FLORENCIA TACCETTI (Buenos Aires)

Florencia brings a wealth of experience to the tango community. She is a tango performer, social dancer, dance teacher, and has done extensive work as a contemporary dance performer. This makes her teaching clear and consistent.

Florencia works to develop the subtle communication between partners because in her experience she has found that this is the communication that takes the dance to a magical and unforgettable level. She has a special talent for teaching natural movement and musicality. Her explanation of the tango structure makes the dance easy and interesting and helps students to improvise with spontaneity, sensuality and grace.

Florencia started tango in 1985 and studied with the most prominent figures on the Buenos Aires tango scene until today. As a modern dancer she has performed with Nucleodanza (Balli-Tambutti), Contemporary Dance Ballet at the San Martin City Theater in Buenos Aires (Steckelman-Wainrot-Araiz) and in different operas at the Colon Theater. As a tango dancer she participated in the movies “Tango Bar” and "Evita". She has performed with Pablo Veron, Gustavo Naveira, Chicho Frumboli and the legendary Pepito Avellaneda. She began teaching tango in 1988 in Europe and Buenos Aires and has taught in many cities in the US since 1996. She is now based in Minneapolis, MN, and has been teaching at the Four Seasons Dance Studio since 2000 and at the University of Minnesota Dance Program since 2003.

Lately, she has partnered Alex Krebs and Tomas Howlin on some of her US tours. She performed one of the main characters and was a co-choreographer on the most recent Gerry Girouard and Dancers show "Crimes and Whispers, a tango of despair and defiance" in memory of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo from Argentina, which opened in July 2006 in Minneapolis. You can check her website for classes and workshops in the United States at www.tejastango.com/florencia.html

NICK JONES (Denver)

Nick Jones is one of the few North Americans to have taught at a major festival in Argentina. Just after Tango de los Muertos 2006, Nick will return to Buenos Aires as a Master Teacher at Pulpo's Tango Week for the second time. During the last four years, Nick has taught in major cities and at festivals across the United States including Portland's TangoFest (2005) & Valentango (2006), and in Washington DC, New York and at Yale University (2006). Nick has also been invited to teach in Australia, Morocco, South Africa and Canada. When in his hometown of Denver, Nick and his partner Tara Fortier teach at the well-known Tango House and Mercury Cafe.

In 2004 Nick and Tara studied intensively in Buenos Aires with leading maestros including “El Pulpo” Esbrez, Luiza Paes, Chicho Frumboli, Mingo Pugliese, Julio Balmaceda & Corina de la Rosa, and Ernesto Balmaceda & Stella Baez.  During that time they also worked as teaching assistants for two of the master instructors at CITA 2004.

Nick's dancing is effortless, elegant, sophisticated, and musical. Nick plays the bandoneon, and leads the Jupiter Tango Quintet in Denver. In college, Nick majored in poetry, minored in painting, and loved throwing pottery. It was through throwing pottery that he understood for the first time what it really meant to be centered and "on axis" - terms that dance teachers often toss around - and now these concepts are central to his teaching. As a teacher, Nick has an uncanny ability to explain complex ideas simply and to pinpoint the subtleties of where each student needs to improve. www.naturaltango.com

LUIS BIANCHI (Buenos Aires) and DANIELA PUCCI (New York City)

Luis started dancing tango in 1994 and became a professional dancer in 1997. He studied with Los Dinzel, Gabriel Angio and Natalia Games, Carlos Rivarola, Geraldine Rojas and Javier Rodriguez, Osvaldo and Miguel Zotto, Chicho Frumboli and Eugenia Parilla, Pablo Villaraza and Dana Frigoli, among others. He has worked extensively as a tango instructor, trainer, performer and choreographer in Argentina, Brazil and Europe, including performances at the prestigious Teatro Colon and more recently at the Festival Cambalache, both in Buenos Aires.

Daniela started dancing tango in San Francisco in 1999. Since 2003, she has performed in theaters, milongas and other events in the San Francisco Bay Area, Boston and New York City, including participation in the play "Hablo, Diablo," at the Makor Theater in New York City. She has studied with Valencia Batiuk, Melina Brufman and more extensively with Mariela Franganillo.

In July of this year, Daniela and Luis started their joint work performing in the show "Tango Historias," in Warsaw, Poland which was also Luis's direction debut. Luis's and Daniela's dance is characterized by a keen sense of musicality and sophisticated development of dynamics. In their dance as well as their teaching, they emphasize pursuit of self-expression, feeling, and freedom through development of body awareness and natural movement. www.luisbianchi.com

KOREY IRELAND (Kansas City) and MILA VIGDOROVA (Moscow)

Korey Ireland is a professional composer turned tango-addict. He brings a lifetime of musical experience and an unquenchable thirst for tango to his teaching. He developed his dancing on social dance floors of the world's tango capitols and with a great deal of guidance from some spectacular teachers (Winkler, Jeurissen, Valle, Naviera, Krebs.) Originally from Kansas City, Korey has spent the better part of the last three years traveling and teaching tango in England, Holland, Spain, Germany, Russia and Argentina, sharing his passion for tango, music, expression, and connection. In January 2005 he met Mila in El Corte and they are continuing this tango adventure as a duo. They are currently building Kansas City's first tango school while Korey finishes recording a CD of original tango music.

Mila Vigdorova has been a classic, folk and jazz dancer since she was 5 years old. She discovered tango in 2000 and since then has hardly gone a day without it. A tango junkie, she first spent all her money and vacation time on tango travels from Russia to European festivals, El Corte and Buenos Aires. In 2003 she opened a successful tango school in Moscow, teaching, organizing workshops with Argentine maestros, and staging tango shows. Her tango is influenced by such masters as Julio Balmaceda and Corina de la Rosa, Pablo Inza, Brigitta Winkler, Erik Jeurissen, Luciana Valle, and also music and feelings. After her first trip to Buenos Aires in 2002, she found she could not live a year without this city. In 2005 she danced demos with Dani Flaco and Jorge Firpo in Buenos Aires, and in the same lucky year met Korey Ireland in the tango mecca - El Corte. Since then, Mila and Korey have been traveling and teaching together, balancing their time between their home communities in Moscow and Kansas City and their European and Argentine tours. www.ko-arts.com

FELIPE MARTINEZ and ROSA CORISCO (San Francisco)

Felipe and Rosa embody a very fluid style of dancing, moving seamlessly through all ranges of the embrace. Their dance is at once dynamic, smooth and extremely musical. As teachers, their dedication, enthusiasm, and sheer knowledge of the dance always come across with great clarity. To watch them and to work with them is extremely inspiring and instills a real joy and respect for the dance.

Felipe and Rosa have an extensive background in other forms of movement and have been influenced by the most respected tango teachers and dancers. They are prominent tango teachers in the San Francisco/Bay Area and share their passion for tango all over the US and Europe. They teach regularly at Rhythym & Motion/ODC, for the Stanford University Tango Club, and at the Eddie Brown Center for the Arts and The Beat in Berkeley, CA. They've taught workshops in Toronto, New York City, Ithaca, Denver, Aspen, Anchorage, in Madrid, Spain, and Grenoble and Toulon, France. They've also taught at the Toronto International Tango Festival (2006), the DC Tango Marathon (2005, 2004), and at Clay Nelson's tango festivals in Portland (2004, 2003, 2002).

ROBIN THOMAS (New York City) and JENNIFER OLSON (Portland)

Robin is the nation's most requested maestro of milonguero style, with an extremely clear teaching style, sincere social dance priorities and a disarming sense of humor. He has become a fixture on the teaching and DJing staff of America's most successful festivals.

Robin's enthusiasm for Argentine tango can be seen most clearly in his wholehearted dedication to teaching. He believes that it is very important for students to dance simply and musically from the very beginning. Building that strong base of connection and musicality early, Robin believes, will allow even very new beginners to feel comfortable and confident on a crowded dance floor and will also lead to a more comprehensive and fluid understanding of more complicated techniques later on. Robin's teaching style reflects this philosophy, and his students appreciate the humorous, down-to-earth way he presents the material.

Robin's travel schedule is a busy one, reflecting his popularity as a teacher and tango DJ. Recently, he has taught in Portland, Denver, Ann Arbor, Washington DC, Seattle, Berlin, Edinburgh, San Diego, Providence, Pittsburgh and at the universities, Yale, Princeton, and Cornell.

When he is not traveling, Robin stays busy in his hometown of New York City teaching three group classes per week at Empire Dance Studio. On the rare occasion that he is neither teaching or DJing, Robin can always be seen on the dance floor, either working to expand his own understanding of Argentine tango, or simply enjoying the connection he works so hard to share with others. Robin hosts a practica, El Abrazo, each week to help dancers of all levels improve their tango. He also hosts a popular milonga, Nocturne, once a month. www.robinthomastango.com

Jennifer’s meteoric rise to one of the United States’ finest tangueras in both open and close embrace has been aided by relentless study of the dance and its music. Frequently waking up at 7 am to practice both leading and following, she enthusiastically sought to improve her own technique as well as deepen her understanding of the dance. This is now transmitted in her teaching, as she approaches every class with a strong command over both the intricacies of the dance and the overall picture. To Jennifer, tango is all about the communication between two people and the music. Her main influence has been Alex Krebs, with whom she taught weekly classes in Portland and workshops in Washington D.C., Toronto, Denver, Seattle, Austin, and Ann Arbor, MI. She currently teaches with Robin Thomas in New York City.

CARLOS and TOVA MORENO (Boston)

Argentine tango dancers, teachers, and performers Tova and Carlos merge the grace of tango's past and the innovations of its present with the connection and musicality that has always defined the tango. The Morenos started dancing tango together nine years ago in Seattle, a hotbed of tango learning and experimentation. Tova and Carlos became professional tango instructors four years ago in Baltimore, MD, where they established a welcoming tango community that continues to grow and thrive, and where they organized the first three years of the successful Baltimore tango festival.

The Morenos are much sought-after tango instructors and performers. In Boston, they teach regularly at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard University, Brandeis University, and Olin College, and have been invited to teach and perform at festivals and weekend workshops across the continent including Yale University, Dartmouth University, Princeton University, Mexico, Maine and Kansas City. Tova and Carlos’ students consistently express gratitude for their fresh, funny, clear and well-structured teaching.

Their strongest influences are the peers that they practice and dance with at festivals around the country, as well as Argentinians Fabian Salas, Jorge Dispari, Luciana Valle, Chicho Frumboli, Julio Balmaceda and Corina de la Rosa, and Gustavo Naveira. www.morenotango.com

LOS CHANTAS (New York City)

Emilio Teubal - Piano was born in Madrid, Spain in 1976. He lived almost all his life in Buenos Aires until he relocated to New York City in 1999. He has studied jazz performance, composition and arranging at City College of New York with renowned musicians such as Ron Carter, Marc Copland, Bruce Barth, Mike Holober, and John Pattitucci. He has played with artists such as John Benitez, Bob Mover, Hector del Curto, Lucia Pulido, Pancho Navarro, and Tito Castro among others. He has been a member of Jane Blackstone's quartet, Sebastian Cruz's "Coba," and Los Chantas tango group. He has arranged for the prestigious Westchester Jazz Orchestra, and for the CCNY Big Band as well. He composes, arranges and plays piano in his own Argentine jazz group, "La Balteuband," with whom he performs regularly in the New York area.

David Hodges - Bandoneon has studied with Héctor del Curto and Tito Castro. In recent years he has created and performed with numerous tango ensembles in the Midwest and Pacific Northwest. Since relocating to New York City in 2001, he has performed with groups including Los Chantas, Héctor del Curto's Eternal Tango Orchestra, El Cuarteto de María, Los Changos Septet, Los Acustilocos, and others. Recently he performed with The Eternal Tango Orchestra in the show Tango: Historias Breves at NYU's Skirball Center and at Lincoln Center's Midsummernight's Swing; with tenor Gaston Rivero at Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall; and with Los Acustilocos at Merkin Concert Hall. He was also a featured performer in the musical play "Tango Masculino," and can be heard on the soundtrack to the upcoming films "American Carny" and "Dolores."

Sergio R. Reyes - Violin is a native of Guatemala City. He came to New York City in 1993, after graduating from Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. Here, he studied violin and composition at the Manhattan School of Music and at the Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music. He works as a performer and music consultant for Horizon Concerts, a non-profit foundation that sponsors free classical music concerts throughout the metropolitan area. He has performed in Forever Tango on Broadway, as well as with the Eternal Tango Orchestra, X-Tango, and other groups. He has shared the stage with world famous mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade and renowned bandoneonists Héctor del Curto and Tito Castro, among others.

BEN BOGART - Musician, DJ (Providence)

Ben Bogart has been a performing musician since age 10. In 1995, he started teaching music and saxophone classes. His career as a jazz musician contiues to grow as he travels and performes regularly with the Ben Bogart Jazz Collective and as a freelance artist. When introduced to Argentine Tango music, Ben immediately found it to be a physical improvisational expression of music and connection very similar to playing jazz and contemporary improvised music, and persued it vigorously as a means of personal and musical development.

After a few years of dancing Ben began to become more involved in the tango community in Providence, RI through teaching the dance, DJing, and exploring the art of community development. More recently Ben has begun serious study of the bandoneon, tango's iconic instrument. Two years ago Ben started a national tango music movement on a level that's accessible to all musicians, regardless of their background, by holding monthly tango jams in Providence, RI, which continue on the 4th Saturday of every month at Providence Tango, and he can be found leading Jams at festivals around the nation.

Ben studied music performance and theory at the University of California at Santa Cruz, and the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and has been able to apply his musical knowledge to dance, as well as to the performance and development of live tango music.

As a DJ, Ben plays both the most inspiring traditional, as well as the funkiest alternative tango music. Ben has DJed milongas and practices in Providence, Boston, New York, San Francisco and an Alternative Milonga at the 2005 DC Tango Marathon.
www.tangojam.com and www.providencetango.com

KOREY IRELAND - Composer, Musician, DJ (Kansas City) See instructor bio above.

ROBIN THOMAS - DJ (New York City) See instructor bio above.

YULIA KRISKOVETS - DJ (Washington DC)

Yulia in the span of two years has become a popular DJ in Washington DC milongas. Her playlists offer a mixture of Old Guard and Golden Age tango. Yulia also plays alternative music, when appropriate to the venue and the mood of the crowd on the floor, and has DJed numerous alternative milongas. Yulia is a regular DJ at such weekly DC venues as Divino and The Eastern Market Milonga.  She also DJs at weekend DC venues such as the Chevy Chase Ballroom, Du Shore and the Glen Echo Spanish Ballroom. In the past, she DJed in Washington DC 2005 Tangosutra Festival, Ann Arbor May Madness Festival, Tango Joven Festival in Chicago, Providence Longamilonga and the Tango at Sea Cruise in 2005.

DAVID LIU - DJ (Boston) www.tangolounge.org

DAVID REYNOSO - Original Art

A theatre designer and a painter (his paintings are exhibited by private collectors, as well as venues in Texas, Boston and NYC), David also works in residency as the American Repertory Theater's Costume Crafts Artisan. Design Credits include: the world premieres of Jeffrey Hatcher's "The Fabulous Invalid" directed by Melia Bensussen, "Training Wisteria" by Molly Smith-Metzler (Winner Best New Play for Kennedy Center's ACTF Competition), Jordan Seavey's "This is a Newspaper" for CollaborationTown, NYC, and Caitlin Condy's "Little Wing" at the NYC Fringe festival. He worked in New York as assistant designer to James Noone on over 14 productions nationwide (Glimmerglass Opera, Pittsburgh Public, Manhattan Theatre Club, National Actor's Theatre, the Guthrie, Broadway, and Huntigton Theatre Company.) David has collaborated on over sixty productions since receiving his B.F.A. from Boston University, and has received awards and nominations for his design and artistic skills (Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Princess Grace Award, Kahn Award).

EVITA - Website Design
Eve has designed websites for many clients including the Boston Tango Festival and tango instructors Dario da Silva and Virginia Kelly. She also helps run the Odd Tuesday milonga in Boston.

TOVA MORENO - Identity Design

Tova makes costumes for the American Repertory Theater and is a personal designer for herself. She has trained in web design by the self-taught Carlos Moreno and has designed several of her own websites including MorenoTango and Tova Moreno. She occasionally makes clothes and costumes for herself, like the tooth fairy costume in the photo at left, and spends a lot of time designing promotional materials for MorenoTango and Tango de los Muertos.

Tova graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle, WA, with a B.F.A. in Photography and a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Visual Art (and a minor in Music). Before working at the American Repertory Theater she worked in the costume departments of the Santa Fe Opera, Centerstage Theatre in Baltimore, MD, the Boston Ballet, and Kaufman-Davis Studio and Period Corsets in Seattle, WA. She designed costumes for productions of "The Taming of the Shrew" and "Cosi", while at the University of Washington, and for Sharna Fabiano's dance piece "Elements" performed by TangoMujer.