The highlights of 2016 for SoTango...

Post date: Jan 29, 2017 3:16:48 AM

Looking back on 2016 the highlight for SoTango was definitely our Milonga Feliz Party! 

What a fabulous note on which to end the year!

Milonga Feliz was an amazing extravaganza / dance party under the stars featuring live music by popular Tangalo orchestra and the vibrant pianist Dan Rojas, along with a mesmerising performance by belly dancer Natalia Grosso. And well done to Maxim Zakharov for his beautiful debut tango performance to live music by Tangalo (song: Canaro's Poema).

The pics say it all!

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north sydney bondi tango lessons

Natalia got us all up and shaking our booties!

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Special THANK YOUs to:

☆ Hans Ze- the host with the most!...for opening his beautiful home to us all and providing such a wonderful entertainment space in which to dance and party!...and for being such an inspiration to work with.

☆ Tangalo and Daniel Rojas-Gonzales who were up to their usual standard of brilliance!

☆ Natalia Grosso who blew us away with her vibrant, super powered performance!

☆ Maxim Zakharov for his debut tango performance. Such a pleasure to partner him!

☆ Manuel Garber for his impromptu vocal performance to Tangalo. A pleasant surprise!

THANK YOU to everyone who brought food to share ~ creating such a delicious and multicultural supper!

THANK YOU to the benevolent weather gods for smiling upon us and preparing the venue for Saturday evening! The wind even made an enthusiastic cameo appearance on the night!

THANK YOU to our generous prize donors:

Segolene Nicoloff (Personal Chef and Sangria maker par excellence!)

☆ Robert Kirby (Life Coach)

☆ Susan Lestrange (Portrait Photographer)

☆ Andre Hobday from Lennox Studios, Newtown (Artist)

☆ Francoise Nicoloff (Tomatis Method Coach)

☆ Maxim Zakharov (not only a dedicated tango dancer but also a senior computer programmer looking for work - anyone in need of a meticulous and highly experienced programmer?)

☆ and...SoTango's vignerons in Marlbourough and Mendoza.

THANK YOU to Tango Synergy for kindly lending us their outdoor speaker. A great contribution to the sound quality on the night!

THANK YOU to Pedro Alvarez of Patio de Tango for lending us extra lighting and gear necessary to the night's success.

THANK YOU to Tania Waitokia and John for the use of their ute - indispensable transportation!

THANK YOU to all who donated to the Wayside Chapel Hamper. So much generosity we had to get another basket!

I'd like to echo Paul J Warren's (Pablito) expression of delight at seeing so many of our students dancing on the night - for many this was their first experience of dancing socially! That was so heart warming for me and my raison d'etre as a tango teacher!

Last but not least, THANK YOU to Anastasia Keros whose amazing house party milonga (Belle Epoque) was a big inspiration to Milonga Feliz. A further inspiration fwas Pablito whose beloved milonga in his former Redfern warehouse added a much-needed sense of fun, 'chill' and welcoming inclusiveness to Sydney's tango scene.

May Sydney's tango community have more such fun, chill and inclusiveness in 2017!

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Top left: SoTango's wine from Marlbourough (NZ) and Mendoza (Argentina) was officially launched at Milonga Feliz!

Remaining pics:  Party guests generously donated canned goods and gifts that I and SoTango's trusted door people took along to the Wayside Chapel in Kings Cross. As synchronicity would have it, we bumped into our tango friend Ian Colvin who was working in the Wayside Cafe at the time!

Teaching and DJ'ing at Byron Bay Tango Festival - September 2016

Another highlight was definitely the Byron Bay Festival and my collaboration with Byron Bay based tango teacher, artist and good friend Jan Rae.

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Teaching workshop on Adornos with Jan

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The idea for my collaboration with Jan originated while we were celebrating her award for a tango art installation in Sydney. Love the concept of the installation!