Paula Tejeda and Lucas Carrizo hail from Catamarca in Argentina, and have been dancing since their teens. As a young couple in love they decided to leave their home to pursue their tango career in Buenos Aires. This was a decision which would change their lives forever.
Paula and Lucas have reached the highest levels of achievement in tango. They were crowned as the 2010 Metropolitan Tango Championship Champions in Tango category and placed as runners up in the Vals category. They were also part of the brilliant Miguel Angel Zotto tango production, TangoX2, travelling around Italy (Milano, Roma, Napoli, Firenze, Parma, Bari, Padova, Cremona and Brescia) and Greece (Athens).
They have performed and conducted seminars in China (Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, Shenzhen, Nanjing, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Chengdu), Hong Kong, Korea (Seoul, Busan and Ulsan), Japan (Tokyo), USA (Denver, Portland, San Francisco, Albuquerque, Tucson, Ashland, Durango, Colorado Springs and Vail), Canada (Toronto and Montreal) and Europe: Denmark, Portugal, Netherlands and soon, Sheffield, UK!
They sent us this fascinating statement about their teaching methods:
Our Method
We believe that tango should be taught simultaneously in all its facets:
The communication with the partner, the musicality, the technique, the movements, the logic of the structure, the culture, the history and the social context. All these facets integrate a totality: Tango. Our method is integral.
Abrazo
The embrace is the starting point of communication between the two dancers, and that is inevitably in constant search. We believe in the flexibility of it to be functional to the movements we choose to express the music. The choice of movements depends very much on our body training. It’s because during the class we perform exercises of technical and musical character, to integrate new movements to our muscular memory.
Movements and Dance Structure
Being an improvisational dance we need to learn the rules and structures that will help us to express our personality in the dance and in the music.
The structure is the logical part of the tango dance, without structure you cannot build a solid dance.
Imagine a building without a good solid foundation, it is dangerous, it can collapse and will never reach the top of the sky.
In tango dancing the same thing happens, a good solid base helps your level to follow only one direction: the top.
The objective is to build in our body and mind, the technique, structure and philosophy of tango to be able to use them in your tango path.
Tango Music
Tango dance can not exist without tango music, they are intrinsically related. We will always teach you the movements within the music. We also provide special courses about the musicality of each orchestra and how to interpret it from the dance.
Workshops
Saturday 10:45-12:00
L&P1 Colgadas and Spiral Movements for Social Dancing FULL
Exploring and sharing the axis within the couple.
Saturday 11:15-13:30
L&P2 Milonga Connection and Musicality
How to connect with your partner within the different music patterns.
Saturday 15:30-16:45
L&P3 Communication and Synchronisation
Deep technique for understanding each other and how to learn to listen to your partner.
Sunday 11:15-12:30
L&P4 Sacadas for Both Roles FULL
Various possibilities within the parallel and cross systems.
Sunday 12:45-14:00
L&P5 Musicality: Rhythm Patterns for Different Orchestras
The relationship between the music and expression. We are going to begin by focussing on Di Sarli before exploring other orchestras.
The Sheffield Tango Festival 