HOW I CAME TO TANGO
I was first introduced to Tango american style by Michelle Suber (one of our local dance instructors) in 2001. Sometime later, I attended a workshop in Argentine Tango by Paul Pellicoro (Dance Sport, NYC) in Kona. However overwhelmed, I realized that it was something I wanted to pursue. Still later, Angel Prince, (who taught at Dance Sport under Mr. Pellicoro) offered her then Salsa students a series of classes in Argentine Tango. Now I was hooked with no real community of dancers to dance with. A tango here and a tango there kept me interested enough to attend the first Tango Fest Maui in the summer of 2006. I was impressed by the world class teachers, somewhat intimidated by the skill of the local dancers and completely infected by the Tango "bug". Returning home to the Big Island was like going to the "Desert of Tango". What Argentine........Tango who? I must "be the difference"!
QUALIFICATIONS TO TEACH TANGO (ENTHUSIASM)
If you know anything about the Big Island you will know that if you want to do anything, you have to do it yourself and you must be prepared to drive a good distance to do it. The island is polarized because of distance between the east and west population centers. How convenient that Kamuela sits roughly in the geographical middle of the island. Since my original local dance teachers are busy teaching other styles of dance, such as West Coast Swing and Salsa and Modern and Jazz, I have taken on the challenge of growing a community of Argentine Tango dancers on the Island of Hawaii. I would like it to be centered in Kamuela so dancers from Hilo, Kona, Hamakua, Kohala, and Waikoloa can all get together and enjoy the wonderful music and sensual connection of this dance.
I am an ENTHUSIAST, certainly not an EXPERT. I know enough to teach and share basic step patterns and basic knowledge of the dance. It's been said, "If you want to learn something.......teach it." At my classes we all learn together. It is easy to learn step patterns. Learning to "dance" only comes from time on the floor. My goal is to
provide an opportunity to learn and practice the dance. I now have regular classes and milongas in Kamuela and Hilo to bring Big Island tango dancers together.
FUTURE INTENTIONS
My intention is to encourage a community of enthusiasts on Hawaii Island who can support and develop each others' skill in Argentine Tango. We can then enlist our LOCAL EXPERTS from the established communities on the other islands, and invite visits by the many "world class" teachers that frequent the various Tango communities on Oahu, Maui and Kauai.
