World champs Diego Benavidez & Natacha Agudelo on tour

[tangobro]

in the thread:

Argentine Tango competitions
http://danceforums.com/showthread.php?t=33457&highlight=competitions&page=26

We learned that Diego Benavidez Hernandez & Natacha Agudelo Arboleda of Colombia won the 2011 Salon Style World Tango Championship in Argentina.

They did a series of performances & classes in the New York City portion of their tour.

They were a very friendly, open & sharing couple, and excellent teachers. In classes they repeatedly stressed the need to distinguish between tango for performance & tango for the milonga, & to leave performance out of the milonga. They stressed the importance of dancing to the music to share a feeling in a close embrace and to observe the codes of the milonga. They stressed that certain moves, boleos etc. should not be done in crowded milongas. They stressed that the learning of figures was lowest on the list of things to be learned about tango.

Like some other dancers who have been identified as dancing in the Villa Urquiza style, they were dismissive of that label, saying that what is important is to dance in a natural way & develop a personal style.

They have a 6 year old starting school now, so their tour was short, but USA tour info is at:
http://www.tangobeat.com/colombia/2090.html

here are vids of some of their performances, characterized by the open embrace, figures & boleos that they say constitute performance not social tango.

You can decide if their style is Villa Urquiza. Diego mentions the hours he put in doing nothing but walking for 45 minutes at a time under the critical eye of Carlos Perez, his teacher in Villa Urquiza.

At Beso:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsXISIE0poc

At Amarra's:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pbw0siTZjXw

At RoKo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_jv9wXybMg

At Corazon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3mkPelvCSw

At All Night Milonga:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4duo1_Bd_w

 

[LoveTango]

Sorry to realize that I missed all of their classes. I like their style.

 

[newbie]

their style is Villa Urquiza.

By definition, it cannot be

Carlos Perez, his teacher in Villa Urquiza.

The place. Like in "my teacher in NYC"

 

[dchester]

They were a very friendly, open & sharing couple, and excellent teachers. In classes they repeatedly stressed the need to distinguish between tango for performance & tango for the milonga, & to leave performance out of the milonga. They stressed the importance of dancing to the music to share a feeling in a close embrace and to observe the codes of the milonga. They stressed that certain moves, boleos etc. should not be done in crowded milongas. They stressed that the learning of figures was lowest on the list of things to be learned about tango.

Thanks for posting it. It's too bad their tour has ended, I would have liked to take some classes from them.

You can decide if their style is Villa Urquiza. Diego mentions the hours he put in doing nothing but walking for 45 minutes at a time under the critical eye of Carlos Perez, his teacher in Villa Urquiza.

Yeah, that's pretty much the style that all the winners have danced, for a while. I know a few people always have a "nutty" when someone mentions VU style, but I find it useful, as most tango people know what the name refers to. Maybe it could have been named Carlos Perez style, but it wasn't. I've also heard people calling it, tango estilo del barrio, more recently.

 

[jantango]

The required work permit and visa can take months to arrange, yet they were teaching in NYC less than two months after they won the salon title. That means they either traveled on a tourist visa or had the work permits processed months ago. This only proves how valuable a championship title is for lauching careers.

Who was their sponsor for the tour?

 

[tangobro]

...Who was their sponsor for the tour?

The people at Tangobeat.com were involved in organizing the tour & sponsors are listed at the previously posted link:

http://www.tangobeat.com/colombia/2090.html

Diego & Natasha also mentioned that they received financial support from their local tango community in Colombia because they did not have the resources to do the extended trip to Bs.As. that participation in the mundial required.

 

[tangobro]

They were a very friendly, open & sharing couple, and excellent teachers. In classes they repeatedly stressed the need to distinguish between tango for performance & tango for the milonga, & to leave performance out of the milonga. They stressed the importance of dancing to the music to share a feeling in a close embrace and to observe the codes of the milonga. They stressed that certain moves, boleos etc. should not be done in crowded milongas. They stressed that the learning of figures was lowest on the list of things to be learned about tango.

After re reading this paragraph I realize it should be edited to read "...high boleos..."