The Artists

Ezequiel Farfaro and Eugenia Parrilla (Buenos Aires)

Ezequiel Farfaro and Eugenia Parrilla are two of Argentina's most respected and accomplished young tango dancers. They taught and danced tango separately for many years in a number of successful partnerships and have recently come together to form a magnetic dance pairing.

Ezequiel has travelled all over the world teaching and performing Argentine tango. Over the past decade he has taught in many cities and major festivals in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa. He toured with influential dancers Milena Plebs and Lucia Mazer. In 2005 he was featured in the documentary "Milena Plebs baila el tango con Ezequiel Farfaro" that played in Buenos Aires's cinemas.

Ezequiel has wide-ranging interests in dance. He studied at the Escuela Nacional de Arte Dramatico and was a member of the Compania de Mimo-Teatro de Escobar-Lerchundi and the Compania de Bailes Populares de la Escuela de Arte Dramatico. In December 2007 he will open a show in the north of Sweden with Gilda Stillback, a contemporary dancer and talented tanguera. Ezequiel's tango has evolved into a way of moving that is organic, smooth, and dynamic. He strives to open an exchange with other disciplines like contemporary dance and flamenco, and continues to explore the intimate, dynamic language of improvisation through tango.

One of the most well-known tangueras in the world, Eugenia Parrilla has become an icon to dancers probing the boundaries of movement and expression, as well as technique and precision. Beautiful, humble, and talented, she is one of the foremost instructors of Argentine tango today and is in high demand worldwide. Eugenia partnered with Mariano "Chicho" Frumboli for several years, thrilling audiences and colleagues alike with their inspirational and creative dancing. Eugenia’s exquisite, sensual movements seem to be constantly searching for an even more perfect expressive form. Having studied contemporary dance, contact-dance and tango, she moves in a lithe and elastic way; she is a remarkable pioneer.   Watch Video

Diego Di Falco and Carolina Zokalski (New Jersey and Buenos Aires)

Carolina Zokalski and Diego Di Falco have achieved a place of prominence as one of the most critically acclaimed couples in the world of Argentine Tango. Together they have promoted, performed and taught tango throughout the world in over fifty cities, winning students and admirers with their talent, precision, warmth and generous spirits.

At the age of 20, after more than 7 years of experience as professional dancers, they joined the cast of the original Broadway production of FOREVER TANGO. For this show they were nominated for a Tony Award for "Best Choreography" and the artistic image of Diego Di Falco became the symbol of Forever Tango on Broadway. They were principle choreographers and featured dancers in Public Broadcasting's well-known production of TANGO MAGIC, and performed a version of the show at Carnegie Hall. In 2001, they produced their second instructional video series called One Step Further, which has sold over 5000 copies to date.

Diego started dancing at the age of four. This naturally gifted man was guided from a very early age by the great Tango Masters: Antonio Todaro, Pupi Castello, Miguel Balmaceda, Pepito Avellandeda and Juan Carlos Copes. Carolina has a background in Spanish dance and Argentine folkloric dance. As a young girl, she received a scholarship from Juan Carlos Copes to perform with other young artists. She was also featured with Robert Duvall in The National Geographic Society documentary TANGO! In 1991 she was invited to join the National Folkloric Ballet of Argentina and her tango career started soon after she met Diego in 1990.

With more than 18 years of professional experience this talented couple continues to earn international acclaim for their elegant and technically demanding performances, as well as their wide-ranging program of tango instruction. Carolina and Diego organize a successful tour to Buenos Aires each August and the March festival The New Jersey Tango Extravaganza.
www.carolinaydiego.com

Andrés Amarilla and Meredith Klein (Buenos Aires)

Since beginning their dance partnership just two years ago, Andrés Amarilla and Meredith Klein have emerged as a driving force in nuevo tango. Blessed with an uncommon ability to probe, understand, analyze and convey the intricacies of tango, Andrés & Meredith offer a fresh and profound slant on the fundamental principles, essential techniques, and core relationships of each form of the Argentine tango, including "traditional" social tango and progressive "nuevo" tango. Andrés & Meredith are especially known for their pioneering use of alternative embraces, daring off-axis work, interweaving legs, and exceptional fluidity. Their insights into the dance are on the cutting edge of developments and innovations that propel this potent art form.

Although only 31 years old, Andrés Amarilla is celebrating 20 years dancing tango in 2007. As a child and teenager, Andres studied with and performed in the dance companies of legends Gustavo Naveira, Juan Carlos Copes and Rodolfo Dinzel. As a young adult, he participated in the creation of nuevo tango in closed rehearsals organized by Fabian Salas and attended by Gustavo Naveira, Chicho Frumboli, Mauricio Castro, and other international stars. Andres has performed over 70 times at Buenos Aires milongas, including 20 performances with the legendary Geraldine Rojas.

A classical pianist and vocalist with a university degree in music theory, Meredith began dancing tango in 1999. Six years later, her obsession with the dance got the best of her -- she sold her house and car, quit her job, and moved to Buenos Aires to work with Andrés. In January 2006, she and Andrés began a 7-month tour of the US and Brazil before returning home to teach in Buenos Aires. Their 2007 tour includes favorite locations from their previous tour and has been expanded to include a number of cities in Europe. Watch Video     www.andresamarilla.com and www.meredithklein.com

Ben Bogart (Buenos Aires/Providence)

Ben Bogart is a member of the newest breed of tango dancers. Leading and following, in open and close embrace, to alternative and traditional music; Ben's dancing is musically inspired, technically skilled, and motivated by the idea that anything is possible. With a focus on developing Tango dancing and communities, many of his workshops, both at Providence Tango and while traveling, deal extensively with musicality and connection within the dance, while fostering respect, acceptance and tolerance within communities. Daniel Trenner and Sharna Fabiano were Ben's first tango teachers. He then went on to study with a number of tango dancers from the US and abroad. Among the most influential were Homer Ladas, Alex Krebs and Luciana Valle. 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 translate his musical knowledge to dance. Ben's tango career is committed to improving connection, musicality, creativity, and fun in social tango dancing everywhere.

Ben will be teaching an Intermediate workshop with Evan Griffiths.

Evan Griffiths (New York City)

Evan moved from Oregon to New York City in 2006 and immediately joined the staff at Dance Manhattan. He has been dancing Tango for more than seven years. Some of his teachers are: Elizabeth Wartluft, Greg Estes, Daniel Trenner, Christopher Nassopoulos and from Buenos Aires: Luciana Valle, Mariano “Chicho” Frumboli, Fabian Salas, Guillermo and Fernanda, Susana Miller, Florencia Taccetti, Hugo and Miriam, Carlos and Maria Rivarola, Rodolfo “El Chino” Aguerrodi, Norberto “El Pulpo” Esbrez and Luiza Paes. He has assisted Susana Miller in classes, and assisted and performed with Luciana Valle, Alex Krebs, and Florencia Taccetti. Over the years he has traveled many places in the States for tango, and also to Berlin, Tokyo, and Buenos Aires. He has taught in the Northwest: Eugene, Ashland, Portland, Seattle, and also in Denver, Minneapolis, St. Louis, and Boston. He has also taught in Berlin, Germany. He studied classical piano for 12 years growing up, and studied music in college. He has been playing tango piano for the last four years and it’s become another major part of his life.

Evan will be teaching an Intermediate workshop with Ben Bogart.

Sean Dockery and Charity Lebrón (San Francisco)

Sean and Charity share both a passion for Argentine Tango and a deep desire to pass all they know along to their students. Each class they teach has a well thought out pedagogy based on each of their experiences in teaching and learning dance and music. Sean Dockery's enthusiasm for Argentine Tango has driven him to engage the art on its deepest levels. He first started exploring the dance in order to help him better understand Tango music, which he had begun playing on the guitar.   After a few short months, dancing became his main source of drive and inspiration. To Sean, the tango couple is another member of the Tango orquestra, so naturally, his focus in dancing is rhythm and musicality.  Charity is a Tucson native who began teaching ballroom dance and learning Argentine tango in 1999. In 2005 she moved to San Francisco and began traveling and teaching with Homer Ladas to help inspire tango communities across the U.S., in Canada, and Puerto Rico. Charity enjoys sharing her knowledge, and loves helping beginning to advanced tango students take their dance to new heights. www.open-tango.com

Sean and Charity will be teaching the Beginning workshop at MIT on Thursday, November 8th.

Sharna Fabiano and Isaac Oboka (Washington DC)

Isaac and Sharna have recently returned from a four-month European tour, where their teaching was enthusiastically received in over a dozen cities. Praised for the clarity of their explanations and for their playful spirit, they offer regular classes in Washington, DC and produce special events such as the Tango Makeover, a weekend workshop that combines yoga, theatrical movement techniques, and postural alignment training with tango. Find their schedule online at www.isaacsharna.com.

In DC, they have performed at the Kennedy Center, the Argentine Embassy, GWU's Lisner Auditorium, and as part of the Dance DC Festival, the DC Improv Festival, and the Dance Place Gala Benefit Concert. Sharna's performing group, Sharna Fabiano Tango Company, sold out its full-length show, "Tangos From Here," at Dance Place Theatre in 2006. For the 07-08 season, the company will show new work at several city venues, collaborating with other artists and musicians in the exploration of partnership and connection. Learn more at www.sharnafabiano.com.

Sharna and Isaac will be performing and guiding the practica.

Ben Bogart y los Gatos Azules - Live Music (Buenos Aires, NYC, New England)

Ben is returning to the States for the first time since moving to Buenos Aires where he actively pursues his study of the bandoneon, Argentine tango's iconic accordian-like instrument, with the renowned bandoneonist Rudolfo Mederos. Los Gatos Azules is composed of Evan Griffiths on piano, a bass, two violins, and himself on bandoneon. Ben Bogart y Los Gatos Azules will be touring in the States for 3 months this fall.

Evan Griffiths (New York City)

Evan knows what he likes to dance to - and luckily for us, what he likes to dance to is the best of the Golden Age tango music. He studied classical piano for 12 years, and has been playing tango piano now for the last 4 years. Evan has been been teaching tango since 2001 and has assisted Susana Miller in classes, and assisted and performed with Luciana Valle, Alex Krebs, and Florencia Taccetti. He has taught in Eugene, Ashland, NYC, Portland, Seattle, Denver, Minneapolis, Ann Arbor and in Berlin, Germany. He is currently on staff at Dance Manhattan in New York City.

Shorey Myers (San Francisco)

Shorey has become one of the most respected and requested DJs on the U.S. tango festival circuit. She DJs all over the country (Portland, New York City, Washington DC, San Francisco, Seattle, Ann Arbor, Providence, etc). On a recent trip to Buenos Aires, Shorey DJed at Villa Malcolm and Salon Canning, and she has a standing invitation to DJ Monday night at Canning whenever she returns. Shorey can be spotted on dance floors in many different cities all over the US, though she now most frequently does her laundry in San Francisco, CA. (The photo at left is of Shorey Myers and Evan Griffiths.)

Yulia Kriskovets (Washington DC)

In the span of three years Yulia has become a popular DJ on the national festival circuit. 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. She DJed in Washington DC 2005 Tangosutra Festival, Ann Arbor May Madness Festival, Tango Joven Festival in Chicago, Providence LongaMilonga and Alternative Tango Festival, and the Tango at Sea Cruise in 2005.

Sean Dockery (San Francisco)

Sean feels his job as a DJ is to facilitate the energy and atmosphere of the milonga, provide smooth transitions throughout the evening, manage the delicate balance between predictability and creativity, and most importantly, keep people dancing! He DJs regularly at milongas in San Francisco.

Sharna Fabiano (Washington DC)

Sharna Fabiano is one of the tango world's most visible advocates for experimental dance music. In 2003, she launched the website www.neotango.com as a resource for sharing "alternative tango music," and has been invited to DJ her particular blend of classical and alternative tangos in dozens of cities across Europe and North America, as well as in Buenos Aires. Her written articles about modern tango and experimental music have been translated into several languages, and in 2006 she was interviewed at the Eindhoven Tango Festival in the Netherlands about the emerging global tango culture.

The Designer