A Tango festival "By Dancers; For Dancers"
5th Annual Labor Day Tangofest Denver, Colorado, Sept 1 - 6, 2004 http://www.tango.org/mem04.html Previous events have been non-stop parties. We'll have over 30 hours of milongas from Friday afternoon to the wee hours of Monday morning. Each festival has grown both in depth and breadth, as we attract many of the best dancers from across North America, including many who are local teachers, or have 10 years of dancing. The Denver Milonguero Tango Festivals are different because they focus on SOCIAL DANCING. Top DJs from around the US receive equal billing with great teachers of the milonguero style. No, you won't see any workshops on the latest stage moves. Prices (good through Aug 10): - Festival pass: $125 (4 classes & 7 milongas) - Saturday arrival: $115 (4 classes & 6 milongas) - Additional workshop: $30 (2 classes) - Milonga pass: $50 (7 milongas) - Denver Doubletree Hotel: $69+tax per night. - Check Frontier or United airlines for fare sales. We expect 300 - 350 dancers. These are the tango fanatics who repeatedly visit the festivals in Denver or Portland, in between getting their tango fix in Buenos Aires. The Friday night dance at the Mercury Cafe features the live music of Denver's own tango quartet Extasis, and the floor will be "Buenos-Aires-crowded". The other milongas will require good floorcraft, but they won't be as crowded. The highlight each year is the famous Outdoor Milonga at Cheesman Park sponsored by Tango Colorado. See photos and testimonials at: http://tango.org/dance/LaborPhotos.html Denver's Labor Day Festival features teachers who are particularly known for their emphasis on and skill at the "close-embrace" or "Milonguero" style of tango. Floors will be crowded, but the navigation gets better and better every year, and we often have 2-3 Buenos-Aires-style lanes formed around the perimeter of the floor. All teachers address floorcraft, fundamentals and musicality in their classes. The workshops help create the community-nature of these festivals, and the classes have many people who are top dancers in their home communities or even local teachers, trading ideas and picking up new ideas. Early Arrival workshops on Wed & Thur highlight Christopher Nassoupoulos and Caroline Peattie from San Francisco. New This Year (1) Alternative Music Milongas on Saturday & Sunday afternoons, included with either workshop or dance-only passes. These were really popular over the Memorial Day festival. (2) Friday afternoon classes start a 12:00. Welcome Milonga at 3:00. (3) Special $5 warmup classes: Navigation skills for Crowded Dance Floors with Tom Stermitz & Kat (Kwan) MacDonald. Friday evening at 7:00 & 8:15, Mercury Cafe. (4) Adv-beginner workshop on Sat & Sun $56 ($30 discount). These classes are designed for intermediates or advanced dancers of other styles who want a crash course in milonguero, or teachers who want ideas for teaching this style. Tom Stermitz 2525 Birch St Denver, CO 80207 http://www.tango.org [email protected] h: 303-388-2560
