10th Denver Memorial Day Tango Festival

10th Memorial Day Denver Tango Festival May 27 - 31, 2010

Teachers:

  • Eric Jorrisen
  • Homer & Cristina Ladas
  • Liz Haight & Masami Hirokawa

Orchestra and DJs:

  • Extasis, Denver, CO
  • Ramu Pyreddy, Washington, DC
  • Sabah Chammas, San Diego, CA
  • Paul Akmajian, Albuquerque, NM
  • America Mauhar, San Diego, CA
  • Martin Rybczynski, Boulder, CO
  • Tara Fortier, Boulder, CO

Other:

A Tango festival "By Dancers; For Dancers"

Cheeseman Park Pavilion, Denver

T he Denver Tango Festivals are a special treat for all tango dancers who love the social tango popular in the milongas of Buenos Aires: close, subtle & romantic. We hire some of the top DJs in the US, and the dance floors are arranged for social dancing with a quality, smooth floor, seating for cabaceo, and a respect for the dance floor. This is the 9th annual Memorial Day Weekend tango festival. Denver has a friendly, welcoming tango community, and you will see many of your friends from past festivals.

The Denver Tango Festivals never fail to attract a high level of dancer. Classes are not for beginners, and usually have gender ratios close to 50/50. Milongas include the Friday night Mercury Cafe milonga, with live music, and the amazing outdoor milonga and BBQ sponsored by Tango Colorado at the pavilion in Cheesman park.

We will not be offering Beginner classes at this festival. All classes are Intermediate or above, which assume you already know the basics of tango, i.e. ochos, ocho-cortados, improvisation, and navigation. Adv-Intermediate & Advanced classes don't present much vocabulary; instead they focus on concepts, musicality, technique, and dance skills.

Special 2010 Denver Festival Teacher: Eric Jorrisen

Eric Jorrisen

Note: Eric's classes are completely sold out for leaders and followers.

W e are thrilled to welcome Eric Jorrisen back to Denver this year. Eric is famous for creating El Corte, a tango school if not tango mecca in Southern Holland. With his extraordinary personality and inspirational teaching ability, Eric's classes are always popular for all levels of tango dancer. The amazing thing is that the least skilled accomplish everything, and the most advanced are challenged.

Due to the popularity of Eric's classes, attendance will be limited in number and gender (role) balanced. To ensure fairness, classes will be assigned on a first come basis once you have a paid registration, and we will check names at the door. Each Gold Pass purchase entitles you TWO classes with Eric. A Gold +1 gives you THREE classes and Gold +2 gives you FOUR classes. These classes will sell out, so pay late, you will miss out.

Thursday Early Arrival Teachers: Homer & Cristina Ladas

Homer & Cristina

K nown for their generosity and creativity, Homer & Cristina come from the new, West Coast generation of tango dancers who have redefined tango in the past decade. Creative, but also traditional, Homer & Cristina demonstrate that Nuevo Tango fits into the social dance floor, not just the practice hall. Homer & Cristina teach in San Francisco (Berkeley), and are favorites at tango festivals and workshops around the country.

Homer's classes will include "The Vanilla Bean Ocho & Baby Back Volcada with Edgardo Donato" (I have no idea what that is about), "Catch The Moon" (A series of games intended for all levels and designed to develop Connection, Musicality, and Floorcraft), and "The Art of Floor Craft" (Navigation games, exercises, and techniques that Cristina and I have learned over the past dozen or so years of social dancing).

Class Schedule:

Liz & Masami

  • Thu, 6:30p - 07:45p, Homer & Cristina Ladas (Denver Turnverein, 1570 Clarkson)
  • Thu, 8:00p - 09:15p, Homer & Cristina Ladas (Denver Turnverein)
  • Fri, 12:00p - 01:15p, Two Concurrent Sessions
  • Fri, 1:45p - 03:00p, Two Concurrent Sessions
  • Sat, 12:00p - 01:15p, Three Concurrent Sessions
  • Sat, 1:45p - 03:00p, Three Concurrent Sessions
  • Sun, 1:00p - 02:15p, Three Concurrent Sessions
  • Sun, 2:45p - 04:00p, Three Concurrent Sessions

Early Arrival Milonga:

Denver Tango Festival Milongas:

  • Thu, 9:30p - 01:00a, "Thursday Milonga" (Denver Turnverein, 1570 Clarkson)
  • Fri, 3:15p - 06:30p, "Welcome Milonga"
  • Fri, 9:30p - 02:00a,"Mercury Milonga, with Live Music" (Mercury Cafe, 22nd & California)
  • Sat, 3:15p - 06:30p, "Alternative Music Milonga"
  • Sat, 9:30p - 02:00a, "Traditional, Elegant Milonga"
  • Sun, 6:00p - 10:00p, "Tango Colorado Outdoor Milonga and BBQ" (Cheesman Park)
  • Sun, 11:00p - 06:00a, "All Night Hardcore Milonga"