Dear Tango Friends, It is with great pleasure that I announce the 2006 Denver Memorial Day Tango Festival. May 26-29, 2006
This year features my "dream team" of teachers. The Denver Tango Festival has grown to be one of the top 5 tango festivals in the US. It is a reserved weekend for many of the top dancers in the US, tango fanatics who visit Buenos Aires and other great tango festivals around the country. The Denver Tango Festivals are famous for their focus on social dancing, i.e. "a tango festival by dancers, for dancers." The Sunday evening outdoor milonga & BBQ by Tango Colorado is always a glorious occasion. This festival does not have as much "self-promotion" in the classes as you sometimes see. Many advanced dancers and teachers will be taking the classes to learn new things, watch the teachers at work and to meet people for the dances later. Festival website & Registration: http:/www.LaEternaMilonga.com (I have a new website and email registration system, so let me know of any issues. For security and spam protection it uses Javascript, so some browsers may choke...). 2006 TEACHERS & DJS: - Eric Jorissen, Nijmengen, Holland - Brigitta Winkler, Berlin, Germany & New York, US - Hsueh-tze Lee, Boston, US - Robin Thomas, New York - Robert Hauk, Portland - Dan Boccia, Anchorage - Ramu Pyreddy, Ann Arbor See more about the teaching staff below! CHANGES: LIMITING GROWTH Growth is exciting, but I wish to limit things so the festival doesn't grow much bigger than last year. Please note several important changes this year: (0) Pre-registration is essential for me to arrange room allocation and dance floor rental. Even drop-ins should pre-register which takes a couple minutes at http://www.LaEternaMilonga.com (1) All classes will be the same level: Adv-Intermediate & Advanced. We won't have classes for beginners nor new-intermediates. Most people are already good dancers with previous festival or Buenos Aires experience and decent floor-craft. (2) Pass-holders will have preference over drop-ins. The popularity of the teachers means I will have to restrict access to some of the classes, and I expect weekend classes to fill, and be allocated on a first-reservation-and-paid basis. (3) Milongas will not be restricted. Floor space will be crowded, but not difficult for people with prior festival or Buenos Aires experience. The Mercury will be very crowded as always, but there may be a separate dance or practice to take the load off. (4) Pass holders receive savings over drop-in prices of 20-25%. Even if you miss a milonga or two, you may be better off with a pass. EARLY PAYMENT PRICES $135 Full festival (4 classes, 7 milongas), $ 35 Each additional day of classes $115 Saturday Arrival Pass $ 85 Workshop Only Pass $ 55 Milonga Only Pass TEACHING STAFF The teaching staff represents my "Tango Dream Team". I have been working for years to feature this particular combination of teachers. For me, they are the most talented and creative teachers of tango in the world. Stylistically, they are skilled in nuevo, fantasy, milonguero and social salon. Each teacher has years of experience as community builders, teachers and dancers. But, most important is their highly creative approach to teaching. They all have trained hundreds of excellent dancers as their legacy. HSUEH-TZE LEE Hsueh-tze's classes are like little novelettes with interweaving plot lines where everything comes together suddenly to reach a climax. She is one of the most experienced US tango teachers with over 15 years of experience. She coined the phrase "nuevo milonguero" to describe the blending of the traditional with more avant-garde moves in close embrace. Hsueh-tze integrates her knowledge of dance, physiology and biomechanics to focus on movement dynamics, partner communication, musicality and improvisation. Hsueh-tze holds a doctorate in physiology from Harvard University, and won a teaching award as a Harvard Teaching Fellow. BRIGITTA WINKLER Brigitta Winkler has 27 years of tango, starting in 1979 in Europe (there was barely any tango instruction in Buenos Aires at the time). She helped found the tango scene in Berlin several years before the Tango revival in Buenos Aires. Dancing with Brigitta is like a game. First she listens to your musicality, then she starts to add little suggestions, and soon you are both engaged in a playful tango conversations. A student of "Body-Mind Centering", Brigitta's classes are fun and challenging. Whenever energy flags and people get too serious, Brigitta does something to bring out the laughter. ERIC JORISSEN Eric Jorissen has been dancing tango since 1987, inspired by Pepito Avellaneda. He is the founder and artistic director of El Corte in Nijmegen, Holland, considered to be the tango Mecca of Europe. Each month features a marathon weekend of dancing, lessons, foot baths and sleeping on the floor of his "tango hostel". International dancers fly in from all over Europe and the US. Eric is like Brigitta only more so! (In fact, Eric & Brigitta have traded tango teaching ideas for years.) His creative energy permeates his dance and his teaching. His workshops are novel, insightful and delightfully fun. Eric studied dance education at the Rotterdam conservatory. In other words, he "has a degree in how to teach dance". Tom Stermitz http://www.tango.org http://www.LaEternaMilonga.com 2525 Birch St Denver, CO 80207
