Robert Hauk: There are many styles of Argentine tango. The milonguero style is characterized by a very close embrace. This embrace facilitates a close connection between partners and is the framework for a dance of great subtlety and beauty. To dance this style well requires precision and balance. The steps can be simple or complex, but the focus is on the music and the connection, not the people watching.
Robert has been dancing the milonguero style for many years since he met his main teacher, Susana Miller. He has spent significant time in Buenos Aires dancing among the older dancers of this style, learning their way of dancing tango. He has also spent years learning about the music and is a highly regarded DJ for tango dances. He has been a teacher and a DJ at many festivals around the country.
Robert’s popularity as an instructor at tango festivals is a result of his practical insight and straightforward teaching that makes milonguero style tango readily accessible to students. His skillful techniques quickly empower students with the ‘feel’ of connected social dancing. As a result, his teaching has been influential and has engendered tango community growth in Portland and other cities across the country.
May-July, 2007, January, 2007, June, 2006 Alicia Pons: Alicia is well known for her elegant footwork and her ability to add an expressive, active voice to the women's role in the dance. Alicia teaches that the dance is a conversation between the partners and her methods are grounded in a solid academic background, ballet training and years of dancing in the milongas of Buenos Aires.
Alicia has been teaching private and group lessons in both Buenos Aires and the United States for the last several years. She is a very popular visiting instructor on the U.S. Argentine Tango workshop circuit and is frequently joined by Robert Hauk.
March, 2008; March, 2007; June, 2006; February, 2006; March, 2005 Susana Miller: Susana, a native of Buenos Aires, has been dancing and teaching tango since the late 1980's revival of social tango. She is the most prominent teacher in the world of the "milonguero" style of tango. Milongeuro, or what Argentines call "apilado" style, is what is danced in the crowded clubs of central Buenos Aires. It is a strictly social style that emphasizes musicality and a connection between the partners.
Susana helps students improve posture, axis, grounding, breathing, balance and sensitivity to the lead and follow roles. She aims to encourage dancers to develop their own unique improvisational styles through knowledge of the music, space and body. Her classes emphasize step quality and rhythm. Rather than predetermined patterns, she imparts a basic choreographic vocabulary that allows dancers to creatively shape their own language.
May, 2008; April, 2006
Maria Plazaola: Maria is one of the best young female dancers on the world circuit. She began dancing with Gloria and Rudolfo Dinzel in 1993 and has continued to dance in the milongas of Buenos Aires wilth the best "milongueros" from whom she learned everything she teaches.
In 2002, Carlos Gavito (one of the tango Gods) invited her to become his dancing and teaching partner. Being chosen by Gavito was a great honour and a form of recognition. They have participated in numerous international festivals. Since the year 2000 she has worked jointly with Susana Miller with whom she has a prestigious academy in Buenos Aires.
Maria's movements are calm, pure an soft. She gives herself away to the music and her partner and her dancing is graceful and ethreal. In the workshops, she pays special atttention to female dancers, helping them to enrich the intimacy of the tango embrace.
April, 2006
Brooke Burdett: Brooke is unique in the tango world, in that she brings a blend of North American sensibilities to a deep personal understanding of tango as it is danced and expressed in Buenos Aires. Originally from the U.S., Brooke moved to Beunos Aires over 7 years ago on what she calls a "Tango-calling"--a drive to immerse herself completely in the dance and culture. Studying with many of the older generation's tango masters and the younger generation's most innovative leaders. Brooke teaches and performs tango in Buenos Aires, the U.S. and Canada and has made instructional videos with Daniel Trenner and Mariano Frumboli (better known as "Chico").
May, 2004
Marco Bagnascco: Marco was born in Italy and immigrated to the US in 2001. Marco has danced Argentine Tango in Italy, Argentina and the U.S. Marco has been teaching "Beginning Students weekly" for the past two years in Salt Lake City and has conducted Workshops in a number of western cities. Marco's style of teaching is inventive, energetic and direct with a unique ability to get new "tangueros" dancing quickly!
April, 2004