Seoul Tango festival 2012

My longtime dream became true in May when I had possibility to participate to the Seoul Tango festival. I have all my life been interested in Asia and I have earlier been two times in both China and Japan so it was time to visit Korea! and Tango there!

Here you have the first sights from the festival filmed by the organizers Florencia and Leonel! The canvas video is filmed by me on the way to the Grand milonga on Saturday evening, 5th of May. Maestros on the festival were Miguel Angel Zotto y Florencia Roldan; Javier Rodriguez y Virginia Pandolfi and Christian Marquez y Virginia Gomez "Los Totis". I was interested in the Dansers group with performers from Pohang, Beijing, Taipei, Hong Kong and Buenos Aires. Quite young and talented dancers and many of them have started to dance tango as late as around 2005!  Unbelievable!

Take the opportunity and enjoy their dances here!

When you hover over the video icon you get some more information and if you click on the video a playlist will start!

You can find a lot of interesting information about tango and people in Korea in these links
http://www.seoultangofestival.com/2012/01/2012-seoul-tango-festival-may-3-7.html
www.facebook.com/events/212093065546705/

Libertango portal

I think the biggest surprise when working on this Libertango portal was the lack of ordinary tango performances! There is some but not in the numbers as for other tangos.

The second one was the fact that it is so appreciated  world wide, of different ages so you can find it in repertoirs of old musicians as well as the ones below 10 years. It is also suitable as background music for beauty contests and car races - amazing!

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Please click here and enjoy this small selection!

There is different themas for playlists:

Moves us - dance and performances
Unusual instruments - never seen like them
Chicas - things from bellydancing to stage
Outdoors - all kind of activities under the skyes
Classics - the old ones and the next generation




PS. It seems there is some problems with the music, which is not allowed to be shown in all countries. Please send me a note if you can not see this. I will check what I can done for this...... 

Theremin portal

When working on an other portal I came across the Russina instrument theremin again but this time I got fascinated by it.

This portal shows that the instrument is still alive! Really popular in Japan where they have at least one orchestra with 100 musicians. There is also an iPhone app so you can play it everywhere!

Please enjoy!

Geraldine Rojas - Portal

I have seen Geraldine dance live only twice but I hardly remember anything about the dance but only her dresses. The first time was 2004 when she was dancing with Javier and her dress was red lace. I was a beginner then and could not see the magic in their dance, what a pity....

The second time was in Paris 2010 and her dance partner was Ezequiel Paludi; she in black lace. But it was not better: I could not relate to their dance. It was beautiful but nothing more for me. It was just now when I was working with this portal I started to appreciate their dance. I have watched huge number of videos, many of them several times when I suddenly noticed how musically they are dancing, how fresh the musical interpretations are and how professional they are.

But now to the palylists!

Geraldine Rojas
There is some difficulties with the spelling of her name. The early and most common verson is the one I have used here. On her home page she nowadays writes Geraldin Rojas.

When you make google seach you get several Geraldine Rojas and one of them is very look alike - a dancer from New York with long brown hair and the same name!

Mother and the extended family (click the title to start a playlist)
Geraldines mother is Maria del Carmen, an appreciated dancer of Villa Urquiza style. She is married to Jorge Dispari and Geraldine is grown up in this family together with Samantha Dispari, her sister.

In one of the interviews on Geraldines homepage she tells how unmusical her father was and how this caused the separation of parents. (On other pages Jorge Dispari was stated as her father but I think it is uncorrect)

Childhood performances
I did know she had performed as child but now when reviewing these videos I was still surpriced! What an opportunity to develope her own talent with all these talented leaders.

Young professional
Here we have some of the performances and films she has contributed to.

Dancing with different partners
Pay attention to her ability to adapt to different partners.
I have collected clips I like, watch and enjoy!

Bologna
These videos are from Bologna festival where she was dancing with Javier Rodriguez. It is interesting how these performances have maintained the power to attract us, still after so many years.

with Paludi
After splitting up from Javier, Geraldine has danced with Ezequiel Paludi. This gives her possibility to combine the professional life with family life!

It is obvious that she is talented and she had possibility to develope that talent with great dancers. I am sure that her early training to perform on stage makes the performing situation more comfortable for her, compared to dancers with later start.

But she has also worked on her own training. There are stories about how she as a child danced alone for hours; training steps to different music, alone, early in the morning.

Please enjoy the portal!

In the text section (bilow the video window on Youtube page) you find the liks to Geraldines and Ezequiels homepage as well as to one dance analysis. (the link was removed ...)