Hiroshi & Kyoko Yamao, first non-Argentine World Tango Champions visit Manila

Hiroshi & Kyoko Yamao during the Grand Milonga

The World tango dance tournament (Campeonato Mundial de Baile de Tango) is an annual competition of Argentine Tango, held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, usually in August, as part of the Buenos Aires Tango Festival organized by the city's government.

Though open to participation from other countries, it was only natural that Argentines dominate the championship in the ensuing years following the first edition of the competition in 2003, i.e,  until 2009, when the first non-Argentine couple won the Salon Category, and Asian, at that, Hiroshi and Kyoko Yamao from Japan.

Not surprising, though, because outside of Argentina, Japan is touted to be one of the countries with the longest history of Argentine tango, since the 1920s.

The husband and wife team, Hiroshi and Kyoko, were recent visitors in Manila to conduct  a 5-day workshop, as well as private coaching, with a one night Grand Milonga performance at the Makati Sports Club for our avid Argentine tango community, produced by Amor Tango, one of the active local tango organizers.

Regaling the crowd before the main performance were Amor Tango's Chu Bautista, herself
an accomplished tango dancer having won the Grand Slam Championship in the
2012 Manila Tango Festival & Competition, and placing 4th in the 1st Tango Salon
Championship in Asia held in HK last year, with her chosen partner for the evening, Ryan Fabul.

Attracted by each other’s tango, Hiroshi and Kyoko began dancing together in 2003.
In 2006, the couple travelled to Buenos Aires, where they studied both stage and salon tango under Carlos and Rosa Perez, Fabian Peralta and Valentina Villarroel.

Kyoko, Chu and Hiroshi

Out of 570 couples in the 2007 Campeonato de Baile de Tango Metoropolitano, the couple placed 9th in the salon division and 4th in the milonga division.

In the August Campeonato Mundial de Baile de Tango, the couple finished 6th in the salon division and 3rd in the stage division, being the first foreign couple to place in all four divisions.

This outstanding performance allowed the couple to participate in Almorzando con Mirtha Regrand, following which they returned to Japan.

After triumphing in the 2008 Championship of Asia, Hiroshi and Kyoko proceeded to win the 2009 Campeonato Mundial de Baile de Tango; they stand proud as the first foreign couple to ever win.

Currently, Hiroshi and Kyoko travel around the world, receiving high praise not just for their dancing, but their teaching skills.

Special guest of the night was Argentine Embassy

Charges de Affaires, Monica Deregibus, shown in the photo with local tango Maestro and the evening's Emcee, Jun Borja, and former Miss Universe and tanguera, Margie Moran. 

Our local tango community is privileged to have watched Hiroshi and Kyoko perform live and up close, and enriched by their teaching and coaching abilities.

They were all ears.......

...at the workshop

Hiroshi very kindly acceded to my request for this
photo op, and of course, I didn't let him go without
a dance, thank you!

ILoveTango!
Psalm149:3
"Let them praise His name with dancing, making melody to Him with tambourine and lyre!"

2013 World Tango Champions topbill the 6th Manila Tango Festival and Championship

The much-awaited annual Manila Tango Festival and Championship on May 12-18. 2014 topbills the 2013 World Tango Champions in the Salon Category, Jesica Arfenoni and Maximilliano Cristiani.  

2013 Mundial Champs Jesica Arfenoni & Maximilliano Cristiani

The world tango dance tournament known as Campeonato Mundial de Baile de Tango in Buenos Aires  where it is held,  is an annual competition of Argentine Tango, usually in August, as part of the Buenos Aires Tango Festival organized by the city's government.

The current 2013 winners,  Maximiliano Cristiani and Jesica Afernoni, will  be in Manila for their first performance in Asia, and are the star attractions in the  Gala Night of this year’s local festival, together with 8 other Argentine tango maestros/maestras known the world over for their superb dance performances, as well as teaching skills. They will be here not only to perform, but conduct workshops and private coaching lessons for the growing number of Filipinos who are now enthusiastic Argentine tango aficionados.

Laila  Rezk & Leandro Oliver

This year's line-up is a journey through the different genres - from the elegant Tango Salon improvised on the crowded milongas of Buenos Aires and fashionable European ballrooms; and the more popularized Tango Escenario, designed for the stage or theatre; to choreographed interpretations and narratives that have pushed the boundaries of Tango to the realms of contemporary dance but forever remaining true to the integrity and roots of Tango. 

Pablo Giorgini &Noelia Coletti

Alejandra Hobert & Adrian Veredice

Luis Ramirez & Analia Carreno

Presented by the Manila Tango Club, in cooperation with Tango Oriental, the week-long event promises to be another major spectacle that will surely heighten the passion among our Tango enthusiasts both locally and internationally.

For  inquiries on schedule details, venues, and ticket purchases, please email omen.tango@gmail.com or call 895-4576/550-2037/519-9626 or vist fb Manila Tango Festival & Championship. 

Indeed, even Tango is more fun in the Philippines!!!


ILoveTango! 
Psalm149:3
"Let them praise His name with dancing, making melody to Him with tambourine and lyre!"

My passion for Tango emboldens me to blog

I started learning the Argentine tango 6 years ago, in 2008. This dance caught my attention when the DJ in one of our ballroom dancing places, Bykes, when it was still located along Pasong Tamo, sold me a CD of the CITA (Congreso Internacional de Tango Argentino), an Argentine Tango dance event taking place in Buenos Aires. The video so mesmerized me that I started asking around who can teach me the dance. 
At the same time, as the PR Consultant of Bykes then, I was asked to join a group of ladies who were having a weekly dancing session, every Thursday it was, at the ground floor of the same building. Little did I know that it was what the Argentinians called a Milonga (an Argentine tango party). 
There I met Miss International Aurora Pijuan and character actress, Vangie Labalan, who I consider the progenitors of Milonga here in Manila, and already deep into the dance. They wanted me to write and publicize tango and Milonga. I did! But it took a while for the concept of Milonga to catch on. 
The dancing crowd, mostly populated by the ballroom ladies, did not easily subscribe to the idea of dancing just the Argentine tango the whole night! I even suggested that we designate one night in Bykes, as milonga night. But it was half-baked. When guests came in and wanted, maybe demanded is the better term, to dance ballroom, management had to give in, afraid to lose their patronage, to my utter dismay. 
But it was inevitable that the Milonga finally came to its own, as more and more were discovering the beautiful Argentine tango.
As for me, a few stumbling blocks and some frustrations later, I finally found the local Maestro who literally swept me off my feet into the magical world of Argentine tango. And as the saying goes, the rest is history. I am now caught in the web of this phenomena called the Argentine tango, and this blog is an extension of my passion... a passion that is building up every minute of whatever is left of my life, with every breath that I take.

So, I hope I will be able to touch base with all tangueros, tangueras, milongueros, milongueras the world over via this blog... exchange ideas, share photos, make new friends, give and receive advice and tips; but most especially, spread the magic of Argentine tango.

....and to those who are not yet bitten by the bug, you are all most welcome to join in, and one day soon, discover what makes us soooo love this dance.

Please bear with me as I take these baby steps in blogging. Thank you to my associate and friend, Liza Almonte, for nagging me to take this new direction. By God's grace, this will be a great ride!


ILoveTango!
Psalm149:3
"Let them praise His name with dancing, making melody to Him with tambourine and lyre!"