The New Delhi Tango School recently culminated its third season of International Tango Festival at the Eros Hotel, New Delhi. Brain Child of Kiran Bajaj Sawhney, who has been successfully running the NDTS, this festival has grown multi-folds since its inception and the next season looks even more promising, now that I have witnessed this one.

Tango is a partner dance that originated in the 1880s along the River Plate, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay and soon spread to the rest of the world.

And to teach the nuances of this intimate dance Maestros Dana Jazmin Frigoli and Adrian Romeo Ferreyra flew down from Argentina and along with Kiran Bajaj herself and Maestro Eduardo Curiel, they truly made a team of experts.

Dana Jazmin Frigoli, a choreographer and teacher. A multifaceted and sensitive artist, known around the world through her extensive and intensive path. She studied at Escuela Nacional de Arte Dramático, and worked for major companies as a performer and choreographer. She created a unique technique called TTC (Conceptual Tango Technology) which has allowed other dancers to find a way to further develop their own tango, understanding the workings of opposing energies in the body, using this internal understanding, to achieve a greater connection. With this work she needed to create a space that represents and is itself the container, of the ideas that emerged from within, and in 2005 Dni Tango opened its doors – a tango school, company and store with its own identity. In DNI Tango, professional staff (chosen by her) and outstanding teachers in various disciplines (Yoga, Contemporary Dance, Contact improvisation, Rhythm, Ballet, Theatre and others) synthesize and frame, the development of her philosophy about tango. Today DNI Tango, is recognized around the world, for its excellent teaching staff and for the group shows it has created (La Colección, Los tangos de una vida, Arealidades, La Musa del Capricho).  In 2010 Dana performed the choreography for Superclasico, a Danish film directed by Ole Christian Madsen, nominated for an Oscar under the category of Best Foreign Film. Thanks to La Musa del Capricho, and all the work performed by the DNI Company, Dana Frigoli received the award for Best Argentine Choreography of the season from Argentores 2010 – 2011.

Adrian Romeo Ferreyra Avellaneda (Province of Bs. as) he spent most of his childhood in Neuquén where, at 9 years old , he would run into tango almost by accident. As a dancer, always in contact with other dances but doomed to tango, he has worked with various companies and participated in shows, as well as conferences and competitions nationally and internationally. He has ‘trod the boards’ in the many theaters of Bs.As and visited countries such as Russia, Italy, Sweden, Germany, U.S., Canada, Brazil, Uruguay, among others. As a teacher he began his journey in the year 2002, where one of his most gratifying experiences was to provide free workshops run by the government, and work with groups of elderly people. In 2004 he met Dana Frigoli and had his first contact with TTC. After graduating from the Academia Argentina de Estilos de Tango(AC.E.T.A), he started working at DNI Tango in the year 2007. Since then he has formed part of the teaching staff at the DNI tango studio and its respective dance body , DNI COMPANY, participating in the shows: LA COLECCIÓN DE TANGOS DE UNA VIDA, AREALIDADES AND LA MUSA DEL CAPRICHO. Now, being the most senior member of staff, he works as a choreographic assistant for the COMPANY DNI and fulfills a pedagogical coordinating role within the school DNI Tango. — with Dana Jazmin Frigoli and Adrian Romeo Ferreyra.

Speaking on the Third International Tango Festival, Kiran Said, “For a short period of time every year I travel to festivals and workshops in Europe, the U.S. and Asia, to maintain contact with other artists and reconnect with students . I’m dedicating a lot of time to choreographing for several professional dance couples, this way I can create for other artists that inspire me. I am therefore able contribute from my vision, helping to bring out the best in people, proposing clear paths for creation. Also this allows me to be in the school and continue working with the company every morning , as well as doing my own training and group classes that I give regularly.”

Two workshops each day of 90 minute duration were held across 4 days and it covered the following topics

1.Walk me to the moon.
2.How to brake the axis and live to dance!
3.Timings for the dance floor.
4.”Los Mareados” turns in closed embrace
5.Embelishments for men and women
6.Combinations of movements out of axis
7.Musicality, different tools to play with the music
8.Elasticity movements

Glimpses from the workshop

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N number of people registered for the workshop making it a bigger success. The finale saw top 5 couples performing while numerous of people watched them dance. The top 3 were then selected and given prizes and accolades by the Maestros. But the real deal was watching the Maestros perform, their performance was breathtakingly beautiful. I could not take my eyes off them even for a moment, it seemed like poetry in motion. The moves, the poise, the postures with which both Dana and Adrian danced was truly outstanding. Here is a small glimpse

The finesse that they bring to the performance is unmatchable and I bow down to such talent. In fact the ones who participated in the workshop also seemed like experts in the making and here is a glimpse when so many people where on the floor.

And watching Kiran herself dance is always a pleasure which I cant explain in words, because she is someone who I admire not just a dancer, but as a complete woman. She truly is a woman of substance and I am thankful to her for inviting me to witness such a fine event and giving me an opportunity to meet such wonderful talents from across the globe.