrida, Saccada, Gancho and Corte for you shouldn´t be foreign language anymore. The following you should have in your repertoire already: Walking elegantly to the music, playing whith rhythm and pause, navigating on the dance floor without provoking collisions…
Normally you need at least three or four years of dancing experience for this. If you have a professional dance education, possess a good body awareness and if dancing is part of your daily routine, it may take less time to become an advanced level Tango dancer.
Master Class
Requirement for this is everything mentioned above. Additionally you should be able to dance Boleos, Lapiz/ Enrosques, Volcadas, Colgadas, more demanding Ganchos and Sacadas. You should be aware of the different rhythmical structures in Argentine Tango. Normally this takes at least five years of dancing experience.
Normally this takes at least five years of dancing experience.
One important point: What do we mean with „Dancing experience“ ?
To say it very clearly, you don´t get dancing experience if you enjoy yourself going to a Tango ball merely three or four times a year (Not even if you do this for ten years or longer). You get dancing experience when you attend regularly (at least once a week) a Practica or a Milonga and dance there intensely.
Many movements in Tango you learn only if you practice them repeatedly for a longer time. “To practice” in Argentine Tango in first line means to practice under “real life conditions” on the dance floor.
To learn a certain movement or a “figure” in a Tango lesson is only the very first step and thus will be quickly forgotten if you don´t practice regularly in a Milonga. Yet if you do put in some effort you will be richly rewarded by Argentine Tango…
Where to buy Tango music
We recommend this online shop: www.danzaymovimiento.com/shop/