Hugo "Gato" Valdez & Andrea Monti
Workshops in the San Francisco Bay Area
SOUTH BAY - APRIL 2 & 3
Saturday, April 2 @ The Moose Family Center, 905 Kifer Road, Sunnyvale
(between Wolfe & Lawrence Expressway; 101 exit South Fair Oaks)
1:00 -2:30 p.m. - Followers' Technique I
Fundamentals for walking, ochos, boleos, turns and exercises on
pivot,rotation, balance and changes of weight.
2:30- 4:00 p.m. Leaders' Technique I
Fundamentals for walking, musicality, pivot, balance, "albanicos", body
posture, body attitude, changes of weight.
Sunday, April 3 @ The Elks Lodge, 4249 El Camino Real, Palo Alto
(near Arastradero/Charleston, between Rickey's Hyatt & Trader Vic's)
2:30 - 4:00 p.m. Followers' Technique II
Review of fundamentals taught in Part I, ochos with adornments, turns with
boleos, and embellishments.
4:15 - 5:45 p.m. Tango - Intermediate
Tango Salon fundamentals with close and open embrace, smooth
walking, changes of direction,
simple turns with walking exit, and double time.
Each workshop $30 at the door.
Discount for advance registration: two or more workshops $25 each.
6:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. Milonga del Espiritu Libre ~ with performance by
Gato & Andrea
hosts: Dorcas Hendershott & Earl Allen, music by Emilio Flores.
Milonga $12, Workshop participants $10
http://www.stanford.edu/~dorcas/EspirituLibre
SAN FRANCISCO - APRIL 23 & 24
Saturday, April 23 @ The Renaissance Ballroom, 285 Ellis Street, (between
Mason & Taylor)
2:15 - 3:45 p.m. Vals - intermediate/advanced
Rhythm and musicality, smooth sacadas, double turns, sequences and specific
patterns.
4:00 - 5:30 p.m. Milonga - all levels
Simple and fast playful movements and embellishments.
Sunday, April 24 @ The Renaissance Ballroom, 285 Ellis Street, (between
Mason & Taylor)
2:15 - 3:45 p.m. Tango - advanced
Turns with sacadas, and with barridas, follower's sacadas, combinations and
sequences
4:00 - 5:30 p.m. Choreography I
Learn about the choice of music style and orchestra, the organization of
the piece into musical phrases, options for "adagios" and variations in the
music, and how to give emphasis to the dance by taking advantage of the up
beats and silences.
Each workshop $30 at the door.
Discount for advance registration: two workshops $55, three workshops $75,
four workshops $90.00
Gato & Andrea will be available for private classes in the South Bay and
San Francisco: [email protected]
Gato Valdez and Andrea Monti dance "Tango Salón" with refinement and
distinction. They have formed a well-known reputation not only for their
elegance, technique and musicality, but also for their "caminar a tierra"
which has made them become real representatives of the typical tango
"porteño. As popular teachers, they have developed, through many years of
experience and work, a teaching method based on the technique of posture,
balance, axes, weight changes, rhythm and especially on the tango walk,
making emphasis on the interpretation of the music, and encouraging the
students to express their feelings when dancing. They have toured
extensively, both nationally and internationally, as well as performing in
Show Clubs, Restaurants, Tango Bars, and Milongas "porteñas" such as "Bar
Sur", "El Caballito Blanco", "Palacio San Miguel", "Sociedad Italiana de
Lanús", "Café Homero Manzi", "El Club del Golf", "El Club Torcuato Tasso",
El Parakultural, La Pulpería, Tía Lola, Salón Canning, La Nacional". They
have taught and performed in Argentina, Brazil, the United States, Central
America, Norway, Denmark, Holland, Spain, Germany, Australia, New Zealand,
South Africa, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. In 2004, the taught at II
Encuentro Internacional de Tango Valencia (Spain) and in the Portland
TangoFest in Oregon (USA).
Gato Valdez was born in Buenos Aires to a family of "milongueros". As a
small child, he accompanied his parents to a well-known milonga in the
south area of the city called "Bomberos de Lanús", where he had the chance
to watch the legendary old "milongueros" dance. He started to learn tango
in the milongas in 1983, first by watching the milongueros, and later, by
taking many lessons with the great masters: Fino, Antonio Todaro, Raúl
Bravo and Mingo Pugliese. In 1984 he performed professionally for the
first time with the Osvaldo Pugliese orchestra in the film "Tangos, el
exilio de Gardel", directed by Pino Solanas, film that got the best film
award in Venecia Festival, 1995. He has also appeared in many films such
as "Gracias Maestro", (an argentine film directed by Luis Segura and
dedicated to the life of Osvaldo Pugliese), "Evita", directed by Alan
Parker; and "The Tango Lesson", directed by Sally Potter. In 1994 he
founded the group "La Postango" together with the singers Pablo Banchero
and Cardenal Dominguez.
Andrea Monti has also been immersed in tango since she was born in Buenos
Aires. Her parents were faithful tango fans who introduced her to that
magical dancing world; and later she became deeply involved in tango
schools, at the "prácticas and at the "milongas". Her solid training as a
professional tango dancer is based on almost two decades in jazz dance,
classical technique and stretching, as well as the highest contribution of
the best tango teachers and colleagues from Buenos Aires, such as Mingo
Pugliese, Gustavo Naveira, Graciela González, Sergio Natario and Alejandra
Arrué, to mention only some of them. As a dancer, Andrea is outstanding in
technique and her way of walking the tango beat. As a teacher, she is
outstanding by her dedication and methodology, achieving in this way an
optimal level of communication with her students. Since 1999 she has been
teaching specific ladies´ technique seminars , using a method and system
that she has developed through years of experience, conjugating her studies
in tango, in technique and in the modern-contemporary jazz dance
