Tango festivals abound, but only a few concentrate on tango danced in close embrace, as it is danced in the milongas of Buenos Aires. The 4th Annual Close Embrace Tango Fiesta, November 9-11 in Urbana IL, is becoming well known as a successful annual gathering of great dancers, instructors, and DJs who celebrate the contemporary social tango of Buenos Aires milongas.
Our instructors for 2007 are nationally recognized as among the best in teaching tango in close embrace: Hsueh-tze Lee (Boston) Christopher Nassopoulos & Caroline Peattie (San Francisco) Ramu Pyreddy (Ann Arbor) There will be simultaneous workshops at the intermediate and advanced levels. There will be milongas Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We are also planning to offer some specialty non-dance workshops on musicality and DJing. Urbana-Champaign is the home of the University of Illinois and our tango community draws from the cultural diversity of a major international university. Our tango community has dancers from 18 to 80, as do our festivals. Our past tango festivals have attracted dancers from all around the Midwest and beyond. A tango festival in Urbana is a low stress event where you will be able to concentrate on dancing. Local dancers are very friendly. Expected attendance (125-150) is large enough to provide energy and variety in dance partners without being overwhelming. All activities will be held at the Phillips Recreation Center, a community center with modern dance facilities and an excellent sound system. Visitors to our tango weekends have repeatedly praised the facilities as a great venue for tango events. There is ample free parking immediately adjacent to the Phillips Center. Within walking distance there are several hotels and motels and a great variety of restaurants which, in this medium sized city, are very reasonably priced by national standards. There are 2 airports with major airlines nearby: Champaign Willard Airport (CMI), about 20 minutes away (direct flights to Chicago, Detroit, Dallas, and Las Vegas) and Central Illinois Regional Airport (BMI), about 45 minutes away (with direct flights to Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, Orlando, and Las Vegas). Urbana-Champaign is located at the intersection of 3 major interstate highways (57, 72, 74) and is nearly equidistant from Indianapolis (110 mi), Chicago (130 mi), and St Louis (150 mi). Mark your calendar for this increasing popular close embrace tango festival. Keep you eyes open for additional information to be posted soon. We look forward to seeing you in November. Ron Weigel & Susana Vazquez Weigel Tango Society of Central Illinois Urbana, IL http://www.centraltango.com
