Joe's Tango podcast

My guests today are Tommy Smith and Christian Wheelihan, who are based in beautiful Boise, Idaho. Tommy started tango back in 2012, and soon it became an obsession. Today, he is a tango instructor, DJ, and organizer. With a background in math and engineering, Tommy is an instructor who approaches the dance with an organized, analytic method. He also teaches regular DJ workhops, and has DJ'd at Mon...

My guest is Simona Zaino. Although she's originally from Italy, she's based in Dublin, Ireland. In 2004 she and her dance partner, Hernan Catvin, established Compadrito Tango, where they teach multiple tango classes and host a number of events. Simona has taught and performed all over Europe, the US, and New Zealand. She's also collaborated on a huge number of events, including acting and choreogr...

My guest today is based in the Netherlands. He is the founder of El Corte, a world-renown tango center located in the city of Nijmegen. With a background in dance education, he studied at the Rotterdam Conservatory and started teaching tango in 1987. El corte has grown tremendously, and sees roughly 25,000 tango students a year. Today’s guest is also an internationally famous tango instructor and...

My guest today is Robert McKenney. He's the general manager of Convergence Dance and Body Center in St. Louis, MO, and also an instructor there. And if the name of that studio sounds familiar, it's because several months ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing Robert's mom, Roxanne Maier. Robert grew up around dancing, and started studying it at age 16. He has also studied with a number of tango m...

My guests today are Nico Tapia and Stephie Berg, based in Phoenix, AZ. They met in 2013, and have been working together ever since. Well versed in a variety of tango dance styles, they have taught and performed all over the world. In 2014, they won the US Tango Championship. They are still active in competition, and have also gone on to train other US Tango Championship finalists. More on Nico and...

My guest today began her tango career in Portland, Oregon. She has danced and taught all over the world, and spent a total of two years living and breathing tango in Buenos Aires. Now based in San Francisco, she continues to teach and organize events. A highly versatile follower and leader, today's guest is known for instructing her students how to connect with the music and adapt to a variety of...

My guest today has been dancing tango for well over two decades, and he's taught and performed all over the world. Having studied with a variety of different maestros and being familiar with many different styles of tango, he is known for focusing much of his teaching around perfecting one's axis. He's originally from Australia, but is currently based in Poland. Let's meet Damian Thompson... More...

My guest today is originally from Buenos Aires, but is now based in Chicago, Illinois. He's been teaching and performing for over a decade, having studied with a variety of tango maestros. He and his partner have been invited to teach at a number of major festivals in North America, and was once part of the exclusive staff of La Viruta (the most famous milonga in Buenos Aires). And I should add th...

My guests today are internationally recognized instructors. Originally from Buenos Aires, they are now based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. They have taught at various workshops and festivals in multiple cities, and are known for their clear teaching style and explanation of body mechanics. They have a desire to build confidence in their students, and seek to expand tango wherever they travel. Let's...

My guest today is an internationally renowned dancer and teacher who started dancing tango at the age of 12. Born and raised in Colombia, he's now based in Columbia, South Carolina. He graduated from the National School of Argentine Tango in Buenos Aires, and has been a tango professional since he was 18. He has performed with Mariano Mores, one of the most famous tango orchestras in the world, an...

My guest today is one of Seattle's most experienced dance instructors. She's been teaching full time there for over 20 years, and was one of the first Tango teachers to be established in the area. In addition to Argentine Tango, she also specializes in Salsa and West Coast Swing. She's well versed not only with social dancing, but also with performance and choreography. Let's meet Michelle Badion....

My guest today is an internationally acclaimed tango instructor and performer. He's also a writer, and author of the ebook Tango FAQs and Facts Book. Although he was born in Greece, he is now based out of Toronto, Canada. He has an extensive academic background in ergophysiology and biochemistry, and much of his research is dance related. In 2003, he was nominated with the "unique research and bes...

My guest has a musical background as a guitarrist - And he's also a major presence in the London tango scene as an instructor and organizer. On Wednesday evenings, he's known for hosting the popular Tango Bridge milonga, which - as you can guess from the title - is right next to the famous London Bridge. Among his many projects, he's busy exploring and teaching Canyengue, which is widely known as...

My guest today is based out of Seattle, WA and has been teaching tango at the Belltown Studio there since 2012. After falling in love with tango, he pursued this passion and trained with a number of well-known professionals. He has taught and performed internationally at many cultural events and milongas. Let's meet Koa Hons... More on Koa here: Website: www.koatango.com Facebook: https://www.face...

Although she was born and raised in Moscow, Russia, my guest today is based out of Paris, France. She is one of the founding members of the group TANGO MON AMOUR, where she assumes the role of instructor as well as art director. She has a strong background in classical ballet and modern dance, as well as yoga, pilates, and gyrotronics. And as you can imagine, her teaching method is grounded heavil...

My guest today is Christy Coté, a highly respected teacher in the US and Argentina. In addition to teaching, she's also a well-known performer and choreographer. Christy has been featured at CITA, the annual tango congress in Buenos Aires, and in 2012 she was the first ever American judge for the Official USA Argentine Tango Championships. Christy has a huge list of accomplishments, including inte...

Today's guest is an instructor and organizer based out of Naples, Florida, but was born and raised in Buenos Aires. He has trained with a number of masters, including Carlos Hidalgo, Celia Blanco, Gustavo Naveira, Fabian Salas, and many others. In addition to tango, he has also trained in Graham Contemporary Dance and Parallelism Dance Technique at The National School of Dance in Buenos Aires. Lik...

My guest today is Jake Spatz. He began dancing tango in 2001 in Brooklyn, NY, and has been teaching regularly in Washington, DC, since 2005. He currently runs the popular Eastern Market milonga on Thursdays, where he has been the house teacher and a regular DJ for twelve years. Since 2010, he has taught for the student tango club at the University of Maryland. Jake's work in tango has led to perfo...

My guest today is Atakan Ekiz, who's based out of Salt Lake City, Utah. He is part of the DF Dance Studio, which his wife Maria Ivanova founded in 2008. The studio specializes in a huge variety of dances, employs many dancers, and since its inception, it has become one of the largest and most dynamic dance schools in Salt Lake City. Atakan began his tango training in Turkey, and joined a dance gro...

If you're curious to hear about Joe Yang, the creator of this podcast, this episode's for you... More on Joe here: http://www.wisconsintango.com Joe's web cartoon projects: http://www.sealcomics.com

My guest today is based near Austin, Texas, and started out as a ballroom dancer. He had been involved with ballroom for well over 20 years before discovering Argentine Tango. Once he got a taste of tango, he was hooked. His pursuit of tango learning has taken him to several countries, and he eventually started a tango school known as Tango Tribe. Let's meet David Phillips... More on David here: W...

My guest today is a professional cellist based out of Washington, DC. He performs with the group Da Capo Tango, which brings a lot of great energy to the DC tango scene. He also arranges the group's music. He studied at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and went on to get his masters at the University of Wisconsin School of Music. In 2014, he organized the Mad City Live Tango Festival...

Today we're going to be talking about the Tango for Musicians workshop over at Reed College in Portland, OR. The program is in its 6th year, and to date, it's the biggest one of its kind in North America. At this workshop, tango musicians meet up, they take workshops in composition, arranging, they trade ideas, stories, there are performances of course...and all sorts of other great things. We'll...

Today's guest is a central figure in the New Orleans Tango community. By day, she's a pediatric anesthesiologist at the New Orleans Children's Hospital. And on top of that, she is the organizer of the renowned New Orleans Tango Festival. So how does one go from a tango enthusiast to a full blown festival organizer? We'll find out! Let's meet Lorena Dumas-Guntner... More on the New Orleans Tango Fe...

My guests today are salón and stage tango dancers with over 20 years of experience. Based out of Chile, in 2007 they placed 2nd in the World Argentine Tango Championships, and in 2008 they won 1st place in the TAFISA World Tango Championships in Busan, South Korea. They have traveled all over the world to teach, and it's great to have them on the show today. Let's meet Maximiliano Alvarado and Pal...