World Champion Argentine Tango DancersManuela Rossi and Juan Malizia in Connecticut

Connecticut Tango Festival 2016www.CTTangoFest.org

Friday July 22, through Sunday July 31Milford, Norwalk, Danbury, Middletown

A Festival Celebrating Argentine Tango with 2014 World Champion Dancers Manuela Rossi and Juan Malizia

Raul Jaurena, bandoneonist, Latin Grammy WinnerMaurizio Najt, pianist, Marga Mitchell, singer

dancers/instructors: Dale Ellison and Gem Duras, and Grupo Folklorico Rio de la Plata

Program Summary:Friday, July 29: Tango Passion Show (Milford), 8:00 pm, Tickets $38/$42

Presented by the Milford Arts Council and the CT Tango FestMusicians:

Raul Jaurena, bandoneon, Emilio Solla, piano, Marga Mitchell, voiceDancers:

Manuela Rossi and Juan Malizia, Grupo Folklorico Rio de la Plata, Tango Sueño Performance Group

Tickets/Info: (203) 584-4480, www.CTTangoFest.orgMilford Center for the Arts, 40 Railroad Avenue South, Milford

Friday, July 22: Opening Tango Social “Milonga” with guest Dale Ellison (Middletown), 7:30 pm – 11:00 pm, $15 Social, $25 with class 7:30 – 8:30 pm.

First Church of Christ, 190 Court Street, Middletown

Saturday, July 23: Tango Boot Camp for beginners with Dale and Gem (Milford), 2:30 pm – 5:30 pm, $50Milford Center for the Arts, 40 Railroad Avenue South, Milford

Saturday, July 23: Tango Workshops with Dale and Gem (Danbury), 11:00 am – 1:00 pm, $40Vitti's Dance Studio, 10 Precision Road, Danbury

Sunday, July 24: Intensive Tango Workshops Dale and Gem (Norwalk), 1:00 pm – 5:30 pm, $75Dance Dimensions, 15 Cross Street, Norwalk

Saturday, July 30: Workshops with Manuela and Juan, (Milford), 1:00 pm – 5:30 pm, $75Milford Center for the Arts, 40 Railroad Avenue South, Milford

Sunday, July 31: Workshops with Manuela and Juan (Norwalk), 1:00 pm – 5:30 pm, $75Dance Dimensions, 15 Cross Street, Norwalk

www.CTTangoFest.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMay 24, 2016

Press Phone: (203) 543 8099, e-mail: press@cttangofest.org

Tango Sueño and the Milford Arts Council (MAC) present the ninth Connecticut Tango Festival with World Champion

Argentine Tango Masters Manuela Rossi and Juan Malizia, visiting from Buenos Aires. Their activities will include tango

workshops on July 30 and 31 as well as a performance at the Tango Passion Show –presented by the MAC- on Friday July

29 at the Milford Center for the Arts. The other activities will include tango intensive days with Dale Ellison from

Charleston SC and Gem Duras from Connecticut’s own Tango Sueño Academy as well as a boot camp for beginners and

tango socials at the Milford’s Center for the Arts. The Festival will open with a tango social in Middletown, First Church

on July 22. The other locations include Vitti’s Dance Studio in Danbury and the Dance Dimensions Studio in Norwalk.

For detailed schedule please visit www.CTTangoFest.org.

Artist BiographiesManuela Rossi and Juan Malizia won the first prize at the most prestigious tango competition in the world, “Campeonato Mundial de Tango” in 2014, competing at the ultimately respected Stage Tango Category. The same year they won the first prize at the Buenos Aires competition in tango vals category. Subsequently they became one of the most sought after tango couples and performed and taught in countries such as France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Belgium, London, Turkey, Chile, Brazil, USA, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, China and Angola. They also were selected to take part in the movie “Our Last Tango” featuring the life of Maria Nieves and Juan Carlos Copes, with Juan playing one of the lead roles. 

A dancer with comprehensive artistic training, Juan Malizia has studied many legendary tango dancers and instructors. He performed with leading tango companies and shows such as ¨Tango X 2¨ under the direction of Miguel Anguel Zotto, Tango Fire, Corporación Tangos, Estampas Porteñas, Tango a Tierra, Ayres de Tango, Tangos Corazónicos, Radio Latina, Tango Lovers and Tango Legends. Manuela Rossi is a former Ballet dancer, with diplomas from "Instituto Superior de Arte del Teatro Colón" and “Rosella Hightower” School in Cannes, France. She started dancing tango at the age of seventeen. After discovering tango and its passion she traveled throughout the world. Before her partnership with Juan Malizia, she was a runner up at the World Championships three years in a row in 2009, 2010 and 2011.

In 2015 they launched a new tango show called Rojo Tango, which will be premiered this year at the famous Faena Hotel. When they are not touring the world, Manuela and Juan perform at the historic venue Café de los Angelitos in Buenos Aires.

Dale Ellison, known in Buenos Aires as Delia, has been dancing Argentine tango for more than 17 years, and teaching for more than 10. She has developed a reputation as a dynamic Argentine Tango teacher and performer in salon, milonguero, nuevo and performance styles of tango. Originally a San Francisco resident, Dale received her tango training from the stars of the famous show “Forever Tango” most notably Carlos Gavito and Marcela Duran. Initially a salsa dancer and club style salsa instructor, Dale was drawn to tango for its sensuality and passion, later winning the first prize in the first San Francisco Tango Competition in 1998. She has traveled to Buenos Aires numerous times to study with Gustavo Naveira, Osvaldo Zotto, Oscar Mandagaran, Chicho Frumboli, Geraldine Rojas, Graciela Gonzales, Marcela Duran, and women's technique with Lorena Ermocida. After teaching in CT for five years with Gem Duras, Dale Ellison moved to Charleston SC, where she teaches and runs tango activities as the director of Tango Rojo.

Gem Duras started his tango training in 1995 initially with the original cast members of the famous show Forever Tango in particular the legendary Carlos Gavito. After incorporating his technique, elegance and musicality into his own dancing and teaching, he visited Buenos Aires numerous times to study ballet as well as advanced technique and stage tango with younger Forever Tango stars Jesus Velazquez and Francisco Forquera becoming a certified tango instructor and dancer. During his partnership with Dale Ellison, they founded Tango Sueño and traveled to Buenos Aires numerous times to perfect their technique by studying with Gustavo Naveira, Juan Carlos Copes, Osvaldo Zotto, Oscar Mandagaran, Chicho Frumboli, Geraldine Rojas and Susana Miller among others. Gem recently performed and taught at the Stardust weekend upstate New York, and participated as a performer in the New Year’s Celebration event organized by Akademi Tango, in Ankara-Turkey. He runs Tango Sueño in Connecticut and holds regular classes throughout CT as well as Westchester, NY.

Raul Jaurena - the man that Astor Piazzolla once called one of the greatest bandoneon players ever - is among today’s most caught after bandoneon players. His music plays a very personal tribute to the influences of his native South America and his adopted hometown of New York. It combines the traditional roots of the tango and the new tango styles influenced by jazz.

Jaurena was raised in Uruguay and his father taught him how to play the bandoneon - joining a tango orchestra at the age of eight. After playing as a member of various tango orchestras in Uruguay, Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Ecuador and Venezuela, Raul Jaurena performed with Astor Piazzolla at the Montreal Jazz Festival after which the conservation of the musical spirit of Astor Piazzolla became his personal vocation: Jaurena’s tango interpretations which are enriched by influences of jazz, his own arrangements and spontaneous improvisations inspire a new generation of listeners and dancers.

Raul Jaurena performed with Cuban Jazz saxophone player Paquito D'Rivera, cellist Yo Yo Ma, Giora Feidman and Tango Five among others. As a soloist he regularly performs as soloist with prominent ensembles and orchestras throughout Europe and the US. He was recently invited as a special guest to the International Accordeon Festival in San Antonio, Texas and his show Tango & Tango had great success at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago. The ballet suite that he composed in 1995 for the Irene Hultman Dance Company in New York was awarded the “Bessie”. During the same year he was invited to the White House and in 2007 he won a Latin Grammy for best Tango Album "Te amo Tango".

Marga Mitchell was born in Caracas, Venezuela. After moving to the US, she participated in the Midnight Summer Night at Lincoln Center New York, in 1992-1994, Tango Fest-Broadway at Town Hall, the Ravinia Festival in Chicago 1997-1998, the 10th & 11th International Tango Festival in Montevideo, Uruguay. In 1999, she performed at The White House with the group Quintango along with movie star Robert Duval. She was invited as a special guest in the Latin American Concert with the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Official Radio in Vienna, Austria and performed in the San Martin Theater for the first International Festival of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

She has been a soloist with different orchestras around the world, including the Pan-American Symphony Orchestra in Washington DC, the Symphony Orchestra of Richmond, Virginia, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Stuttgart, Germany, and has been a special guest of the group Tango Five, in Germany. Other performances include; All That tango winner of the 2002 ACE Award as Best Musical Production, Life’s tango, Tangomania, & I Love Tango. She has released four CDs: “Marga canta tangos”, arranged and produced by Raul Jaurena in Canada; a live concert with the Philharmonic of Stuttgart, produced by Bauer Studios along with Tango Five in Germany, “Marga Sings to the World” in 2005 and Latin Grammy winner album “I love Tango” in 2007.

Maurizio Najt was born in Milan, Italy and grew up in Argentina where he graduated in piano and composition at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música in Buenos Aires.

He played an important role as a tango pianist in the New York tango renaissance, performing with the ensembles Amigos del Tango, and later the New York Tango Trio. With the latter he performed at the legendary Teatro Colón de Buenos Aires in 2002 at Festival de Música Internacional. He has performed as part of the Tony Award winning Tango Show Forever Tango Orchestra touring the US, Mexico, Japan and China. His other performances include the Midsummer Night Swing at Lincoln Center Plaza, Alice Tully Hall, El Museo del Barrio, Argentine Embassy in DC and Tokyo; Vanderbilt Mansion Museum in LI, Caramoor Center for Music and Arts, The Montclair Art Museum; Brooklyn's Museum of Art; Cleveland Art Museum; Philadelphia Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Ravinia Festival in Chicago; Smithsonian Art Museum in DC, and countless tango shows throughout the US playing along master bandoneonists such as Grammy winner Raul Jaurena, Tito Castro and Héctor del Curto.

As a composer he has produced the original music for various independent movies and documentaries, such as the acclaimed off-Broadway musical theater "Don Quixxxote" (ACE award nominated), and the children's tango musical "A Tango for Tita" (ACE award winner) He has also collaborated with Academy-Award winning film director Ang Lee for the musical arrangements of the film Lust Caution.

Grupo Folklorico Rio de la Plata was created in 2009 by Adrian and Silvana Correa, with a mission to keep Argentine and Uruguayan dance traditions alive through performances and educational activities. Adrian Correa, the director of the group, first started dancing in 1994 in his native country Uruguay, becoming an expert in folk styles such as Zamba and Chacarera. With Silvana, his wife, they have taken their Folklore to NY, NJ, CT and PA, dancing at numerous festivals. They are based in Danbury, CT performing Uruguayan and Argentinean folk dancing exclusively.

Artist Photos with High Resoultion versions at www.cttangofest.org/press.html

Manuela and JuanManuela and Juan

Manuela and Juan

Raul Jaurena

Marga Mitchell

Maurizio Najt

Grupo Folklorico Rio de la Plata

Dale and Gem

Dale and Gem

###Not for publication: Please visit http://www.cttangofest.org/press.html for high-resolution versions of these and

other photos for print publication