February has been a fantastic month thanks to the visit by Ney Melo, the phenomenal Tango dancer and teacher from New York; and the 34 Puñaladas, a highly successful band of 5 from Argentina.

The Puñaladas’ show at the Basement was a really special night for Sydney’s Tango aficionados. Not only did we get to enjoy these 5 very talented and very Argentine (and muy guapo!) musicians, we were also treated to a show by our personal favourite local Tango band, the Libertango Trio, with a beautiful debut Tango performance by Jairo and Hosanna. And we got to do some social dancing in the Basement too! Our thanks go to Frank Madrid for organising this memorable night.

All our Milongas are now at the Rose Bay RSL. We love this venue because it has an excellent dance floor and acoustics and (according to the ladies) good feng shui for getting a dance! Parking is easy and there’s a bar and bistro on the premises. The club is located on New South Head Road on the corner of Vickery Avenue in Rose Bay.

Saturday Milongas…
1^st Saturday of each month from 8:30pm - 1am
following a complimentary Introductory Tango Lesson at 7:30pm
Entry $15.- (excluding special events).

5 March - a chance to win 2 “A Reserve” tickets to the 'TANGO FIRE' show at the Sydney Theatre! (worth $180)
2 April - with guest Tango DJ - “DJ Ed”

As of the March term we’re changing our course names...

Beginners - becomes “Fundamentals 1”
Pre-Intermediate - becomes “Fundamentals 2”
Intermediate / Advanced - name unchanged.

For those of you new to our school, we teach authentic close embrace Tango, as danced socially in Buenos Aires. We aim for our students to develop their own musicality and creativity within the codes and parameters of the Tango so that they can improvise and dance well with any good dancer from anywhere in the world.

All our courses reinforce the fundamentals of Tango (connection, musicality, the walk, posture, floor craft) because in reality it takes a lifetime to master these. As the levels increase we introduce more complexity and ornamentation and become more demanding on the finer details.

The only way to become a good social dancer is through repetition and lots of practice. Hence we always include a practica or Social Dance with our classes.

At Fundamentals 1 and 2 there are two duplicate classes per week. We encourage our students (especially the leaders / men) to repeat and attend lower level classes to get extra practice and consolidate the fundamentals. (This may explain why our classes tend to have a good male - female ratio).

We offer all our enrolled students repeat / lower level classes at the low rate of $5 per class.

From the March term onwards we will not be running any more classes in Glebe. We’re starting up a new venue in its place as of mid May at the St George Anglican Church at Five Ways in Paddington. It’s a delightful setting for Tango and there are some great cafés nearby. It’s on the 389 bus route. You’ll love it!

Our next term starts in the third week of March.

For this term only all courses will be 8 weeks long. The cost will be $120 if paid in full by 5/3/05 or $135 thereafter. Bookings are essential. There will be no Intermediate / Advanced course.

MARCH TERM – “one off” eight weeks courses
Fundamentals 1:
Thu 17/3/05 - 5/5/05 BONDI BEACH PAVILION, 7pm - 8:30pm
Fundamentals 2:
Thu 17/3/05 - 5/5/05 BONDI BEACH PAVILION, 8pm - 9:30pm
Fundamentals 2:
Tue 15/3/05 - 3/5/05  ROSE BAY RSL, 6:45pm - 7:45pm*

MAY TERM – back to six weeks courses
Fundamentals 1:
Thu 12/5/05 - 16/6/05 BONDI BEACH PAVILION, 7pm - 8:30pm
Sat 14/5/05 - 18/6/05 St George Anglican Church, Five Ways PADDINGTON, 11am - 12:30pm
Fundamentals 2:
Thu 12/5/05 - 16/6/05 BONDI BEACH PAVILION, 8pm - 9:30pm
Sat 14/5/05 - 18/6/05 St George Anglican Church, Five Ways PADDINGTON, 12pm - 1:30pm
Intermediate / Advanced:
Tue 10/5/05 - 14/6/05 ROSE BAY RSL, 6:45pm - 7:45pm*

* Please note that we're starting our Rose Bay classes at 6:45pm as of 1/3/05.

NEY MELO - "The Nuevo Milonguero”

Ney brought loads of New York energy and Latin heart to the Sydney Tango scene in his short visit. We’ve had such rave reviews about Ney’s Tango lessons, workshops and social dancing that we’re bringing him back in the first week of September for a “Close Embrace Weekend”.

From 13 - 16 May 2005, Sydney will be a buzz with Tango activity, hosting the first “Sydney International Tango Festival”, attracting dancers from Australia and abroad, and featuring international teachers from Buenos Aires... Cecilia Gonzáles, Pablo Inza, Mario Consiglieri and Anabella Diaz-Hojman.