VivaTango Newsletter

Are you ready for a spectacular night of tango passion? You will find it this week at VivaTango. The night begins with Unveiling the Secrets of Advanced Roundness and Flow in a lesson by Pablo and Iwona. Then the Beating Heart Milonga will arouse your emotions as DJ MayoKselects the tandas. See the details below of our guest DJ.

EVENT LINK  Click on this link and then click going!

 Thursday September 23^rd

Pablo Garcia Gomez and Iwona Ionescu

 Iwona and Pablo will teach an advanced sequence with a focus on roundness and flow for beautiful and musical dancing. The lesson title is: Unveiling the secrets of advanced roundness and flow.

Pablo, who is originally from the suburbs of Buenos Aires, has studied tango with various master teachers in his home country and in the United States.

Iwona explored a few other forms of dance before taking up tango, which she has studied in depth. Pablo and Iwona teach the Argentine tango classes at Princeton Adult School and they teach regularly at Viva Tango in Princeton, where they are artists in residence.

MayoK aka Urszula joins us from DJing in Athens, Greece; Warsaw and Kielce, Poland and the Zen Tango Weekend in Allentown, PA. She fell in love with tango 17 years ago and has traveled the world in search of tango adventure. She has organized two Havana Tango Marathons in Cuba. MayoK says that “the musicians in Cuba give something that you can only feel through deep emotions, elusive”. She writes that “I would like to pass that feeling through my tandas & cortinas to the VivaTango dancing crowd”. She chooses and plays music like she is conducting a live orchestra to match the beating hearts of the dancers. Come experience the BEATING HEART MILONGA.

Lesson 7:00 PM

Milonga 8:15 PM

Lesson $15, Milonga $15, Both $20.

For Your Safety

All dancers must be vaccinated with their final shot at least two weeks before the event and are required to wear a mask covering the mouth and nose. Sanitation stations are provided, the dance floor is large, the ceiling is high, and the ventilation has been upgraded with high efficiency filters for your safety. Dancers are urged to bring their own water bottle. Dancers should not come if they are not feeling well, have been exposed to a person with Covid in the past 2 weeks, or are awaiting results for a Covid test. Attendance records are kept for each event so that contact tracing can be done if there.

See you on Thursday!

VivaTango.org

45 Stockton Street, Princeton, NJ

MAP

VivaTango Newsletter

Last week was perfect. The room was cool, Meredith and Andres’ lesson was wonderful, Andres DJed and his tandas made for a delightful milonga with lively Latin dance cortinas. The 42 dancers present had FUN. A ladies choice tanda was introduced during the milonga, and will be offered again in future milongas.

This week VivaTango will host our first touring guest tango artists, Gabriel Huracan Gaumond & Catrinel Iftode. They will teach and perform for VivaTango dancers.

EVENT LINK

Thursday September 16^th

Gabriel Huracan Gaumond & Catrinel Iftode will teach and perform this Thursday. This will be the first performance of our 2021 season. Their dance style has been characterized as romantic. They will teach Colgaditas in close embrace for the dance floor.

Gabriel Gaumond

Originally from Montreal, Gabriel taught and performed for over a decade throughout North America before settling in Washington DC, his current home. Gabriel fell in love with tango as soon as he learned how to take a side step.

He realized then, the infinite potential for creative expression available through this dance, and has dedicated his life ever since to mastering this skill and sharing it with others. Gabriel feels most fulfilled when he is teaching, helping his students reach their tango goals.

One of his favorite experiences is that of witnessing the look on a dancer’s face when they finally understand something in the dance that they had been struggling with. Gabriel is talented at troubleshooting steps and finding solutions to complex figures, regardless of whether their style or aesthetic fits his own.

He believes that tango is a language we speak with our bodies and he is particularly interested in exploring the subtleties of how this communication works. His favorite topics to teach are musical interpretation using the body as a medium for expression and the mechanics of connection.

Catrinel Iftode

Catrinel sees tango as an excellent tool for personal growth. She finds pleasure in noticing the ways in which her growth in tango has mirrored her inner journey of self-improvement and discovery. She has a lot of fun noticing the similarities between the way a person dances and their personality, as well as the parallels between the challenges in one’s growth in tango and in life. Through dedication and practice, dancing tango can be a much lighter and more fun way to gain insight on many of our personal struggles. Seen as an embodiment practice, tango can help remove many of the physical, mental and emotional blocks that stand in the way of full freedom of expression. Catrinel hopes that through her teaching and dancing she can help others to feel confident, empowered and comfortable in their own skin.

7:00 PM Lesson by Gabriel Huracan Gaumond & Catrinel from Washington DC. They will teach “Colgaditas in close embrace for the dance floor”.

8:15 PM Milonga DJed by Gabriel

Lesson $15, Milonga $15, Both $20

For Your Safety

All dancers must have been vaccinated with their final shot at least two weeks before the event and are required to wear a mask covering the mouth and nose. Sanitation stations are provided, the dance floor is large, the ceiling is high, and the ventilation has been upgraded with high efficiency filters for your safety. Dancers are urged to bring their own water bottle. Dancers should not come if they are not feeling well, have been exposed to a person with Covid in the past 2 weeks, or are awaiting results for a Covid test. Attendance records are kept for each event so that contact tracing can be done if there is a need.

See you on Thursday!

VivaTango

45 Stockton Street

Princeton, NJ

MAP  

VivaTango Newsletter

ARE YOU READY TO HAVE SOME FUN?

What a week! Last Thursday we had to cancel VivaTango’s event because of the unprescedented storm. Hurricane Ida did major damage in Louisiana, and then as usual moved northeast bringing rain and winds in the early morning hours of Thursday. The rainfall flooded many roads isolating Princeton. The flooding was still persisting at noon on Thursday. Also, there was a report that a tornado touched down in the area of our dance venue. We learned later that a tornado did pass over our venue building, but it did not touch down. However our dance floor building was closed Thursday and  the AC thermostat could not be adjusted  for our dancing. At noon the decision was made to cancel the event on Facebook. Facebook messages were sent to everyone who had indicated they were going or interested, emails were sent to all who are on our newsletter list and our web page was updated triggering an email to those of you who follow us on the www.VivaTango.org web page (just go to this web page and enter your email in the upper left corner where it says follow). We hope that our cancellation message reached all of you. We also hope you all were safe and were not affected by Ida’s rain and wind.

So it is time to have FUN this week. Meredith and Andres will be teaching “FUN turns with sacadas for the dance floor”.  No storms in the forecast, and cool weather has returned. See you Thursday.

7:00 PM Lesson by Meredith and Andres from Philadelphia Argentine Tango School

8:15 PM Milonga “FUN” with Andres Amarilla DJing

Lesson $15, Milonga $15, Both $20

EVENT LINK  

Thursday September 9^th

Meredith Klein and Andres Amarilla

Meredith and Andres are Instructors, performers and event organizers. They provide a wide scope of Argentine Tango dance and music events in the Philadelphia area, including the Philadelphia Tango Festival. They are well known in the international Tango community. They are looking forward to seeing all their friends at VivaTango Thursday.

For Your Safety

All dancers must have been vaccinated with their final shot at least two weeks before the event and are required to wear a mask covering the mouth and nose. Sanitation stations are provided, the dance floor is large, the ceiling is high, and the ventilation has been upgraded with high efficiency filters for your safety. Dancers are urged to bring their own water bottle. Dancers should not come if they are not feeling well, have been exposed to a person with Covid in the past 2 weeks, or are awaiting results for a Covid test. Attendance records are kept for each event so that contact tracing can be done if there.

See you on Thursday!

VivaTango

45 Stockton Street

Princeton, NJ

MAP  

Due to weather damage Tango Event is cancelled and new details present we will follow up.

VivaTango Newsletter

Last Thursday’s magical milonga was enjoyed by 57 dancers. Live music was a pleasure to hear. Maurizio and Shinjoo played with great spirit and passion. Their performance matched the reputation of their tango musical careers. Tango DJ DimOn filled out the night with his carefully composed selection of tandas.

We thank all the dancers who turned out to support the live music and the tango community. We were happy to see some new faces again last week. If you have not come back to tango in Princeton yet we hope to see you this coming Thursday. We start the month of September with a wonderful event. Come enjoy the end of summer Tango.

EVENT LINK

Thursday September 2^nd

Iwona and Pablo will teach an advanced sequence with a focus on roundness and flow for beautiful and musical dancing. The lesson title is: Unveiling the secrets of advanced roundness and flow.

Pablo, who is originally from the suburbs of Buenos Aires, has studied tango with various master teachers in his home country and in the United States.

Iwona explored a few other forms of dance before taking up tango, which she has studied in depth. Pablo and Iwona teach the Argentine tango classes at Princeton Adult School and they teach regularly at Viva Tango in Princeton, where they are artists in residence.

Maria Aldrete joins us from Philadelphia. She is a popular DJ in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.  She will play tandas that will make for an enchanting evening.

For Your Safety

All dancers must have been vaccinated with their final shot at least two weeks before the event and are required to wear a mask covering the mouth and nose. Sanitation stations are provided, the dance floor is large, the ceiling is high, and the ventilation has been upgraded with high efficiency filters for your safety. Dancers are urged to bring their own water bottle. Dancers should not come if they are not feeling well, have been exposed to a person with Covid in the past 2 weeks, or are awaiting results for a Covid test. Attendance records are kept for each event so that contact tracing can be done if there.

See you on Thursday!

VivaTango

45 Stockton Street

Princeton, NJ

MAP

VivaTango Newsletter

Last Thursday was a magical milonga. No weather storms, the AC made for a cool milonga and Helen Wang did an exemplary job with the lesson and DJing. She danced with many of you, and said she wants to come back to dance with those who she could not dance with last Thursday. We received rave reviews of her tandas and quality of music.

Hurricane Henri put a real damper on this recent weekend’s milongas. Look forward to Thursday Tango at VivaTango. The weather forecast is for great weather. This Thursday is the last Thursday in August, and that means live Tango music. Our 4 hour milonga will run from 7 to 11 PM. Tango DJ DimOn will start with passionate tandas at 7 PM and live music will stat at 8 PM.

Our July live music with Peblo Giraudo and his musicians was proceeded by tornado warnings blasting from our phones and warnings of severe rain and road flooding. That night 52 dancers made it through the inclement conditions and we had a great milonga. This week, the weather will be perfect – come and enjoy the milonga with live music. Milonga starts at 7 PM. Cost $20.

EVENT LINK

Maurizio Najt graduated at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música de Buenos Aires, Argentina. He has performed in Europe, South America, Far East and North America. He has performed at many prestigious venues including: Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Alice Tully Hall, and the Met Museum. He has performed with tango masters Raúl Jaurena, Daniel Binelli, Hector del Curto, Victor Lavallén, and Tito Castro. As a member of Forever Tango Orchestra, Luis Bravo’s Tony winning Broadway Production, he toured the US, Mexico, Japan and China; and a full season at the Kerr Theatre on Broadway.

Pianist, bandoneonist, and accordionist Shinjoo Cho is a co-founder of the Philadelphia-based Oscuro Quintet, formed in 2006 to perform tango and new music. She joined the all-women tango music and dance company Glamour Tango in 2014 and in 2016, she joined New York’s Astoria Tango Orchestra, directed by Daniel Binelli. She has collaborated with international music, dance, and film artists in multi-disciplinary projects as an improviser and an ensemble musician and performed in notable venues in the US, Canada, Korea, and Argentina. Shinjoo also performed as a solo pianist before the president of Argentina.

DimOn the TangoDJ always entertains VivaTango Dancers with wonderful Tandas. He is always in demand, and plays tandas with great appeal. His recordings are very high quality, and our new music system reproduces that quality. Come and compare his music quality with that of live music.

For Your Safety

All dancers must have been vaccinated with their final shot at least two weeks before the event and are required to wear a mask covering the mouth and nose. Sanitation stations are provided, the dance floor is large, the ceiling is high, and the ventilation has been upgraded with high efficiency filters for your safety. Dancers are urged to bring their own water bottle. Dancers should not come if they are not feeling well, have been exposed to a person with Covid in the past 2 weeks, or are awaiting results for a Covid test. Attendance records are kept for each event so that contact tracing can be done if there.

See you on Thursday!

VivaTango

45 Stockton Street

Princeton, NJ

MAP

VivaTango Newsletter

Last Thursday Eleonora returned to VivaTango and 54 vaccinated and masked dancers enjoyed the evening. Thanks to all who came to support Eleonora and Dimon TangoDJ.

Restarting the tango community needs your support. We are working on the air conditioning. Last week was the hottest Thursday of the year.

The AC was turned down low, but failed to cool the room fast enough so that the room temperature was not as low as wanted at the start of the evening.

This week we will have the thermostat turned down earlier, and the weather forecast for this Thursday is 10 degrees cooler than last Thursday.

Helen Wang will be guest instructor and DJ. Her performance partner is not available, so there will not be a performance as planned. However, she looks forward to dancing with the VivaTango dancers.  Helen is a professional tango performer, instructor, choreographer and host of the La Milonga Misteriosa and Candle Light Milongas in NYC. She was drawn to the connection and the improvisation elements of tango. Her dancing is distinctive, sensual and playful with humor. Helen has a skilled teaching style that simplifies complex dance figures.

Helen Wang became hooked on Tango in Buenos Aires, returned home, quit her job as a fashion stylist and returned to Buenos Aires for intensive training with renowned maestros. She won 1^st place in the stage tango category at the USA Tango Championship NYC with her dance partner in 2013. She has performed at Lincoln Center, major theaters and milongas in the USA, and was the main dancer in a theater piece directed by Hector Zaraspe (creative director of Tango Pasión), to list a few accomplishments.  .

So, what career did Helen give up to become a tango diva? Helen graduated from Cornell University in fashion design and management. Her elegant designs and styles were discovered right after graduation, and she worked for Ivanka Trump and Wendy Murdoch as their stylist assistant for a whole year. What’s more, she designs and makes all of her performance dresses

Helen is an experienced DJ. She has DJ’ed at the monthly milongas in Boston for two years before the pandemic. She currently DJs at her Candle Light Milonga in NYC. While she was in Boston, she was constantly requested back to DJ at the major milongas at Dance Union. Be ready to dance all night long without sitting down! 

For Your Safety

All dancers must have been vaccinated with their final shot at least two weeks before the event and are required to wear a mask covering the mouth and nose. Sanitation stations are provided, the dance floor is large, the ceiling is high, and the ventilation has been upgraded with filters recommended for safety. Dancers are urged to bring their own water bottle. Dancers should not come if they are not feeling well, have been exposed to a person with Covid in the past 2 weeks, or are awaiting results for a Covid test. Attendance records are kept for each event so that contact tracing can be done if there is a cause to do so.

See you on Thursday!

VivaTango

45 Stockton Street

Princeton, NJ

MAP

Last Thursday 43 vaccinated and masked dancers shared a wonderful evening of dancing. The dancers were thankful that their fellow dancers were wearing masks to protect all the dancers. Masks of many colors and designs added to the masked ball event. By a show of hands these 43 dancers expressed a show of confidence for moving ahead and supporting guest instructor, Eleonora Kalganova, this week. This week we celebrate the reunion with Eleonora Kalganova. EVENT LINK

Lesson 7 to 8:15, Milonga 8:15 to 11, $20

Eleonora Kalganova returns to the VivaTango dance floor after nearly a two-year break. Eleonora has hundreds of lessons and performances on YouTube. These videos show off the precision of her foot work and the spontaneity of dancing. Eleonora’s personality gives her 200% presence on the dance floor. Join her for her lesson, and dancing during the milonga.

TangO DJ, DimOn, will be DJing the milonga that follows Eleonora’s lesson. DimOn plays tandas that are well formulated and has a perfect mix of tangos, vals, and milongas. Emphasis is on traditional tango music with a touch of nuevo. The music fidelity is high and clear. 

For Your Safety

All dancers must have been vaccinated with their final shot at least two weeks before the event and are required to wear a mask covering the mouth and nose. Sanitation stations are provided, the dance floor is large and the ceiling is high, and the ventilation has been upgraded with filters recommended for safety. We will not be providing a common food or beverage table – dancers are urged to bring their own water bottle. Dancers should not come if they are not feeling well, have been exposed to a person with Covid in the past 2 weeks, or are awaiting results for a Covid test. Attendance records are kept for each event so that contact tracing can be done if there is a cause to do so.

VivaTango

45 Stockton Street

Princeton, NJ

MAP

Special Announcement

We have an important update for this Thursday. Directions from the CDC on down now require masks at all events on the PSRC dance floor. This will make for the safest tango event possible. We look forward to seeing all of the dancers who have been waiting for safer condition. This week the milonga will become a masked ball. Wear your favorite mask, make a fashion statement.

Thursday August 5^th

Pablo and Iwona return to VivaTango. They have taught many of you tango skills in their six-week beginner series and intermediate series. This week, they will teach a lesson “Refreshing Tango Inspirations: Connection and Style from the Start”. Join their class and accelerate your return to form. Lesson starts at 7 and ends at 8:15.

DimOn the TangoDJ will spin tandas in the Masked Ball Milonga. DimOn has spent the Covid interruption time adding new gems to his collection of tango selections. The new tangos coupled with the new sound system promise a spectacular milonga. Don’t miss this evening. EVENT LINK

Thursday August 12^th

Eleonora Kalganova returns to the VivaTango dance floor after nearly a two year break. Her lessons and performances on YouTube are lovingly remembered.

Tomas Korbalan will join Eleonora to teach a lesson from 7 to 8:15 PM. He will also DJ the milonga from 8:15 to 11 PM. The couple will do a performance about 10 PM.

LINK TO VIDEO

For Your Safety

All dancers must have been vaccinated with their final shot at least two weeks before the event and are required to wear a mask covering the mouth and nose. Sanitization stations are provided, the dance floor is large and the ceiling is high, and the ventilation has been upgraded with filters recommended for safety. We will not be providing a common food or beverage table – dancers are urged to bring their own water bottle. Dancers should not come if they are not feeling well, have been exposed to a person with Covid in the past 2 weeks, or are awaiting results for a Covid test. Attendance records are kept for each event so that contact tracing can be done if there is a cause to do so.

VivaTango

45 Stockton Street

Princeton, NJ

MAP

Wow! Last Thursday’s Dancing Again Celebration Milonga was wonderful. The Pedro Giraudo Quartet performed three wonderful sets of fantastic tango, plus music off of their new album and encores. Kerry Kay’s DJing sparkled with great tangos and the new sound system accurately projected the crisp treble and bass tones. There also was thunder, lightning, and torrential rain that flooded some of the local roads that started just before milonga. We appreciate all of the 52 dancers who braved the elements and attended. We missed all of you who did not come. Every Thursday will be special. See you next week.

This week at Viva Tango, Princeton NJ.

August 5, 2021

Pablo and Iwona return to VivaTango. They have taught many of you tango skills in their six-week beginner series and intermediate series. Next week they will teach a lesson to refresh those skills. Join their class and accelerate your return to form. Lesson starts at 7 and ends at 8:15

DimOn the TangoDJ will spin tandas in the milonga. DimOn has spent the Covid interruption time adding new gems to his collection of tango selections. The new tangos coupled with the new sound system promise a spectacular milonga. Don’t miss this evening. EVENT LINK 

Eleonora Kalganova returns to the VivaTango dance floor after nearly a two year break. Her lessons and performances on YouTube are lovingly remembered. 

Tomas Korbalan will join Eleonora to teach a lesson from 7 to 8:15 PM. He will also DJ the milonga from 8:15 to 11 PM. The couple will do a performance about 10 PM.

For Your Safety

All events will recognize the issue of safety. All dancers must have been vaccinated with their final shot at least two weeks before the event. Sanitization stations are provided, the dance floor is large and the ceiling is high, and the ventilation has been upgraded with filters recommended for safety. We will not be providing a common food or beverage table – dancers are urged to bring their own water bottle. Each dancer can decide if they want to wear a mask, who they will dance with, and if they will dance close embrace. Dancers should not come if they are not feeling well, have been exposed to a person with Covid in the past 2 weeks, or are awaiting results for a Covid test. Attendance records are kept for each event so that contact tracing can be done if there is a cause to do so. 

VivaTango

45 Stockton Street

Princeton, NJ

MAP