Jorge Torres & Chino Hara
Jorge began his dance training at the age of 3 when Mr. Norberto Guichenduc, the highly acclaimed ballet and tango dancer from Europe, arrived to Jorge’s hometown. Under his tutelage, Jorge’s train in folkloric dance, classical ballet, tango, and performance. Before graduating from his studies to be a dance teacher himself, Jorge began his professional career at the internationally renowned Teatro Colon of Buenos Aires. Jorge Torres has studied with several dance greats such as Norberto Guichenduc, Rodolfo Dinzel, Pepito Avellaneda, and Antonio Todaro. He has performed in noted tango houses and theaters in Argentina along with renowned tango orchestras such as Sexteto Mayo. His extensive list of shows includes Imagenes, Tango y Panoramas, La Posada del Tango, Tangokinesis, Tanguisimo 91, Tango Tango, Viva Tango, Tango Passion, Buenos Aires Tango Show, Tango Seduccion, and the Broadway and international hit Forever Tango for which he has been the Dance Captain since May 1995. He has coordinated shows such as World Tango Week in Tokyo and directed the hit show Tango Legend. He was a member of the jury for the First World Championship of Argentinean Tango in Buenos Aires in 2003 and the USA Tango Championships in 2007, 2008 and 2009. A student of Reiki and Aikido, Jorge has learned to understand and control his own energy and applies this as a tool to teach his students how to relax, ultimately allowing them the simple pleasure of enjoying their dancing. His personal mantra is: “in order to succeed you must always believe you wear a white belt”. Since early 1995 Jorge has been part of the original cast of hit show Forever Tango and was nominated in 1998 for Tony award for best choreography. In that same year Forever Tango was also nominated for best choreography by the Outer Critics Circle and nominated for four awards including that of Best Choreography by the Drama Desk. The show was critically acclaimed on Broadway, San Francisco and London. As Dance captain of Forever Tango, Creative Director of The Shimmy Club, Inc., Juror of the tango championships, and Artistic Director for the American Tango Institute, he is constantly touring across the USA, Asia and Europe, teaching and inspiring others in the art of Argentine Tango. He resides in New York. For more information, visit his website at www.connectango.com
Japanese born Chino Hara is the wife of Jorge Torres. She sells Felina Shoes in New York City, often accompanying Jorge on many of his travels operating a shoe concession at his tango appearances. For more information, visit www.connectango.com and follow the link to Felina Shoes or contact her directly at info@felinashoes.com
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Facundo Posadas & Christy Cote
Facundo Posadas is an icon in the world of Argentine Tango and the only Afro-Argentine traveling the world to share the roots of this dance by teaching milonga and candombe as well as tango. Robert Farris Thompson writes of Facundo in his book Tango: The Art History of Love, “today’s master of Argentine tango, milonga, and jazz dance”, and tells of the rich history of Posadas family dating back to the 1800s. Facundo starting dancing at a young age and enjoyed dancing in Buenos Aires all his life. He danced with many of the great orchestras such as that of Jose Basso, Anibal Troilo, Osvaldo Pugliese, Juan D’Arienzo, Carlos DiSarli and Miguel Caló. He has been in six films including Tango, the Obsession, Tango Un Giro Extraño, Despabilate Amor Afro-Argentinos, Negro Ché and El Café de Los Maestros. He has been featured in many television shows for Buenos Aires television as well as the BBC in London. Visit his website at www.facundoposadastango.com.ar
Christy Cote has been teaching Argentine Tango for 14 years and is based in San Francisco. Her teaching method has been published in the Argentine Tango Manual by Dance Vision and is complemented by a series of 20 instructional DVDs. Christy is also a founding member of the all-female tango company, Tango Con*Fusion with which she performed in Leading Ladies of Tango at San Francisco’s Herbst Theater, Glamour Tango at Chicago’s Logan Auditorium, and at the International Tango Congress in Buenos Aires. She has taught at tango festivals across the US, at the International Tango Congress (Bs.As.) and on the Tango at Sea cruises worldwide. Stage shows include TANGO X 3 at San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts, The Elegant Era, and The Latin Show at the San Jose Center for Performing Arts, and the 28th annual San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival. Christy has performed with Pampa Cortés, Count Glover, Marcos Questas, Angel Garcia, George Garcia, Daniel Lapadula, Darren Lees,
and her teacher, the late Carlos Gavito. For more information, visit
www.christycote.com, www.dancevision.com, www.tangoconfusion.com
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Pampa Cortés & Elizabeth Olivera Piniz
Dancer and choreographer of international renown, Pampa Cortés seduces audiences in South and North America, Japan and Europe in various stage productions. In the United States, he has been called the “Fred Astaire of tango” for his charismatic and masculine elegance on stage. Native of Argentina, Cortés made his professional debut at age 15 in Buenos Aires in the country’s most prestigious folkloric dance companies under the direction of maestros Celia Queiros, Mario Machaco, Santiago Ayala “El Chúcaro”, and in the Malón Ballet. He then was invited to dance in the tango Ballet of Juan Carlos Copes, which he did for six years, ultimately serving as assistant choreographer and company captain. Cortés came to the US with the international tour of the show Tango Revue in Miami for which he was choreographer. He then toured the US for two years with the hit stage show Forever Tango, critically acclaimed on Broadway, San Francisco and London. Cortés settled in San Francisco, California, where he founded his own tango dance and production company, Tango A Media Luz, in 1998. In San Francisco and various other cities of the West Coast, Cortés created and directed several stage shows. Cortés likes to juxtapose the sophisticated tango and the energetic folkloric dances and malambo rhythms to render the multifaceted and rich Argentine spirit. His creations include ¡Así Se Baila el Tango!, ¡Argentina! Tango & Malambos, Destino de Tango, and Fantasía Argentina. He created works as guest choreographer for Khadra International Dance Theatre and Carolina Lugo’s Brisas de España, among others. Pampa Cortés performed in numerous tango venues, stages and television sets in Argentina, working closely with Cadícamo, Pugliese, Salgán, Goyenche, A. De Angelis, Copes & Nieve, to name a few. Throughout his career, his presence in the international press, his extensive work for Japanese TV, his photos in tango books and on CD covers, including Julio Iglesias’ “Tango” CD, confirm Pampa Cortés place as a tango legend. When not touring, Pampa Cortés splits his time between Houston, Texas, and San Francisco, California. For more information, visit www.pampatangosoul.com and www.tangoandmore.org
Elizabeth Olivera Piriz has been dancing and teaching tango since 2000 in her hometown of Buenos Aires and around the world. She has danced in numerous shows and exhibitions in Argentina, including "Madero Tango" in Puerto Madero, "Bar Sur" in San Telmo, "Taconeando" and "La Ventana" at the famous Casa de Tango. In 2009, she co-produced as well as taught and performed, in “Tangastic”, at the International Chicago Tango Festival. Elizabeth partnered with Pablo Rojas at the February 2010 Congresso Internacional in Florianopolis, Brazil. Since 2005, she served as an assistant teacher at CITA (Congresso Internacional de Tango Argentino) in Buenos Aires, where she partnered with Norberto “El Pulpo” Esbrez to teach classes in 2010.
Elizabeth is the founding partner, artistic director and choreographer of the E.O.P. Tango Company, based in Buenos Aires. She is also the co-director and instructor of the Argentine tango school, 2 Para el Tango, at which some of the best known dancers and teachers in tango hold classes.
From the many great Argentinean teachers with whom she has formally studied, Elizabeth has developed a teaching style that focuses on creating an understanding of the aesthetics, body dynamics and discipline that support the dancing of Tango. More information on Elizabeth Olivera Piriz is available at http://tangoal2x4.com.
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George & Jairelbhi Furlong
Having been born to an Argentinean and musical family, George began his music education and exposure to Tango early on in life. George started formal music training at the age of 10 and continued though high school and college.
During these years his teachers noticed his exceptional musical ability, and with their encouragement he expanded his knowledge by learning several instruments.
In 1992, George discovered Shaolin Kung Fu, and through constant diligence and patience, he became Senior Instructor and performed demonstrations in several cities in the U.S.
He has performed in cities throughout Texas, where they reside, and within the last two years have expanded to other cities including New York City, Los Angeles, San Diego, Giorgia, Vancouver, Maui, and Buenos Aires, Argentina.
A native of Caracas, Venezuela, Jairelbhi Furlong began her dance training at the age of 9. She joined Las Voces Blancas, one of the top dance schools.
Jairelbhi was exposed to several different dances but clearly her passion was tap dancing, and was asked to be an assistant instructor. Because of her graceful movements and perseverance, she became part of a dance troupe in Las Voces Blancas traveling to many places and included television performances.
Recognized for their musicality, George and Jairelbhi Furlong are a new and up and coming Argentine tango couple. They have performed in cities throughout Texas, where they reside, and within the last two years have expanded to other cities including New York City, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Maui, Guatemala and Buenos Aires, Argentina.
In 2005, they created "Evolutiontango", a dance group based in Dallas, Texas, and have produced, directed, and choreographed two tango productions: Tango: Now and Then, and Evolutiontango. For more information, visit their website at www.evolutiontango.com
Edith Nino
Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Edith began her performing arts studies at age 3 with the prestigious “Voces Blancas de Elisa Soteldo”. She continued at the “Academia de Ballet Fanny Montiel” and at the “Conservatorio de Música” under the direction of María Dolores García and then studied ballet in Madrid, Spain. Returning to Caracas, Ms. Nino graduated from the Music Conservatory María Dolores at age 13, forming part of La Coral de U.E. Universidad Simón Bolivar.
She began with flamenco at the University of Houston under the instruction of Antonia Perlacia. She danced in the companies “Aires Flamenco” and “Solea Dance”. She teaches flamenco while continuing her flamenco studies under Laura Uribe.
Edith began tango with Pampa Cortes in 2008, performing just two months after starting. She assists Pampa in his classes and performs both tango and flamenco in his stage productions. |
