Abrazo Queer Tango

Today we dance! Looking forward to seeing everyone this afternoon as we dance into happy with the wonderful Mira! Zoom info in the event post. All are welcome, no partner needed.

Another week is nearly gone, dear ones. Sunday, we dance! Join us for the third Sunday of our 5-week series with Mira Barakat--drop ins and returning students all welcome! Come dance into happy with us.

It has been a wild week, friends, of historic proportions, and we are hoping each of you is getting what you need through both the victories and the challenges. Through it all, our little community comes together to dance and build. Join us today at 3:30 for classes with Mira, to connect to each other, to the music, and of course, to dance.

Never fear lovelies: FB may not allow us to make 5-week series a thing in one event, but this Sunday we dance on with the wonderful Mira Barakat. These online classes will focus on technique, musicality, improvisation, and having fun! No partner necessary, open to all levels. Improve and practice your tango in a supportive environment. There will be time for questions, exploration, and a bit of socializing. Come dance until your heart is full!

Taking advantage of the zoom to host Astrid Weiske of Queer Tango Berlin this weekend at our Sunday class on November 1, 3:30-4:30 pacific standard time/ San Francisco. Please check your time zones. Find the zoom link here: https://abrazoqueertango.wordpress.com/abrazo-queer-tango-/ Astrid Weiske is one of the pioneers of open-role dancing and is an internationally respected teacher in many tango communities worldwide, well-known as a dynamic female lead and a gifted teach...er. She has been dancing Tango Argentino for over 20 years, and since 2005 has been teaching in Berlin and accepting invitations to teach all over Europe and the world. She has developed strong sensitivity in leading, great creativity in improvisation, and playful musicality, which stand out as key elements in her dance. Astrid is also recognized for her skills as a follower, which greatly expand her knowledge and understanding of the dance. In 2011, she founded the first International Queer Tango Festival in Berlin, which has earned a reputation as the world's largest queer tango festival. Her exploration of the many styles of tango, from the classical to the experimental, as well as other dance forms like contact improvisation and modern dance, have led her to believe that there is no "one" Tango. She believes in a creative, liberating variety and connection of ideas, movements and technique, while always referring back to the roots of Argentine Tango. She promotes that fusion to reduce boundaries, allowing people to connect and communicate with each other and find their own expression in the dance. Her teaching is based on awareness and analysis of natural movement in combination with her profound knowledge of technique, structure of the dance, and connection between the couple. This creates a constant dialogue between leaders and followers who share the responsibility of listening and responding to each other, based on a strong connection to the music. Abrazo Queer Tango is very happy to offer you a chance to catch up with Astrid for a unique zoom tango class to sparkle your heart. 5-$15 sliding scale. See more

What do you do during an online tango class? Oh dear one let me tell you: You see and chat with your tango peeps, you work solo drills, you learn about music, you move your body and find your axis, you ground yourself and you breath. Miranda Llindelow is teaching today and she has a unique way of teaching leading and following, during the zoom class, that may in fact give you a sparkle to your day. If you are free, join us! 3:30-4:30 pm (PST/ San Francisco)... https://abrazoqueertango.wordpress.com/abrazo-queer-tango-/

Every 3rd Saturday of the month, a little joy to tide us over.

Every 3rd Saturday of the month, we hit the joy button for live music, live dance performances, a birthday vals and more at our little milonga that could. Thanks to Madeleine, Lily, Ivette, Frida, Jurni, Gigi, Denise, Alisa and all our dancers, performers and guests for making magic a bit of magic with us. Long live queer tango!

Performing live from Paris, we are so very pleased and excited to welcome Augusto Ezequiel Castaño Cevilán and Alexis Alvarado to Abrazo, the virtual queer milonga Saturday 17 August. More about Augusto y Alex. They are lovely dancers and teachers, currently in Paris: https://www.facebook.com/augustoyalexistango/ See them in action: ... Casual and social: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1138732419630833&id=520822831421798 performing: https://www.youtube.com/watch Please check your time zones! This will not be recorded. Live in the moment magic my kindred: https://www.facebook.com/events/329177011713852 8-9:30 PM Saturday 10/17 San Francisco/ PST 11-12:30 Saturday 10/17 New York City/ EST 5-6:30 am Sunday 10/18 Paris 12 am - 1:30 am Sunday 10/18 Buenos Aires. Long live queer tango!

The music will take us there. Natalia Bril performs live at Abrazo, the virtual queer milonga: https://www.facebook.com/events/329177011713852 Natalia Bril was born in Buenos Aires. She is a tango singer and singing teacher. She graduated from the Avellaneda School of Popular Music (EMPA) in Buenos Aires, specializing in tango music.... As a tango singer, she has performed on many stages in Buenos Aires and the surrounding areas including Café Vinilo, Torquato Tasso, Teatro Roma de Avellaneda, the Tango Festival of the city, and Buenos Aires Tango Queer Festival, among many other venues. She completed her first European tours in 2019 and 2020, singing throughout several countries including Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary and Denmark. Natalia’s first album "Otra Mirada" was released in May 2018 and features classical tangos that she covers with guitarist Leonardo Andersen. Together they have performed as Tango Due since 2016. Take a listen to the magic she makes with tango over on spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/38jjomLeDpnN5TC6eOlvz1 It is such a pleasure and honor to welcome Natalia Bril as our guest singer at Abrazo, the virtual queer milonga, Saturday Oct. 17th. She will perform a live set from her studio in Buenos Aires. Please check your time zone: Saturday 8-9:30 pm, PST. Saturday 11 - 12:30 pm, EST 12 - 1:30 am (Sunday) Buenos Aires. Long live queer tango.

Watch this space. Each day we will post about the guest artists lighting up abrazo, the virtual milonga on Saturday Oct. 17th. Details: https://www.facebook.com/events/329177011713852. Laying it down for Mariana Docampo from Buenos Aires. Mariana Docampo is the founder of Tango Queer Buenos Aires (www.tangoqueer.com) and is co-producer of the International Queer Tango Festival of Buenos Aires, presented annually since 2007. She is a writer and teaches tango and literature, h...aving received her B.A. in Literature from the University of Buenos Aires. She is the author of six books of fiction (Al borde del Tapiz, El Molino, La fe, Tratado del Movimiento, V and La Familia) as well as other writings included in anthologies. She edited Las Antiguas, published by Buena Vista, dedicated to reviving interest in the works of historic women authors of Argentina. Mariana is co-author of Sara Facio. La foto como pasión. Sara Facio en diálogo con Guillermo Gasió y Mariana Docampo (Planeta, Buenos Aires, 2016) and co-screenwriter of the feature film Marilyn (Berlinale, 2018). She studied with tango masters in a range of styles and trained in a variety of the most traditional milongas of Buenos Aires, expanding her technique of tango salón, and tango nuevo. Drawing upon her experience in traditional tango, she focused her attention on re-envisioning the gender roles of partners in the dance. This approach allowed her to explore the dynamics of equal communication between dance partners, and inspired a series of new seminars, workshops and milongas beginning in 2005 (Milonga de Mujeres, El Desvío, Prácticas Tango Queer). Currently, she teaches tango and is the producer of many queer tango events and festivities. She has taught at the International Queer Tango Festivals of Hamburg, Copenhagen and Berlin and at the Tango Solstice Retreat in Iceland. She has also offered tango workshops in Stockholm, Zurich, Marseille, Nice, Rome, Le Hague, Preston, Brighton and London. We are over the moon to welcome Mariana to read from her new book and participate in a Q&A! You can buy her book, Tango Queer Buenos Aires, here: www.tangoqueer.com Long live queer tango!

Carlos Blanco and Rey Flores of Queer Tango Mexcio are teaching our queer tango class today, Sunday 10/4. Yep, we start off the month with a lovely class with our peeps. 3:30-4:30 pm pacific standard time (San Francisco.) Same Zoom link. Email us if you don't have it: [email protected]. Have a good day!

We have a new format for our monthly newsletter. We hope to bring you events that help us all manage and motivate during hard ass times.

Greetings dear ones, At 3:30 over on the zoom, Mira is teaching queer tango, getting us into our tango bodies with lots of cool drills and practice points to keep our dance alive! Tango is so very resilient, even now. DJ Mackerelmint hooked us up with a new playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist... "Today's playlist is a little eccentric, perhaps, and maybe constitutes something like the wearing of plaid with stripes, and a competition between forest green (Gobbi) and magenta (Varela). But hey, this is the first playlist of autumn, and it's the season of sudden splashes of color. Let's live it up." DJ Mack Same Zoom link. If you don't have it, email us: [email protected].

This was our 6th virtual queer milonga, events created without knowing what we were doing or if any of the magic could translate on the zoom. Thus far, thanks to Madeleine, Lily, and a behind the scenes crew, these "milongas" are becoming live collages of art, dance, word and music that draw from our deeply talented and passionate local and international community of dancers, artists, singers, performers, musicians, DJs and teachers. We hope our little milonga serves to unite and inspire us during hard times. Long live Queer Tango

Watch this space: Each day I'll post about the artists performing this weekend at Abrazo, the virutal queer milonga, Saturday September 19th, 8-9:30 pm, pacific time/San Francisco. Check your time zone dear one! (https://abrazoqueertango.wordpress.com/abrazo-the-queer-mi/) Introducing, FIFI TANGO With her unique style, Fifi Tango explores and extrapolates the traditional tango style through her non-binary Queer identity. She leverages her Neo Cabaret performance to challenge..., transform and modernize the international tango scene. Born between the border of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, she proclaims herself politically as Marika Fronteriza, a slang term that could be translated as Faggot from the Border, but re-appropriates the term with pride. Through her singing performances, La Fifi manifests the struggles of the LGBTTIQ+ community with Tango as a way to raise awareness of the day-to-day struggles experienced by Sexual and Gender non-conforming people and to raise awareness tragic events and violence that they face. In her performances, the impact of her image is as important as her acting and vocal display. Her appearance and mustache express a statement about her gender fluid identity, a strong weapon designed to rethink and deconstruct judgmental preconceptions about gender. After eight years of performing, La Fifi is today at the center of the tango scene in the city of Buenos Aires, and other countries including Chile, Uruguay, Colombia, Brazil and Paraguay. Abrazo Queer Tango indeed fortunate and honored to welcome Fifi to perform live from Buenos Aires on September 19th at Abrazo, the virtual queer milonga. This will not be recorded, in the moment magic my peeps. A few Fifi performances to get you started! Ivette’s favorite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjATKyyy1wo Others: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3PiICTn9d0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTlHRSvUODs Please note the time zones for Saturday: 8-9:30 pm pacific standard time/ San Francisco 11-11:30 pm eastern standard time/ New York City 12 am 1:30 am Buenos Aires Long live queer tango!