If you're FREE - it's FREE - this Tuesday!

FREE TANGO TEA ON THE THAMES AT THE ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL!

This Tuesday afternoon 20th February - Tango on The Thames and Queer Tango London join forces to offer a FREE Tango Tea Dance in the Clore Ballroom at the Clore Ballroom, a wonderful place to dance! https://youtu.be/CiuyIG5Yz5U [thanks Oksana for the clip!]

Absolute beginners welcome! Experienced dancers welcome!

1.30 pm Beginners/Absolute Beginners with Olga Metzner and Ivan Arandia!

Also 1.30 pm: Intermediate Class with Paula Duarte and Daniel Gini!

No partner necessary - you will be changing partners constantly anyway! Leather-soled shoes rather than rubber, if you can!

2.30 pm until 4.00 pm wonderful, danceable, tango music from DJ, Fabiano Borretti.

Fabiano BorrettiOriginally from Brazil, Fabiano is a popular dancer on the London and international tango/queer tango scenes, much in demand as both a leader and a follower. His deep love and study of the music to which we dance – especially that of the tango “Golden Age” - inevitably led to his wanting to share his insights with other dancers as a tango DJ. He has perfected his DJ-ing skills at a number of venues including at Queer Tango London and, most recently, at the popular Tango Bridge Milonga at Tito’s near London Bridge.

Olga Metzner

Olga is a London-based tango teacher and events organiser. She runs TangoBETTER, a community dedicated to improvement and growth of tango in London, UK and Europe. Olga discovered tango nine years ago at university, and has been dancing ever since. She has travelled to almost every country in Europe and further to dance, and discovered many incredible aspects of this dance first hand, such as its unparalleled diversity and acceptance. Four years ago Olga started teaching tango, and for one and a half years she has organised successful international events in London with many people coming especially from abroad. In July 2017 she decided to quit her promising career as an architect in a large UK firm to do tango full-time. Olga’s approach to tango is based on balancing joy and fun, good technique and interesting musicality. She seeks to inspire people to develop within the dance, and believes that the two main pleasures of tango lay in connection to the community and endless opportunities to grow.

Ivan Arandia

Ivan is an Argentinean tango dancer, choreographer and teacher with over 20 years of experience teaching and performing in the UK, Europe, Australia, Mexico and Argentina. He danced in the movie "Evita" (1996), and participated in "Strictly Dancing”(1998), a Channel 4 documentary on Tango. Ivan also choreographed the tango scene in the Alek Keshishian’s film "Love and Others Disasters" (2006) starring Brittany Murphy. He also featured in the BBC series “Dancing Cheek to Cheek” (2014) and he choreographed and performed the dance scenes in the documentary “LEGACY: Rugby World Cup 2015”. Ivan toured the UK with tango ensemble Tango Siempre (1998-2001). In Australia, he performed in the show “Tango Takes 2” (2001-2002). Ivan featured in the show “La Milonga Interna” at the 2004 Festival do Atlantico in Portugal. As a member of the company Tiempo de Tango (2004 - 2009), he danced at the 58 LLangollen International Musical Eisteddfod in Wales and at the Edinburgh Festival. He also choreographed “Transtango”, a multi-disciplinary show featuring world-class musicians such as Marcelo Nisinman and Tim Garland, visual artists, and dancers, which toured the UK in 2010-2012. Ivan is the principal teacher of NEGRACHA Tango Club in Holborn, one of London's leading and most popular tango clubs attracting over 150 people every Friday night. Currently, Ivan teaches and performs regularly in various scenes in the UK and abroad.

Paula Duarte

Paula is an independent London-based tango professional. She is regularly invited to teach and perform at Negracha Tango Club, Tanguito Tango Academy, Tango on the Thames, Pavadita, Titos, Reading Tango Club and Touch of Tango amongst others . Paula performs in several productions from Tango Siempre and Santiago Quarter (currently showing in theatres across the UK). After winning the first place award for best performer at an international dance competition in Spain in 2011 (III Open Show Dance, Andalucia) she has been a member of Tango Companies and productions, with whom she travelled around the world to perform and teach the different styles of the Argentine Tango, such works include “Broken Tango”, “Rea Danza”, “Perfiles”, dancing with the Milton and Romina Tango Company and Compania Nacional Arcos de Buenos Aires.

Daniel Gini

Daniel is an Argentinian Tango dancer and teacher, with over ten years of experience teaching and dancing internationally. Born in Argentina, Daniel took his first steps in Argentinian Folklore, before stepping into the world of tango with his first lesson in his hometown in 2005 and has never looked back. In Argentina he was part of the Tango Ballet and was a teacher at El Esquinazo Tango Estudio in Buenos Aires. He has been based in London since 2014 and has taught for over 3 years at Leandro Palou Tango Adademy.

With all of this under his belt, he founded Tango Integral, a school based in London and Buenos Aires, which adopts a unique approach to Tango by seamlessly incorporating techniques and methods from other dance and art forms, enabling students to reach their highest potential.