Taboe Tango Camp

Teachers
Again we invited a special group of teachers, new and old.

Filippo Avignonesi (Italy)
For 10 years he has been teaching workshops and danced shows in Italy, France, the U.S.A., Germany, Japan, Portugal, Sweden, Cyprus, England, Ukraine and Russia.
He has partnered with 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 developed his own teaching concept. Because of his didactical abilities, he's especially requested for workshops and is also part of the teaching staff of Alejandra Mantiñan.

Five years ago in Sweden I (Paul) joined a few workshops from Filippo I will never forget. He really is an inspiring teacher and theatre man.

We are proud and happy he is joining our camp. We will ask him to do a few workshops combining his passion for theatre and Tango.

Filippo Avignonesi and Emilia Cerutti - Pata Ancha
Filippo Avignonesi and Emilia Cerutti in Ukraine
www.filippoavignonesi.com
Back to overview  

Katja and Ben (United Kingdom)
We started learning tango some ten years ago because dancing together seemed a little more companionable than doing karate (which we both had done up to that point). We fell in love with the tango at first sight, but, of course, the journey that followed (and which is still ongoing) was not without frustrations.

In 2004 we began to organize and teach tango in Oxford. We love tango music, especially from the 1930s and 1940s, for its fabulous variety, and we love the dance for its fabulous variety, and we love the dance for the endless possibilities, for its playfulness and for the unique way it makes two people communicate with each other. We love to experiment, we love to dance both close and open, and most of all we love the total focus of being with another person in the music.

Tango is seldom danced with just two people in the room, and this communal aspect has a big impact on our teaching (and our organizing). Creating a space happy and supportive enough for everybody to be open (and at times vulnerable) is what comes first. As there is no enjoyment without physical comfort, our teaching often focuses on details of technique and on how to create an embrace that breathes with the dance. And last but not least we like to explore creativity and self-expression as the basis of any good tango communication.
www.tangooxford.co.uk
Back to overview  

Isolde Kanikani (UK/Netherlands)
Isolde is an international Tango teacher living in the Netherlands and doing regular tours to other countries. Working as a tango teacher, performer and DJ since she was 18. Teaching with various partners and collaborating with other tango proffessionals and artists on performance based projects using a wide variety of media. Currently working with various projects like making a cross cultural performance project, tango orquestra, a regular programme of tango classes and argentine folk workshops.

Teaching Argentine Tango has taken Isolde to UK, Norway, Netherlands, Spain, France, Finland, Portugal, New Zealand, Australia, USA. Over the last years she has been developing a strong didactic way of teaching students to allow them to learn quickly 'the complex' dance of Argentine Tango. Didactics based on how the body moves 'naturally' and how we move in a tango way. Inspired by various trainings in other movement forms, like contemporary dance, kung fu, shiatsu and Alexander technique to name a few. Through the basic structures used in the regular classes, looking at the ways students can progress more efficiently, while being relaxed and having fun. A guide holding a safe space for students to enjoy learning and progressing, eventually developing their individuality in the dance.

The energy from inspiration is a wonderful thing, that she exudes when teaching her own students. Leading at a high level feeds her understanding of the dance and is very useful in the teaching and performing side of things, isolde has sometimes performed the man role with much laughter and delight. The traditional tango music will always be my home, there is so much beauty and complexity in the music that I keep finding new delights in pieces of music I have heard time and again. I also find journeys into world music useful in both the teaching and dancing. It offers a different range of moods and musicality to tango music. Allowing the student to find more candences in their dancing.

www.cielito.nl
Back to overview  

Gisela Navoni (Argentina/Spain)
I was born in Rosario, Argentina, in 1976.  Here I did my training in various dance techniques, and in Tango. I have been working as a Tango dancer in Barcelona, Spain, since 1998.  In this city I developed my work as a Tango teacher and as an organizer of various activities related to tango.
Outside of Spain I have taught in Tango events in England, Norway, United State, Italy, Germany and Argentina.

My work with tango as an improvisatory dance is enriched by knowledge from other movement disciplines, and by sharing methods, observations and insights with other teachers.
The technical work is based on the possibility of awakening the body and developing body consciousness in order to broaden our perception of ourselves, and perception of our relationship with the other person and with the surroundings (the group, the space, the music).

TangoNeta! I organise, has been an open invitation since 2004, to both dancers and musicians, an opportunity to explore, in an experiential and reflexive way, the journey which Tango offers.
www.tangoneta.com
Back to overview
 

Oliver Wielinski (Germany)
Oliver is a young dancer and instructor of Argentine tango, who has gathered more than 7 years of experience in teaching and spent more than 10 years dancing ballroom, latin, and argentino tango at the early age of 24 years. His teaching style is vivid and playful, while his dance merges the elegance of classic close embrace tango with intense or brisk elements. He teaches regularly in the German capital, gives workshops at events across Europe but has also maintained his commitment to his very first courses in his small hometown.
tangomitstil.de/
Back to overview  

Ezequiel and Lydia (The Netherlands)
Ezequiel Sanucci (Buenos Aires) and Lydia Müller (Germany) are professional dancers in tango, contemporary dance, ballet and contact improvisation based in The Netherlands. They are specialiced in the fusion of Argentinean tango with contemporary dance and contact improvisation. They studied tango with Gustavo Naveira and DNI Tango, among others. They have been working since many years as professional contemporary dansers in well known dance companies in Europe. Ezequiel was also a soloist ballet dancer at the Ballet del Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. Because of their tango, contemporary dance and theater background they developed their own Contemporary Tango style and they make tango dance theater productions with their own dance company: Tango Danstheater / Ezequiel Sanucci. They also teach together tango, tango fusion, contact tango, partnering, contemporary dance, contact and improvisation workshops.

In 2010 they won the 1st prize with a tango fusion choreography of Ezequiel at Rabotheater Open Podium Twente in The Netherlands. They performed and teached at major festivals, theaters and milongas in Argentina, The Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Greece, Venezuela and Mexico as: Festival Cambalache, Club Villa Malcolm in Buenos Aires; Muziektheater Amsterdam, Festival Mundial, Dias Latinos, Korzo Theater, Vondelpark Openluchttheater in The Netherlands; TangoGreece Festival in Athens; NeoTangoRave, Phantastango in Germany; Mi Amberes Querido in Belgium; Festival Cervantino in Mexico, among others. They also performed together with orquestras such as Alfredo Marcucci and Sexteto Milonguero.

Ezequiel is currently working as a dancer and tango choreographer with the International Danstheater in the production "Puur Barbaars" that celebrates the 50th anniversary of this prestigious dance company with premier in Lucent Danstheater. On the 21st and 22nd of January 2012 Lydia and Ezequiel will be performing and teaching at the new festival Rotterdam Tango Transformations. www.tangodanstheater.nl
www.twitter.com/ezequielsanucci
www.facebook.com/contemporarytango
www.youtube.com/user/ezequy
vimeo.com/channels/119255
Back to overview  

Paras and Paul (The Netherlands)
After their first cheek-to-cheek tango on a warm spring night in 1999, Paras and Paul haven't been separated for long.
They found in each other a soul mate with the same mission: make people move, shine and open up through tango.
The dance is for them an on-going journey, changing and evolving.

They are teaching since 2002 in the Netherlands and Europe. In their work they emphasize the balance between the technique: 'the outside' and the content: 'the inside', like presence, feelings, musicality, improvisation, interaction and awareness. Their main focus is to create longer and more intense tango events, like the Taboe Camps and Taboe weekends.
www.tangoatelier.nl
Back to overview  

Daniëlle van Grieken (The Netherlands)
Since she completed her Vinyasa Yoga training in India, Daniëlle has been teaching Vinyasa Yoga in her studio in Utrecht and on Bali. Through this physical, dynamic and flowing form of Yoga, Daniëlle aims for people not only to strengthen their bodies or make them more flexible, but also to help people reconnect to their bodies, learn about and from their bodies, and to explore ones own (physical) possibilities. Yoga is therefore not purely physical; the physical postures create a peaceful and quiet mind, which can also be practices off the yoga mat. When practicing yoga you will discover that Yoga is healthy for mind, body and soul!

Given the importance of deep breathing, a sharp focus, thorough grounding and bodily coordination in yoga, yoga practice can be very beneficial for tango dancers. Yoga helps you to strengthen the core of your body as well, and to ground your feet into the earth, no matter what your upper body is doing. These are all abilities that may all help you to improve your tango dancing.

Daniëlle will also offer Pilates classes at the camp. Pilates can be regarded as a form of Yoga, in which specific attention is paid to strengthening the core of the body. During a Pilates practice, principally abdominals and -upper and lower-back muscles are trained and strengthened. Other central aspects are balancing, a neutral posture and spine, and practicing a level of control over your muscles.

Given the specific focus of Pilates on building core stability, it makes a beautiful and effective contribution to tango dancing. Pilates gives your strength, adds to a healthy and proud posture, and enables you to dance more gracefully and with control.

Besides teaching Yoga, Meditation and Pilates, Daniëlle works as an independent massage therapist and organizes healthy Asian cooking classes at people's homes. Through all this, Danielle hopes to inspire and motivate people to live a more mindful and healthy life.
www.studiovandaan.nl
Back to overview
 

Sacha Roberts (UK)
What is Shiatsu?
Shiatsu, meaning 'finger pressure' in Japanese, is a form of healing massage originating in the east and based on energy meridians or channels (as used in acupuncture). Receiving shiatsu is a deeply relaxing and releasing experience. A range of techniques are used including stretches, movement and pressure to bring about an adjustment of the body's physical structure and balancing of its energy flow, whilst creating an overall sense of well-being. Shiatsu is generally given on a futon mat on the floor. The receiver remains fully clothed throughout the session and it is best to wear loose fitting/stretchy comfortable clothes.

Why Shiatsu and Tango? Tango events and camps are a feast for the body and emotions. Shiatsu is a unique form of massage, which brings together body, mind, spirit and emotions through dynamic, gentle touch. Shiatsu prepares the ground for people to be more relaxed and receptive to the learning process.
It can specifically pick up on something that is coming up in a private lesson or workshop or in people's dance - a blockage of energy, or disconnection of part of the body. During an intensive period of tango dancing and workshops, knees and ankles get heavy use with lots of spiral movement. The dance focus is on balance, posture, being grounded, sensitivity to other people's energy, non verbal communication, connecting with your own centre and from there with your partner.
Shiatsu supports and nurtures the process. Tango and shiatsu are complimentary in that they are both working with moving energy. People arrive on the mat well prepared for shiatsu - tuned into their own and other's energy. In a shiatsu session each treatment is tailored to the recipient and their individual needs. People bring their emotional and physical aches and pains and return to the dance with a sense of renewal and rebalancing.

Sacha Roberts - Dip Shi, MRSS (member of Shiatsu Society UK) www.thepracticeuk.com
Back to overview