There are numerous tango festivals, but few concentrate specifically on tango danced in close embrace, as it is danced in the milongas of Buenos Aires. The annual Close Embrace Tango Fiesta in Urbana IL, is becoming well known as a successful gathering of great dancers, instructors, and DJs who celebrate the contemporary social tango of Buenos Aires milongas.
The instructors for our 4th Annual Close Embrace Tango Fiesta (Novvember 9-11, 2007) are nationally and internationally recognized as among the best in teaching tango in close embrace: Hsueh-tze Lee (Boston) Christopher Nassopoulos & Caroline Peattie (San Francisco) Maximiliano Gluzman (Buenos Aires) Ramu Pyreddy (Ann Arbor) We are announcing our program for the 4th Annual Close Embrace Tango Fiesta: http://www.centraltango.com/TangoInstruction/2007CloseEmbraceFiestaHomePage.htm In each time slot there will be 3 simultaneous workshops to choose from, balanced across time slots by emphasis on technique, musicality, and improvisation. Although most workshops are directed at dancers at the intermediate and advanced level, in each time period there will be one technique or musicality oriented workshop that will be accessible to all levels, including newcomers to dancing tango in close embrace, providing a program of study for those who dance tango but have not yet experienced the joy of dancing tango in close embrace. There will be milongas Friday, Saturday, and Sunday that will have some of the best close embrace tango dancers in the Midwest. We are also offer some specialty non-dance workshops by Ramu Pyreddy on musicality and tango DJing. Registration will open soon. 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 pleasant, high energy, 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 increasingly popular close embrace tango festival. We will have registration information available 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
