Hi All,

The main thing to remind you all about is the workshops, this Sunday afternoon, by Aldo and Ana Lia. Full details are below. Please come along and use the opportunity to brush up your technique - before classes begin again on Monday.

More details of all these events are listed below this email

1. Workshops with Aldo and Ana Lia, this Sunday 11th April2. Weekly classes with teachers Aldo and Ana Lia.
3. Practica on Thursdays.
4. Monthly Milonga – Saturday 17th April
5. YouTube clip
6. Membership of BATS – please take minute to read the detail below
7. Non-BATS events

Feel free to forward this on to anyone else who you think might be interested. In fact, it’s only by keeping the numbers up that we can afford to bring professional teachers to you, so please have a good hard think if there are any family, friends, or colleagues who you could persuade along. If you want removed from this circulation, just let me know.

Thanks,


Alan
Honorary Secretary
Belfast Argentine Tango Society
http://www.tangoinbelfast.org



1. Workshops with Aldo and Ana Lia, Sunday 11th April
To get you back up to speed after the Easter break, Aldo and Ana Lia will give some special workshops on Sunday 11th April (this weekend!). These are a chance to focus on special topics or skills. The 3 workshops will be:

1) 2.30 – 3.30 Tango – Beginners (but not 1st time beginners; Improvers can come too).
Introduction to the giro (turn). Figures coming from the turn.

2) 3.45 – 4.45 Milonga – Beginners and Improvers. We will mix basic steps of Milonga Traspie (Traspie is a small movement, changing slightly the weight doing a double time) with basic steps of Milonga Lisa (it means the opposite of Traspie).

3) 5.00-6.00 Tango – Improvers. Techniques for social tango. How to apply the steps, embrace, musicality and space utilisation to dance in a social environment.

As you can see, whether you are a beginner or an Improver, you can do at least 2 workshops, if you wish (Improvers have the option of doing all three). Please do not bring complete beginners to the workshops (anyone new should come to the classes first) – as long as you have been to a couple of classes, you should be able to manage the beginners workshop.

The Milonga workshop, in the middle, will be suitable for all and will be really useful. Milonga, for those new to this, is a distinct style of “Tango”, danced to a faster more consistent rhythm and generally with a “jollier” ambience – it’s a bit of fun to counter what can sometimes be very serious “Tango”. Not to be confused with the event called a “Milonga” which is a social gathering where we dance Tango and Milonga (and Vals ....). Confused? Don’t be. Just come along and all will be explained.

Price: One workshop £10, two £15, three £20
Venue: Short Brothers Sports and Recreation Club, 366a Holywood Road, Sydenham, Belfast BT4 1SL. Please note that Shorts has a bar and restaurant facility, so please use them and do not bring your own food or drink. Here’s a link to a map:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?hl=en& ... 36693&z=16

If you want to get a bus, Metro service 3A goes that route, leaving the City Centre. http://www.translink.co.uk/MetroCorridorTimetables.asp


2. Weekly Monday classes with teacher Aldo Romero and Ana Lia.
Aldo and Ana Lia continue their weekly classes for us. For more information, check their website: http://www.aldoyanalia.com.ar. The classes will be the usual format:

Beginners 7.00 – 8.30pm
Practice 8.30 – 8.45pm
Improvers 8.45 – 10.15pm
Practice 10.15– 10.30pm

Cost - £7 for one class, £10 for both (Student/Concession: £5/£8 – please show ID).

Usual venue details: the main upstairs hall of City Church, 12-24 University Avenue (on the left as you head down the Avenue away from Botanic - there's a large white church, then City Church is a red brick building a few doors further, opposite the Spar). The hall is above the “Common Grounds" café, but enter through the double doors round the corner – ring the bell if closed. Here's a link to a map:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en ... 2,0.017381


3. Practica on every Thursday.
What is a Practica? It’s an informal event somewhere between a proper class and a formal Milonga. There is no structured tuition, but dancing with others and discovering for yourselves how steps work (or how they don’t) really adds to the tuition we get in class. Plus, you can always ask others for advice, as unlike in class or at a Milonga, there’s nothing to say you can’t stop mid-flow on the dance floor to debate a point.

The venue is “The West” (although the name is not on the front of the building) on the Falls Road. It has a good floor, with plenty of seating/socialising area in the bar. There is a dedicated car park behind it (either go in the back door and up one flight or walk round to the front door on the main road to get in – in the front door and just round to the right).

You can drop in/out of the Practica anytime, there’s no fixed “start”, but we’ll be there from 8pm-10pm+ on Thursdays. Price £2.

The attached link to Google maps shows it (and the car park behind it), but if you drive up the Donegal Road (from the Broadway roundabout at the Park Centre on the Westlink) towards the Falls Road, then turn right onto the Falls Road (city bound) then it is about 200 yards on the right, between La Salle Park and La Salle Drive. If you turn into La Salle Drive, the car park can be accessed from it.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?source ... b4653&z=21


4. Monthly Milonga – Saturday 17th April
Our next monthly Milonga, on the 3rd Saturday of each month, will be on Saturday 17th April, from 9pm to 12, and will again be held in Belfast Rowing Club, Lockview Road, Stranmillis (which is just before Belfast Boat Club, the one with all the tennis courts). The price is a mere £5.

To find it, get to the roundabout on the Stranmillis Road, in front of Stranmillis College and take the exit that is Lockview Road, which takes you up to the Cutters Wharf pub. On the left just after the Cutters are two linked car parks, drive into the second one and go two thirds of the way up, where you should see a gate on the left with “Belfast Rowing Club” on it. You can’t drive in, just park there (there’s plenty of parking) and use the pedestrian gate (if you see tennis courts, you’ve gone too far, that’s Belfast Boat Club!). We are in the double storey building; go up the stairs immediately on the left when you go in – follow the music.....


5. YouTube Clip
Here are some clips of Javier Diaz, who will be in Ireland (Dublin) late April doing various classes with Beatriz – see below for more details if you are considering travelling down for them. The first is to the lovely classic, “Poema”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2WpL7bLIMA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z02ArTvK ... re=related


6. Membership of BATS
In case any of you don’t realise, the Belfast Argentine Tango Society (BATS) is run by a Committee, who are all unpaid volunteers. The classes and Milongas organised by BATS are run on a not for personal profit basis. After paying for venues and teachers, any excess monies go back into the pot to alleviate those weeks when there is a loss, and to build a fund to allow us to put on special events. The Society is constituted such that the Committee is elected by the members, so each year we ask students of the classes to join the Society (although there is no compulsion to if you don’t want to).

It does not cost you anything (if you have taken a class) and it does not place any burden on you to do anything, but it does give you the right to attend our Annual General Meeting to voice any views you have about the running of the Society and to vote in the election of the Committee. It also entitles you to stand for the Committee should you so wish. If you want to join, just fill in one of the forms that are available in class (NOTE: if you joined last year, you still need to renew your membership each year, by filling in a form).


7. Non-BATS events

A. Edinburgh International Tango Festival 28th-31st May 2010
I have flyers available in class, or go here: http://www.eitf.org.uk

B. Tangofiesta (Julian and Kristina) are bringing the famous Geraldine Rojas, with partner Ezequiel Paludi to Dublin in early July (1st and 2nd) for workshops (1st) and a Grand Ball (2nd). More details here:
http://www.tangofiestadublin.ie

C. Beatriz Cisneros and Javier Diaz
Beatriz has brought this renowned dancer to Ireland for a few weeks although - they will not be in Belfast, you can still travel to Dublin to catch them (or they are available for private lessons until 5th May).
Sunday 18-Apr:
15:00/16:30 h: Build up elegance through posture: Technique for the “pisada”(the step): axis, balance, weight transfer, connexion with the floor. Dissociate the body: Why we need it? When we need to use it? (Please bring leather sole shoes) All levels
17:00/18:30 h: Technique for “Giros” (turns) in close embrace: Sequences with turns. Int./Advance int.
19:30/23:00 h: "Bien porteña" practica guided by Beatriz & Javier*

Sunday 25-Apr:
15:00/16:30 h: The “Caminata” (Walk): Parallel and cross system, sequences with simple steps and its musicality. All levels
17:00/18:30 h: Technique for the “Sacadas” (Displacements) in close embrace: Sequences with sacadas. Int./Advance int.
19:30/23:00 h: "Bien porteña" practica guided by Beatriz & Javier*
*A space where to grow your tango: research, inquiring, build up sequences, learn about milongas porteñas’s culture and codes, meet other tangueros, or just to dance!! Great selection of music and tasting home made “Empanadas”.

Where: Belvedere Hotel Bar, upper Denmark St. (close to Parnell Sq.), Dublin. Ph: +353 (0) 18737700

Prices: Workshops: 1 x 18 €/2 x 30 €/From the 2nd one: 15 € each
"Bien Porteña" Practica: 8 € (5 € for workshops participants)

Info and bookings, please contact: beattango@yahoo.com or ph.: +353 (0) 852867309
(Not necessary to bring partner)

About Javier Diaz:
He started Tango in 1997, his teachers and dancers that inspired him were renowned milongueros as Julio Cordi, Pupi Castello, Gerardo Portalea and Carlos Gavito. He also was an assistant teacher in their lessons.

Javier began to teach in 2005 at Buenos Aires, first at several well known neighbourhood clubs then, in Tango Houses - Casas de Tango - like “La Barrica” and “Complejo Tango”.

In 2007 he obtained at Buenos Aires, the 1° place at the Metropolitan Tango Salon Contest and the 2° place at the World Tango Salon Contest.

Since then he is touring teaching in main cities like Tokyo, San Petersburg, Moscow, Rome and in Latin America: Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil. Faithful to the tango’s roots, his dance style embodies the inherent elegance of Tango with clean movements and lines, with an “Abrazo” that transport us to the dance floors - pistas de baile - of Buenos Aires.

D. Nikos’ Classes:
Spring Term classes at Queen's PEC:
Classes will commence on the week beginning 19th April and the program has as follows:
Tuesday 20:15 - 21:45 Beginners Tango Salon, QUB PEC
Friday 17:45 - 19:15 Improvers Tango Salon, QUB PEC
The first Tuesday class will take place on Tuesday 20/4 and the first Friday class on Friday 23/4. The whole cycle will last 8 weeks. Even though there won't be any description as to the level of the two classes at Queen's registration forms, the beginners will be on Tuesday and the improvers on Friday. Students are encouraged to enroll with a partner at Improvers level to ensure a better instruction and teaching quality, even though singles will be taken care of in the best way as well.

For a registration form and info about fees please contact Sean McQuade at Queen's University. Any other queries about the level or material taught in the classes please contact Nikos on 0789 059 2015 or email me at nikoskyr@hotmail.com

E. Tango Pasión is on in the Grand Canal Theatre Dublin – October 18th-23rd
This famous show is coming to Dublin in the autumn. See http://www.grandcanaltheatre.ie for more information. Maybe we should book a bus to take us all down ……

F. TangoFever – Men only Workshop, Dublin, Saturday 17th April2-4pm
Hernan Catvin (Simona’s partner at Tango Fever) is running a men only workshop, Saturday 17th April at Fitness Dock , Lower Camden street, D2. Time: 2pm-4pm, price: €20.

“Traditionally, in the early 1900s, men in Buenos Aires learnt and perfected their tango skills by going to men-only practice sessions. Here they could practice, experiment and get a good understanding of leading and following. This would allow them to become confident dancers before they started dancing with women.

The workshop is inspired to the traditional Bs As men-only classes. It is especially designed around the requirements of male dancers. Participants will first work on the the primary elements of tango dancing. such as posture and technique. They will then explore more complex aspects: establishing and projecting energy, awareness of your partner and the music, attitude, confident dancing, tips for subtle and precise leading.”

Booking required by email to Simona at tangofever_ireland@yahoo.com or text +353 (0) 863747958.