Mountain Milonga Retreat 2016
DJs, Teachers, & Musicians
John Miller & Jesica Cutler * Grisha Nisnevich * Brian Salisbury
Joni Roco * Chris Neville * Dmitry Pruss * Serena Lembach
Patrick Marsolek & Lori Mitchell * Mark Christensen
Olga Bogatova * Guadalupe Sandoval * Phonograph Blue Band
John Miller and Jesica Cutler from Denver (website)
John Miller is one of the most popular DJs in Colorado and nationwide, and he plays an average of 140 nights a year. He has DJed across North America at many festivals and milongas, including the UTango, Wasatch Tango Exchange, SLTF, and M2 in Utah, Burning Tango in California, the Albuquerque Tango Festival, the Denver Tango Festival, the Natural Tango Festival, the Boulder Tango Festival, Mala Leche in New York City, the Toronto Tango Experience, the Midwest Tango Festival, the Chicago Mini-Festival, the Austin Spring Tango Festival, and the Baja Eco-Tango Festival in La Paz, Mexico.
Jesica is a master of anatomy, John is a whiz at structure, and together their classes present a clear and integrated understanding of Tango, both in movement and in composition. They have been teaching together since 2013, and work extensively with college students to bring Tango to the younger generation. Their style incorporates both the earliest elements of Tango and the most modern developments.
Jesica massage skills and couple massage classes are a legend in their own right!
John and Jesica, who are dear, cherished friends of the Utah tango community, have recently expanded their activities into tango festival organizing. Three cheers for their Tango on the Rocks Fest 2016 in Denver!!
Grisha Nisnevich from Denver (website)
Grisha Nisnevich is an internationally renown tango musician, band leader, and instructor, who discovered Argentine tango in 2001, and studied with Julio Balmaceda and Corina de la Rosa. As concert-level musician, and professional dancer and teacher, Grisha strives to share his knowledge of the “secrets’ of music taken from music scores and music performance with dancers in addition to sharing the dancing experience with musicians, both in North America and across Europe and Asia, teaching and sharing this original unique material with tango teachers and dancers, giving musicality classes, concerts and lectures as well as technical classes
Brian Salisbury from Salt Lake
Brian Salisbury played violin all his life, and began dancing tango in 1996 with the purpose of finding a social dance situation that didn’t involve standing out most of the evening with a violin under his chin. Sue Jones, Theresa Shultz, and Lynn Butler introduced Argentine Tango at Micky Cassalino’s dance studio which lead to working with Andre Solomon, Christopher Nassapolis, Florencia Tacetti and Alberto Paz. Tango study travels to Seattle, Portland, and Denver lead to a long 2002 trip to Buenos Aries, studying with Claudia Bozzo at Escuela del Tango, then assisting various teachers in BsAs with complete beginners at “tourist” classes.
Early influences of tango music included 78 rpm classics – La Cumparsita, El Choclo, Jealousy, and various “gypsy” records purportedly, “Tango Tzigane” in addition to sound tracks to tango episodes in films. Applied study of tango music began with Dan Diaz and continues with transcription and performance. Annual classes at the Reed College Tango Music Institute since 2013 helped clarify specific style elements of tango from styles used in other passionate music for dance. (i.e. csardas, rembetica, hot swing, tsigane). A seminal 2008 jam with Homer Ladas lead to the creation of Tango Quinteto Noir, many more festival tango jams, and, since 2012, multi-city orchestras convening to play live music at the events such as Mountain Milonga Retreat, Sun Valley Tango Retreat, and Missoula Tango Marathon.
Patrick Marsolek & Lori Mitchell from Missoula (website)
Patrick Marsolek and Lori Mitchell are based in Missoula, Montana. They teach regularly in Missoula, MT and travel to teach tango around the region. They focus on developing dynamic and living connections in the dance — connections can be within ourselves, with our partner, with the music and the other dancers on the floor with us. Within these connections they explore a full range of communication and creativity within the dance.
They are also passionate about building community around tango, recognizing the value of social connections and involvement for dancers. The tango culture involves a rich social experience that is especially valuable since it can help provide more connection and belonging in our lives.
Patrick got hooked on tango in 2005, and hasn’t looked back yet. He also organizes regular workshops with visiting tango instructors in Missoula and hosts the Missoula Tango Marathon each year. For his ‘day job’, Patrick is a clinical hypnotherapist, writer and researcher, and teaches classes on compassionate communication, self-hypnosis, and personal empowerment. He’s also plays the bandoneon and is interested in creating more culturally accessible music for North American tango dancers.
Lori brings 30 years of experience a modern, ballet, jazz, tap, flamenco and trained in Pilates, Gyrotonics, and Laban movement fundamentals, and unites the worlds of health and dance with an eye and heart informed by the joy and wisdom of the importance of movement, self expression, and acknowledgement.
Chat Conversatio
Joni Roco from Tucson
Jurni Roco says: “I believe in creating an environment that fosters connection and growth. I do this by hosting Tango and Blues events, DJing, and, most of all, through teaching. I teach in Portland and Tucson and DJ both traditional, and fusion at events in the western US. Join us as we explore the dance.” Jurni studies tango with Lizelot de Stigter.
Mark Christensen from Salt Lake
Mark Christensen. one of the founders of Salt Lake City tango and a past president of Wasatch Tango Club, has been and continues to be instrumental in the development of a tango community in Utah.
Mark frequently functions as DJ for local tango events and has DJ’d, taught, participated in workshops or danced socially in Buenos Aires and in communities across the United States, including communities in Albuquerque, Ann Arbor, Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington DC and other locations.
Mark advocates socially responsible, conscious, connected, improvisational, musical dancing—acquiring concepts and skills that enable each individual to develop and through dance share with others their own authentic and unique expression, way of moving, and personal interpretation of the passionate, emotive and structurally rich music of Argentine tango.
Christopher Neville from Salt Lake
Christopher is an incredibly passionate and talented dancer, who has done everything from DJing, teaching classes, running milongas, to organizing UTango festival. His DJing is always bright and energetic, and incredibly responsive to the crowd.
Olga Bogatova from San Francisco
Olga says: Since my first tango steps, I have always been drawn to tango music and its beauty. Almost right away, I have started putting together my music collection, both traditional and alternative, sharing and discussing it with my tango friends.
The most important thing at the milonga for me is carefully managing the energy flow within tanda and through the night. I’d like each dancer, whether it’s an early bird or a late comer, to find both high-energy music to splash out their energy and soft and romantic numbers to cuddle in the embrace and enjoy all the shades of the music in between. I believe that providing musical contrast and development is what makes any milonga great. To me, a dj’s job is creating novelty of the mood and ambiance on the dancefloor, so each tango and musical set have their exact place that night.
I regularly dj’d at Stanford Tango Club events and Milonga at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco.
Dmitry Pruss from Salt Lake
Dmitry Pruss discovered Argentine Tango in 2006 and is passionate about the mature tangueros’ duty to give back to the community which shaped our first, still unsure steps on the dance floor, and nurtured our growth in tango. Dmitry has years of volunteer experience with the club events, and co-organizes tango meet-ups big and small, from the monthly Milonga Sin Nombre to teacher workshops to the Mountain Milonga Retreat, Salt Lake Tango Fest, Missoula Tango Marathon, and Denver Tango Festival. Dmitry turns his love of tango poetry and music into DJing, translations of tango lyrics, and a tango blog
Serena Lembach from San Diego
Anibal Troilo said “El tango siempre te espera” (Tango always waits for you.) This is surely the case for Serena Lembach, who first stumbled onto tango during a BsAs visit with a soccer group in 1986.
A single couple all in black on a tiny stage. The music grabbed her soul. The connection and passion was palpable.
Returning home; no tango in sight, sick kids; life got in the way. Fast forward decades. Once she started she never looked back, classes and milongas several days a week. always the music driving the quest.
Serena took the love of the music to djaying, and is busy in San Diego being house DJ for Toca Tango Milonga, as well as guest DJing at other milongas and practicas across the Western US and Mexico. Just as you only know a people when you know the language, you only know tango when you know the music.
She finds joy in seeing dancers embrace the music and grow in their ability to be one with the music.
Guadalupe Sandoval Rodriguez
Many Moons ago Guadalupe Rodriguez found the elixir of music of Tango-in the golden age of Tango to the Neo Classic and the alternative of today. Music connects us across the universe-if there ever will be peace on Earth-music, will certainly have a positive say in it.
Guadalupe found himself in the Tango world since 2008. He has been Immersing himself in the music, culture and dance and currently teaching beginning tango and hosting a practica for the last 3 years at Mestizo Café.
The love of the music then and now motivates Guadalupe to continue to refine, play and discover the perfect playlist for the Milonga. He began Djing the last few years in Salt Lake City, Los Angeles and Sun Valley. “The trip has only begun.” He adds.
Listening to the music of Tango always impresses his sensibilities as a dancer and shares that exuberance with his fellow dancers. He spends hours perfecting the
tandas, and seeing the results fully appreciated by dancers on the floor.
The music, he says, “can’t be improved, but we can surely improve our
interpretation of it with our dance throughout our lives!”
He also is an accomplished visual artist that shares his joy of the dance in film and
stills with others in the community, having done one man shows in Utah and
California. “Tango is such a connectivity passion! It’s no wonder it’s all over the
world, Thank God for that!” He exclaims with a big smile.
Phonograph Blue band, Salt Lake City
The Phonograph Blue is a fantastic music project combining the Krikov family and their international friends, interpreting tango, jazz, and folk classics from many countries and in a variety of languages. We are blessed to have them play at some local milongas! Watch Phonograph Blue playing Serdtse, the 1934 Russian tango hit, at Milonga Sin Nombre in Salt Lake City. Please join us in welcoming them to their first tango fest performance!