EDUCATION TANGO

IN SWEDEN

After my discovery of tango in Paris in 1995 it took 1½ years before I found the tango I was looking for. During my search I went to tango courses in ”ballroom Argentine tango” and others which were not what I was looking for.

In January 1997 I started learning with Gloria Leyland, the Argentine tango teacher who brought tango to the south of Sweden. When Gloria left Sweden some years later I continued to go to classes with her former students who had become tango instructors. My main teachers were Daniel and Jessica Carlsson (on the photo to the left). I participated in workshops given by visiting teachers from Buenos Aires. The most important among those were Rodolfo and Gloria Dinzel. Eventually I started to take private lessons with visiting teachers instead of participating in workshops, with Hector Falcon, Nancy & Damian, Claudio & Pilar, Carlos Gavito & Maria Plazaola, and others.

At the Tango Camps organized in Sweden I have since 2000 on some occasions participated in different workshops with excellent teachers from Buenos Aires.

IN PARIS

From the summer 1996, and for many years after that, I participated in classes given by the Argentine tango teacher Lia Nanni in Paris during visits in the city.

IN BUENOS AIRES

From my first visit in Buenos Aires in 2000 and onwards I have had intensive training, partly through dancing at the milongas many hours every day, but also through private lessons with a number of excellent teachers, e.g. Alejandra Mantinan & Gustavo Rosso, Eduardo Capussi & Mariana Flores; Juan Carlos & Joana Copez, Rodolfo Dinzel, Carlos & Maria Rivarola, Mimi Santapá, Gustavo Chidíchimo & Virginia Martorani, Hector Chdíchimodi, Osvaldo & Coca, Armando Orzuza, Claudio Gonzales, Luis Grondona & Mirta Sol, Nicolas Ferreira, Ricardo Bellezo, who all of them have contributed to my development of the dance.

The many hours that I spent at the Studio of Rodolfo Dinzel gave me, besides valuable technical training, deep insights about tango which I had not found elsewhere.

The Milonguero Style
The tango style used at the traditional milongas in Buenos Aires is, outside Argentina, called ”the milonguero style”. It’s danced in a close embrace and with the feet close to the floor. At the time, when I started to visit the milongas in Buenos Aires, tango in Sweden was danced in an open embrace and it included steps where the feet were lifted high in e.g. ganchos and high voleos. During my first many visits I participated in tango milonguero classes at Susana Miller’s tango school at El Beso. And the practice of this dance style I received at the milongas, where I have spent several hours a day during altogether 3 years.

Together with Rubén Terbalca from Buenos Aires I have given workshops and made exhibitions in ”the milonguero style” in the south of Sweden.

Canyengue
I discovered canyengue, the oldest tango style, at a workshop in Malmö with Rodolfo & Gloria Dinzel at the end of the 1990s. I loved this dance, which is not elegant, but humoristic and sensual. I took a number of private lessons with the canyengue masters Luis Grondona and Mirta Sol and learnt to follow as well as lead the dance.

I have also participated in a workshop in Copenhagen with Marta (Luis Grondona’s ex-partner) and Manolo.

Together with Rubén Terbalca from Buenos Aires I have given workshops and exhibitions in canyengue in different towns in the south of Sweden.

Milonga con traspié
My first discovery of milonga con traspié, a milonga danced with double-time steps, was at a milonga in Buenos Aires in 2002. At that time I had not encountered this style in Sweden.

I have taken a number of private lessons in this dance style with, among others, Hector Chidíchimo, Gustavo Chidíchimo & Virginia Martorani, Nicolas Ferreira and Ricardo Bellezo. I participated in many practicas organized by Pedro Sanches where experienced milongueros with different milonga con traspié styles gave me valuable practice.

NON-TANGO EDUCATION

I’ve a Bachelor of Arts (fil.kand.) from the University of Lund (sociology, statistics, economics and pedagogy). After the BA I continued to study sociology for about two years. I have received a supplementary education in human resources.