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| Minnesota
Heartland Tango Festival
Minnesota's 2nd annual tango festival will be held May 9-11,
2008 at Hyatt Regency Minneapolis. For more information or
updates, visit www.heartlandtango.com.
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First
Heartland Tango Festival sizzles
By Pauline Oo, TSoM
board member
If you’re still dancing at 4:25 a.m.–after slipping
on your dance shoes at noon earlier that day–then chances
are you’re having a very good time. The die-hard Argentine
tango dancers were out way past bedtime on Saturday, Sept. 9,
the second day of the Heartland Tango Festival and the first
of two all-night milongas.
Yes, Argentine tango dancing hit an all-time high in the Twin
Cities early this fall when 230 people attended the first-ever
tango festival in downtown Minneapolis. Dancers came from all
over Minnesota and across the United States--including Texas,
New York, Colorado, Chicago, and Portland–as well as Canada,
Mexico, and Korea, for three days (Sept. 8-10) of classes, milongas,
and practicas at the Millennium Hotel on Nicollet Mall. A host
of non-dancers joined the mix, particularly on Saturday evening
for the special dinner and tango show. (Two local men at my
table had read about the event in the Star Tribune and decided
it was a chance to learn about tango and the Argentine culture
in preparation for their upcoming trip to Argentina. They left
the event inspired and smiling.)
“We exhibited a strong united community that weekend,”
says Rebecca Abas, festival organizer and owner of Four Seasons
Dance Studio. “I want to give my sincere thanks to the
people who stepped up to make the festival run smoothly and
beautifully. The core group was Diane Hillbrant, Andrea Du Cane,
Ranja Yusuf, Pauline Oo, and Sandra Uri. Then there were the
helpers along the way and on the day of festival. You know who
you all are, and you are all appreciated.”
In addition to nightly dances with live and DJ music, the festival
offered more than 30 hours of dance classes for beginners to
advanced, teachers training and music classes. Festival participants
were treated to an international line-up of instructors–Florencia
Taccetti, Cecilia Gonzalez and Tomas Howlin of Buenos Aires,
Argentina; Brigitta Winkler of Berlin; Alex Krebs from Portland,
Oregon; and Jaimes Friedgen from Seattle–and nationally
known Argentine tango DJs Dan Boccia from Anchorage, Alaska;
Ramu Pyreddy from Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Robin Thomas from
New York. Twin Cities tango orchestra Mandragora and a tango
band from Portland, Oregon, Conjunto Berretin, also had their
share of fans. Both bands played on Saturday night and again
on Sunday at Rossi’s Blue Star in Minneapolis.
“[The Heartland Tango Festival had] good teachers, crowded
classes, great milongas, fantastic staff, cheap price…
I will come back,” said Vance Rightmire, an Argentine
tango teacher from Austin, TX. So would TSoM members Jean Ruona,
who called her festival experience “pure pleasure,”
and Javier Zuniga who said, “it was the best three days
of my life–an experience to look back on with a smile.”
Class topics ran the gamut from body connection and balance
to musicality and improvisation. Local instructors, like Lois
Donnay, and local students volunteered as classroom attendants,
making sure the classes began and ended on time without a hitch.
The master teachers taught in pairs–Florencia and Alex,
Brigitta and Tomas, Cecilia and Jaimes--and each of their classes
drew between 30 and 50 people.
“In my 10 years of taking dance classes, ballroom and
Argentine tango, the musicality class led by Alex Krebs, who
was joined by a live five-piece band was the very best class
I've ever taken,” said TSoM member Dan Griggs. “Alex
and the band broke down a piece of music in its different parts
teaching how we could interpret or dance to its various parts,
rhythm and melody. It was the coolest thing!”
Participants were generous with compliments, stopping volunteer
staff to give feedback, and also completed the evaluation forms.
“The two most mentioned suggestions on the evaluation
sheets were more space, either bigger floor or smaller classes,
and rotating partners more often in the classes,” says
Rebecca. “I'm already considering remedies. Being the
first festival, I had no way of knowing that we would have such
a tremendous turn out. So, next time we will make sure these
and some of the other good suggestions are addressed.”
The second Heartland Tango Festival will be in May 2008. To
ensure that tango lovers everywhere associate the month of May
with a festival in Minneapolis, Rebecca and TSoM will cohost
a festival-like event this coming May. TSoM, Federated Insurance
and Wells Fargo cosponsored the inaugural event.
According to Rebecca's longtime friend and student, Bob Maddocks,
who also served as festival business manager, "We achieved
the objective we set out with, and that is to present something
first class. The festival was an outstanding success. Attendance
was impressive for a first-time festival."
To view a selection of festival photos, courtesy of TSoM members
Rodi and Dave Rost, visit http://heartland2006.shutterfly.com/action/?a=0AcNWbJq0as2Llo”>Shutterfly.com |
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