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A Tango Way of Life

September 15, 2016

It’s with great pleasure that I introduce the latest interview for SF Loves Tango’s “Teacher Spotlight”.  Although to say “teacher” is a great understatement. These two are more like Tango ambassadors, representing the San Francisco Bay Area as they travel the world sharing their knowledge and joy of tango.

Upon writing this introduction, I realized there are Tango ambassadors in every city and town that has Tango. These Tango ambassadors are instructors, promoters and DJs and even those who sell tango shoes and clothes. These people are what keeps Tango alive and vibrant. Tango may have been born in Buenos Aires but it is grown all over the world. In cities such as Berlin and New York to Auckland and Hilo, Tango ambassadors in each of these communities deserve to be thanked and appreciated.

Felipe_Aiyano_tango

Two of my personal favorite Tango ambassadors, and probably yours too, are the dynamic tango couple, Felipe and Ayano. Before they became a tango couple, they each made a name for themselves in the Tango world. Felipe, as one of the Bay Area’s favorite instructors, taught workshops, DJ’d and performed around the US and many cities around the world. Ayano, a beautiful dancer and experienced tango traveler, could be found at numerous festivals and marathons in the US, Europe and Asia. And now that they are teaching and traveling together, they are an incredible team. It was together that they founded the much successful, San Francisco Tango Marathon, now in its 7th year. And when they are not traveling, they teach and DJ regularly at the Beat in Berkeley as well as at various milongas and tango events around the Bay Area. They are also co-hosts of the Bay Area’s famous All-Nighter Milonga. Check out their Facebook Group to see where they will be next.

I’ve known both Felipe and Ayano for many years now, and yet through their answers below, I’ve learned so much more about both of them.  They are very generous to share their honest and heart-felt answers with us all. And here we go with the interview…

SF Loves Tango:  How did you find Tango? (Or how did Tango find you?)

Felipe: I started dancing tango in 1997 in Madrid, where I am from, with Leo Calvelli & Eugenia Usandivaras, one of the Argentine teachers who were based there at the time.  I was already dancing some salsa and ballroom (social not competitive) before that but once I started tango my interest quickly shifted and in few months I was totally devoted to it. I started studying seriously since then and traveling to Buenos Aires regularly until today.

Diving in my memories though, my first encounter with tango was through my grandmother. She had two idols: Errol Flynn and Carlos Gardel and I remember listening to his music at her home when I was a kid. Later, when she passed away, I tried to find those records with no success but that is the first memory I have of tango music. Gardel was popular in Spain and it wasn’t uncommon to hear his music on the radio, for instance. I didn’t grow up surrounded by tango but the moment I started dancing it I feel immediately related to it. For some strange reason I felt it was part of me.

Ayano: I found tango in 2005. A friend of mine took me to a Halloween milonga at the Metronome in San Francisco. I immediately fell in love with it and signed up for the beginner series right there. The milonga was the first time I saw any form of tango, and I loved how people were dressed up and dancing in a couple, I thought it looked like a ballroom dancing scene in Cinderella. I just moved to San Francisco from Tokyo a year before for work, and I was having hard time to find friends. Tango quickly filled my free time and soon I made many friends through tango.

ayano-voleo-the-beatSF Loves Tango: What does dancing tango mean to you?

Felipe: Tango is a much bigger picture that just the dancing. As many say: “tango is life” and I truly feel that way. At this point, tango is not part of my life. Tango IS my life. I am very fortunate to be able to make a living doing what I feel passionate about.

Tango has given me multiple opportunities to travel around the world, meet interesting people, learn about history, culture, sociology, anatomy, psychology, human relations and so many more things. Tango even gave me a wife (!!) As you see, tango is not just a  part of my life or a form of entertainment.

Ayano: Tango gave me an opportunity to discover about myself and to express myself. Growing up in a society where I was encouraged to be as successful as men, I never got a chance to be a “woman”. Tango gave me permission to be feminine, and explore that side of me.  It was the first thing I did without any ambition or calculation but just because I wanted to. It is kind of funny that it ended up my occupation!

When one dances tango, one faces many challenges, ups and downs, and it made me go through all kinds of emotional roller coaster and as a result, I feel that I grew as human being and now I feel I’m in a very good place. I believe there’s no end when it comes to improving one’s dancing and so dancing tango also gives me chance to keep learning, keep growing and that excites me a lot.

SF Loves Tango:  The SF Tango Marathon is one of the most popular and special tango festivals in the Bay Area. What inspired you to create a Marathon for San Francisco?

sftm2010
The very first SFTM was in 2010!

Felipe: My birthday is Nov 6 and at some point I was thinking about how to celebrate it. At the same time, Ayano was thinking of doing a tango event to replace the void left by the end of SFTX in SF and Tango de los Muertos in Boston, which was happening around the same dates. Once at Portland Tango Fest we were having a conversation and things came together pretty easily.

Ayano: In 2009, when we started planning for SFTM, I was traveling every month to different tango festivals. I enjoyed very much meeting and dancing with new people and I wished that other dancers in San Francisco who can’t travel for whatever reason to were able to enjoy the same experience and I also wanted all the friends I made outside to come and visit SF where I grew up as tango dancer and where I love dancing. When I heard that SFTX was ending, and I asked local organizers if they were interested in doing something, everybody said it’s too much work and that they were not interested. (and they were right, it is a lot of work to put out an event!) I didn’t feel comfortable doing it all by myself, and I found a partner (Felipe) while I was talking to Robin Thomas about this event at Portland Tango Festival.

Felipe & Ayano:  We felt that festivals in general were missing something and we wanted to create an event that had everything we aspire for. In a way we wanted to “set the standards” for these kind of events and in a way we feel we achieved that. After SFTM the quality of events in general improved all over the country and we are glad to see that because the whole community benefits from that.

taipei
Felipe and Ayano in Taipei

SF Loves Tango: Do you have any future plans in regard to Tango that you’d like to share?

Felipe & Ayano: As far as organizing events, we’d like to focus on how we can impact the learning process effectively. Maybe bringing certain teachers, offering retreats… We are still trying to decide what would be the best option. Also, we have the vision and the dream of a “tango center” very much in the way you see it in Europe, Canada or in Portland (Alex’s Berretin, for instance). The problem is that the SF Bay Area is a very challenging environment when it comes to real estate. We need some investment partners (!!)

SF Loves Tango: Where is your favorite place to Tango in the world?

Felipe & Ayano: Buenos Aires, no doubt. The tango experience there is very different from the rest of the world. There are good dancers everywhere, sure, but in BA tango is lived in a unique way. Plus it’s everywhere. I go back to the idea that tango is a wider picture than just the dancing. It’s a whole culture, a way of life.

Having said that, as a result of traveling all over the world and visiting many communities in North America, Europe and Asia, we realize that we enjoy SF tango community a lot. The more we travel, the more we like tango in the bay area. It has a good average on everything: we have live bands, nice venues, good DJs, good dancers, good gender balance, it’s big enough, many teachers, many events, traditional and alternative options… If you cannot enjoy SF tango you may have a hard time anywhere else. I think anyone can find a way to enjoy tango in SF.

SF Loves Tango:  Well said! Thank you Ayano & Felipe!

Learn more about them here: Felipe Tango website and SF Tango Marathon

Take a class with them tonight at La Milonga Génesis – Sept 16th!
9-10pm Tango Lesson w/ Felipe Martinez & Ayano Yoneda
Intermediate Level & Above
Milonga 10pm-1:30am w/ DJ Felipe
$20 Class & Milonga

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Filed Under: Musings, Teacher Spotlight Tagged With: Felipe and Ayano, Felipe Martinez, SF Tango Festival, SF Tango Marathon, Tango San Francisco

Tango scenes in SF

sflovestango

Celebrate #bayareatango community, support everyone involved & share ♥️ of #tango with San Francisco Bay Area and beyond.

sflovestango
✨ Vecher Tango at the Russian Center had another ✨ Vecher Tango at the Russian Center had another star-struck night!✨

@ariadnayfernando returned to San Francisco after their last visit in 2016 for @noras_tango_week.

On top of teaching all afternoon and performing four songs of their choice, they surprised us with an improvised encore to live music by Seth Asarnow (@sethasarnow on piano) and Adrian Jost (@fueyequerido on bandoneón), a first-time collaboration for the four artists altogether!! 👏👏♥️♥️🙌🙌 ¡Qué celebración del Tango!

Thank you Julia Schiptsova @juliasch999 and Davood Yazdani for bringing @ariadnanaveira and @fernet_sanz back to SF! We look forward to welcoming them back later this year in Thanksgiving. Stay tuned for details.

Check out our stories for video snippets from the amazing evening!
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#tango #argentinetango #tangoargentino  #tangoperformance #bailar #bailemos #bailando #tangoshow #tangoevent #tangoperformance #tangodancer #tangocouple #specialevent #onenightonly #tangophoto #sanfrancisco #tangoislife #sflovestango #livemusic #duo #bandoneon #piano #improvisation
That Saturday night ❤️‍🔥 when Duo Villarr That Saturday night ❤️‍🔥 when Duo Villarreal Crom, @juanvillarreal_13 and @patriciocrom joined forces with Orquesta Típico Domo at @thetangodome !🎶🎻🎸🎹🎤
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#tango #tangoargentino #argentinetango #tangoevents #tangomusic #tangoconcert #specialevent #onenightonly #tangomusicians #travelingmusicians #duo #guitarists #livemusic #milonga #contemporarytango  #bayareatango #sflovestango #oakland #weekendvibes #goodvibesonly #performanceart #tangoislife
Part 3️⃣ of Duo @juanvillarreal_13 & @patricio Part 3️⃣ of Duo @juanvillarreal_13 & @patriciocrom Crom at @thetangodome … a Chacarera! When the musicians extended an invitation to the audience to join them on stage, a few dancers spontaneously jumped at the chance! 👏👏👏👏
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#tango #tangoargentino #argentinetango #tangoevents #tangomusic #tangoconcert #specialevent #onenightonly #tangomusicians #travelingmusicians #duo #guitarists #livemusic #argentinefolklore #contemporarytango  #bayareatango #sflovestango #oakland #weekendvibes #goodvibesonly #performanceart #tangoislife
REPOSTING… because how could one resist missing REPOSTING… because how could one resist missing the standing ovation *and* an encore because earlier post got cut off due to unknown glitch🙈… Second half of part 1️⃣ the highlights from an amazing night at @thetangodome with Duo 🎸🎸 @juanvillarreal_13 and @patriciocrom ! And our very own @scottodaymusic made it a guitar trio for the encore! 
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#tango #tangoargentino #argentinetango #tangoevents #tangomusic #tangoconcert #specialevent #onenightonly #tangomusicians #travelingmusicians #duo #guitarists #livemusic #argentinefolklore #contemporarytango  #bayareatango #sflovestango #oakland #weekendvibes #goodvibesonly #performanceart #tangoislife
❤️‍🔥DJ @lebendiguna DROPS THE NEEDLE with ❤️‍🔥DJ @lebendiguna DROPS THE NEEDLE with the world’s fastest learning curve!❤️‍🔥

When Una’s laptop unexpectedly failed to connect to @thetangodome sound system, Daniel Peter’s vinyl collection and on-the-spot knowledge transfer to the rescue!! 😮🔥🧯❤️ After watching Dan just a few times dropping the needle between tracks, Una hit the track her FIRST TIME trying‼️✌️

🎥 @thetangodome 
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#tango #tangoargentino #argentinetango #tangoevents #milonga #tangodj #tangomusic #vinylrecords #newskillunlocked #tangoislife #oldtechisgoodtech #bayareatango #oakland
Part 2️⃣ from a fun Saturday night at @thetang Part 2️⃣ from a fun Saturday night at @thetangodome with Duo Villarreal Crom, featuring Tango Guitarists @juanvillarreal_13 and… Señor D'ARIENZO?! 👀🤨 Can you guess what was happening here? 😆😉
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#tango #tangoargentino #argentinetango #tangoevents #tangomusic #tangoconcert #specialevent #onenightonly #tangomusicians #travelingmusicians #duo #guitarists #puppet #bayareatango #sflovestango #oakland #weekendvibes #goodvibesonly #performanceart #tangoislife
Part 1️⃣ of the highlights from an amazing nig Part 1️⃣ of the highlights from an amazing night at @thetangodome with Duo Villarreal Crom, featuring Tango Guitarists @juanvillarreal_13 and @patriciocrom ! 💎 watch till the end to see SF’s very own guitarist @scottodaymusic joined them for an encore!

🎸ABOUT THE ARTISTS🎸
Juan Villarreal and Patricio Crom began working together in 2010 playing tangos in milongas and clubs in the city of Buenos Aires. From the beginning, the Duo Villarreal-Crom, tried to find a particular aesthetic and a unique style that they have refined with the passing of the years.

Today they are one of the most renowned duos on the tango scene in Buenos Aires and the world, having made countless tours in Latin America, Europe and the United States.

They have released 4 albums: "De corte romántico (2012)", "Cinco tonos (2015)", "En la luna de Valencia (2017)" and "D'Arienzo en guitarras (2022)". In May 2023 they will present their new album consisting entirely of original works.  In 2022, they were on the cover of the renowned German magazine "Tangodanza", the world's largest tango magazine.
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#tango #tangoargentino #argentinetango #tangoevents #tangomusic #tangoconcert #specialevent #onenightonly #tangomusicians #travelingmusicians #duo #guitarists #livemusic #argentinefolklore #contemporarytango  #bayareatango #sflovestango #oakland #weekendvibes #goodvibesonly #performanceart #tangoislife
♥️ 𝐀𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐩 ♥️ (link in bio🔗)

Did you know that the very first post on SF Loves Tango was published by @maikalanidesigns on 𝗔𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗹 𝟮𝟬, 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟮? And April 21, 2019, is when the brains and hands behind SF Loves Tango changed to us, @jxtango ? We would like to celebrate these anniversaries by recapping what we’ve accomplished post-COVID and start looking ahead!
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#bayareatango #tangoargentino #argentinetango #tango #tangocommunity #sanfrancisco #sflovestango #dancingislife #tangostories #beyondthedance
👋 Many of you know @aviksbasu and Mitra Martin 👋 Many of you know @aviksbasu and Mitra Martin as accomplished tango dancers and teachers. But did you know they are also professional researchers with curiosity and interest to understand tango better?

Check out this cool new research project they are working on: the 𝗧𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗼 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗲𝘆! (link in bio 🔗)

⏳ It takes about 20-30 minutes to answer some intriguing (anonymous) questions about what you experience as you dance - mental talk, images, sensations, etc.

🎯 Fill it out today and help them reach their goal of 1000 participants by April 30th! They’ll gather neat data to create more empathy and understanding and help the community grow.
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#tango #argentinetango #tangoargentino #community #tangocommunity #project #research #qualitativeresearch #communitybuilding #sflovestango
Abrazo, the queer milonga, happens every 3rd Satur Abrazo, the queer milonga, happens every 3rd Saturday of the month, and today, April 15, @abrazoqueertango welcomed @inesmuzzopappa for the first time and the pre-milonga class was sold out!
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#tango #argentinetangoclasses #tangoworkshop #tangoargentino #queertango #tangoevent #bayareatango #berkeley #bailemostango #milonga #learningisfun #dancingislife
✨SATURDAY NIGHT TANGO ✨ Che! Milonga is a con ✨SATURDAY NIGHT TANGO ✨

Che! Milonga is a conventional 4.5-hour long milonga with a cozy and casual vibe that happens on 1st and 2nd Saturday of the month at La Pista Tango Studio. 

Tucked away among storage and industrial spaces for local businesses, La Pista is a dedicated tango studio frequently used for classes and workshops. With lighting, seating, wall projection, and table decoration arrangements, our beloved hosts, Ramada and @tanguera_e , put thoughtful touches that give the space a nightclub ambiance.

Check out our February story drop featuring @che_tango_sf (sflovestango.com/che-tango-sf/) and tomorrow, Saturday, April 8, is your chance to dance at their Che Milonga with DJ @kostas_aretos ! 

📸 from Che Milonga on Saturday, April 1st with DJ @ayano.yoneda.tango 
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#tango #argentinetango #tangoargentino #tangodancers #tangolovers #dancecouple #socialdancing #tangoevent #milonganight #embrace #bailar #bailemos #dance #partnerdance #improvisation #dancingislife #sflovestango
❤️ 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐩 ❤️
Women's History Month is almost over, but celebrating the impact of women is today and every day! 

Remember the Women's Gathering hosted by @ayano.yoneda.tango in the beginning of this year? Are you curious about the 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 and 𝙬𝙝𝙮 behind these events? 
"𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 – 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳-𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 – 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴, 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳." – Ayano Yoneda

More in our latest story drop (🔗 link in bio)!
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#tango #argentinetango #tangoargentino #tangoevent #tangostories #tangocommunity #bayareatango #tangosanfrancisco #womensupportwomen #communitybuilding #lifteachotherup #sflovestango
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