News

There are loads of Tango DJs out there, but when you’re a bit of a control freak (me?) and very choosy about who you allow to DJ at your events then it can get tricky.  And preparing for this year’s Eastonathon event has been as arduous as ever.

I’ve visited a lot of milongas to check out DJs, there are always lots of suggestions from helpful other dancers, and some DJs got a guest slot at our Anniversary Milonga too.  But… let’s just say that I’m always amazed at the different approaches that people take to the DJ job, and how professional they are (or not!).

So the team that are coming to Eton to DJ at Easter have passed my closest scrutiny and boy, am I pleased with the line-up!

There are some well-known and much loved faces; Kirsty Bennett, Ricardo Peixoto, Antonio Martinez,

And some new names at Eton; Solveig Jansen, Hiba Faisal, and Anthony Cronin

Oh, and me.

We’ve had loads of messages of thanks and congratulations for our 10th Anniversary, but this one took the Biscuit – literally!  Kasia had it made in Poland for us, and brought it along to our lesson on Sunday, and we don’t know whether to tuck in to it with a mug of coffee, or just admire it!

The past couple of weeks have been the best ever for our tango events, and I feel like it’s the culmination of what we’ve been building in our tango community for the past ten years. We were absolutely bowled over by the huge number of people who came to Eton for the Anniversary event on Saturday, old friends and new faces too.

We get a real buzz from putting on milongas that people enjoy, and this was the best ever; a fantastic energy in the room and loads of smiling faces.  Somehow it seemed that we had arrived at the destination we set out for years ago, and I must have been walking around with an inane grin on my face all day.

Thank everyone for giving us back so much happiness and satisfaction.

We’ve just finished sorting everything out after our big events at Christmas time, and now there’s even more big stuff coming along;

Well, naturally, the first thing is the refreshed look of this web site.  there’s been a lot of work going on behind the scene for a few weeks now; we’ve kept our web site guru Nick busy!  He’s updated the site and make it easier to view with mobile devices.  The good news is that Nick makes a decent cup of coffee, so I’ve looked forward to the meetings to discuss the changes.  Nick is a dab hand at this kind of thing, and gave Thames Valley Tango it’s visual identity years ago.  Lots have people praise the site and so we’re in good hands.

The bad news is that I’m faced with learning a new system (what could possibly go wrong?) , so he’s got to expect to get a few calls for help over the next few weeks.

10 years ago I wandered in to the Windsor Arts Centre (as it was then) on a whim.  With time to spare and an idea in the back of my head I checked out the rooms that could be used for some Tango lessons for a few friends.  I’d been dancing for a few years and become a bit obsessed, and some friends had asked about lessons.  And that was how it started; I booked a room, the lessons were advertised in the Arts Centre programme, and a few weeks later we had a room full of people eagerly awaiting their first taste of dancing Tango.

I had a lot of help and support from other dancers in those early days, especially Peter Okell-Walker who shared my enthusiasm for the project and brought experience of his many years as a professional trainer and musician.  We had both experienced 2nd rate teaching and poorly organised events, and we knew that it could be done better.  And loads of other dancers were happy to come along to help out, demonstrate, and encourage us.

Hot on the heels of the success of the lessons in Windsor we started lessons in High Wycombe and Farnham, and then Reading and Oxford.  And then weekly practice nights started in Eton. We’ve organised holidays, workshops, international guest teachers, and dance marathons.

The Eton milongas started in 2006 too.  These days I shudder at the memory of the music we played and the way we danced in those early days, but we’ve come a long way since then!  Most importantly I met Sarah when she came to Eton in 2008, and now we’re a happy family with our son Torin, enjoying a life of dancing, teaching, and running events.

And now it’s been 10 years! Wow!  There’s going to be a big celebration event on Saturday!