Notes on early history of tango in Wellington
Compiled by Kevin Jones et al.
Part One: The First Decade
Background
Originally tango was almost completely confined to Argentina and Uruguay until towards the end of the last century when it commenced its inexorable diaspora around the world, aided considerably by some popular films featuring the tango. This did not happen in isolation; it was part of an international movement from the 1980s led by Argentine expats that re-created interest in tango music and dance. Foremost among them were the New York-based Astor Piazzolla (musician and composer), in France the stage show Tango Argentino (1983) starring, amongst performers known in New Zealand, Carlos and Maria Rivarola , Pablo Veron and Milena Plebs.
Carlos Gavito was an impresario and dancer, and star of Forever Tango, which opened on Broadway in the late 1980s and on the United States west coast in the 1990s, eventually returning to Broadway. It was in competition with the French Tango Argentino which had opened on Broadway by 1985. In 1986 the Tango Argentino dancers won a Tony for Best Choreography so it all became very much mainstream and high profile.
The tango dance has long been an important symbol or trope (repeated mythic element). From Some Like it Hot, Scent of a Woman, East West,
to The Tango Lesson, the tango and learning the tango, is satirised by turns but often appears at a crux in the plot where the stars come to a bitter-sweet accommodation or a new understanding of how they must relate to each other. Sometimes, it is cryptic, as in The Tango Lesson, where the two lie side by side and say that they dance the tango to express their alienation and Jewishness.
The first decade of tango in Wellington
In Wellington, tango had its origins in a few teachers who realised that there was demand and who in turn created demand. It had a very humble beginning in 1991, starting from absolute scratch. It actually emerged as part of a small weekly ballroom class taught by an Australian, David Backler, who just happened to be temporarily but fortuitously in New Zealand. Attendance was in single figures. The programme comprised foxtrot, waltz, quickstep, cha-cha, rumba and of course Argentine tango. A different combination of the above was covered in each hourly lesson. For most students tango was the most popular.
At this stage of course no milongas were held, but a group of about half a dozen students used to attend the ballroom community dances at Rongotai. Earlier Backler ran a totally ballroom matinee in the Botanic Gardens Begonia House but it folded after a couple of weeks through lack of support – no men. At the last matinee the only outsider was Graeme Dallow, an experienced ballroom dancer. David Backler asked him to join the group. Incidentally the proprietor of the Begonia House restaurant was Denis Jones, the brother of Kevin Jones, and Kevin also later took up the tango.
Because of its small size the group understandably had problems affording and retaining premises for the class. At one point they used an attic in condemned unoccupied premises hounded by the Wellington wind blasting through its broken window panes. At another venue (the Jimmy James Cabaret in Hania Street) classes were sometimes cancelled on account of a booking by a bigger client, but unfortunately not all students were advised. A great struggle – yes - but tango survived.
The accommodation problem was eventually solved when Graeme Dallow, after lengthy negotiations, signed a lease with the Wellington Irish Society (generally known as the Irish Club) for the use of their Fifeshire Ave premises on Wednesday nights. The only condition was that the hall would not be available when Saint Patrick’s day fell on a Wednesday. In order to consolidate the class’ tenure Graeme became a member of the Irish Club. Many other venues have since come and gone. The venue has been a great asset to Wellington tango. Its biggest night with over a hundred attending is during the Tango Festival.
In 1997 David Backler left New Zealand when his wife transferred to Melbourne. After a brief power struggle Graeme Dallow took over the tango and led it in a new direction. His first move was to train a partner. This role was filled by Olga Pomer, a top competition ballroom dancer. Olga was very young - still a senior at high school - and never had any formal training in tango but Graeme had noticed her potential at the fortnightly Wellington Performing Arts Centre milonga (which David had established in 1993 in Allen Street). After training she began teaching the following year. Olga later became the first New Zealand woman to study tango in Argentina.
Graeme Dallow’s second move was to drop all the ballroom dances (foxtrot, waltz, cha-cha, etc.) and then lastly the salsa, which was instead taught by Jackie Cook. So tango eventually became the only dance on Graeme's programme. These moves apparently proved successful and the number of students quickly doubled, tripled and more. The ethos of this period of rapid expansion is succinctly stated by the last of the original tango dancers, Gordon Cessford: 'We simply did our own thing.' At one stage tango was taught at four different venues, the main one
being the Irish Club, which provided four classes on Wednesday nights: seniors, intermediates, beginners and simultaneous with the latter, a first- nighters class. This required of course a number of extra partners such as Olga Gladkikh, Karen Taylor and Ksenija Karalic; all of whom went on to partner emerging teachers such as Neville Waisbrod and Alex White. And of course there was Federico Mattiuzzi, who went on to teach in Sydney and recently won the All Australian Show Tango Championship. This period was also the nursery for other future teachers such as Geoff Nicholls, Beth Condon, Keith _______, Mark Sidebotham, Gordon Cessford, Grant ____ and lately Ian Jenkins.
Contemporaneously Cindy Velthuissen started teaching at the studio previously used by 4E where she also ran a popular milonga on Wednesday nights. She followed the original Backler programme namely ballroom, latin and salsa with of course some tango. Later she put a lot of work into Ceroc.
On a Friday night in 1997 Graciella Herida, who had been teaching tango in Auckland, arrived unheralded at the Wellington Performing Arts Centre (WPAC) where Graeme and Olga were teaching. She exclaimed that she was full of joy and pride to see her national dance being taught in the capital city of New Zealand. In 1998 Rudolpho Monteleone became the first Argentinian professional teacher to visit Wellington direct from Argentina. He conducted several workshops and gave private lessons. Monteleone’s stay was naturally a great boost to local standards. Incidentally Monteleone’s father taught Madonna to dance for her role in Evita.
In 1997 Marian Cameron and Berndt Gill started the first independent milonga at the Grand Hotel on Sunday afternoons. Marian also ran spasmodic milongas at various locations, some superbly decorated for the occasion. She doubled as a DJ under the title of Tango Red and produced a newsletter. Marian later joined up with Bill Vela to run various milongas, particularly at The Jimmy and the Loaded Hog, then later at Latinos.
One of the students, Tim Stevenson, always aspired to be a tango teacher. He subsequently studied in Buenos Aries on two occasions in 1998, and then became the third operating teacher in Wellington. He conducted a weekly session at premises in Lorne Street, but without a regular partner. He also assisted Marian in running milongas. His biggest contribution was the introduction of the first practica, which was extremely helpful in developing tango at all levels in addition to being another social occasion.
However in 1999 when Alex White returned after study in Buenos Aires, Tim handed over his venue and pupils because at that stage Wellington could not support four teachers. Alex also established a teaching partnership with Olga Gladkikh, who had been one of Graeme Dallow’s partners at Khandallah and at the Performing Arts Centre. Alex and Olga are still teaching together now (as at early 2014) - a New Zealand record.
To boost trade Alex could often be seen busking the tango in lower Cuba street, in the process enhancing its bohemian flavour. This required chutzpa and various Wellington dancers would join him there. This no doubt was a forerunner to his becoming the first Kiwi to give public performances, first with Olga Gladkikh and much later with Jacinta Roe. Incidentally, New Zealand’s 2012 Hollywood Oscar song winner Brett McKenzie also started off busking in Cuba Street. In 2000 Alex took the ambitious step of forming the Viva Latina company and leasing the former studio the 4E Ballroom Academy. He also took out an expensive advertising contract with Wellington’s cinema chain. Unfortunately he was over-committed and both contracts were surrendered. So the old 4E studio once again became a graveyard for tango teachers. Unfortunately high expectations could not match the high rent. Yet today Alex has the biggest spread of tango venues and holds the record for the longest practising teacher.
So far we have covered the first ten years which actually brings us to the end of an era as far as style is concerned. As you will have observed, the first three tango teachers had all been ballroom dancers. Naturally their style was oriented in that direction but slowly the style started to change, evolving into the more authentic Argentinian style, namely close embrace.
Many factors brought this about. First there were workshops and private lessons from visiting Argentinian teachers. Then there were the trips to Buenos Aires by locals. Imported videos were another influence. Expatriate Argentinian dancers, Enrique and Ricardo settling in Wellington helped the process. Another big contributor in this movement was Neville Waisbrod, who started teaching the milonguero style at Eastbourne in 2001. Neville has since been a frequent visitor to BA eventually buying his own apartment there. Lastly the annual New Zealand Tango Festival, established in 2001, was a great boost to tango in Wellington when it finally settled there in 2005.
Carlos Gavito was an impresario and dancer, and star of Forever Tango, which opened on Broadway in the late 1980s and on the United States west coast in the 1990s, eventually returning to Broadway. It was in competition with the French Tango Argentino which had opened on Broadway by 1985. In 1986 the Tango Argentino dancers won a Tony for Best Choreography so it all became very much mainstream and high profile.
The tango dance has long been an important symbol or trope (repeated mythic element). From Some Like it Hot, Scent of a Woman, East West,
to The Tango Lesson, the tango and learning the tango, is satirised by turns but often appears at a crux in the plot where the stars come to a bitter-sweet accommodation or a new understanding of how they must relate to each other. Sometimes, it is cryptic, as in The Tango Lesson, where the two lie side by side and say that they dance the tango to express their alienation and Jewishness.
The first decade of tango in Wellington
In Wellington, tango had its origins in a few teachers who realised that there was demand and who in turn created demand. It had a very humble beginning in 1991, starting from absolute scratch. It actually emerged as part of a small weekly ballroom class taught by an Australian, David Backler, who just happened to be temporarily but fortuitously in New Zealand. Attendance was in single figures. The programme comprised foxtrot, waltz, quickstep, cha-cha, rumba and of course Argentine tango. A different combination of the above was covered in each hourly lesson. For most students tango was the most popular.
At this stage of course no milongas were held, but a group of about half a dozen students used to attend the ballroom community dances at Rongotai. Earlier Backler ran a totally ballroom matinee in the Botanic Gardens Begonia House but it folded after a couple of weeks through lack of support – no men. At the last matinee the only outsider was Graeme Dallow, an experienced ballroom dancer. David Backler asked him to join the group. Incidentally the proprietor of the Begonia House restaurant was Denis Jones, the brother of Kevin Jones, and Kevin also later took up the tango.
Because of its small size the group understandably had problems affording and retaining premises for the class. At one point they used an attic in condemned unoccupied premises hounded by the Wellington wind blasting through its broken window panes. At another venue (the Jimmy James Cabaret in Hania Street) classes were sometimes cancelled on account of a booking by a bigger client, but unfortunately not all students were advised. A great struggle – yes - but tango survived.
The accommodation problem was eventually solved when Graeme Dallow, after lengthy negotiations, signed a lease with the Wellington Irish Society (generally known as the Irish Club) for the use of their Fifeshire Ave premises on Wednesday nights. The only condition was that the hall would not be available when Saint Patrick’s day fell on a Wednesday. In order to consolidate the class’ tenure Graeme became a member of the Irish Club. Many other venues have since come and gone. The venue has been a great asset to Wellington tango. Its biggest night with over a hundred attending is during the Tango Festival.
In 1997 David Backler left New Zealand when his wife transferred to Melbourne. After a brief power struggle Graeme Dallow took over the tango and led it in a new direction. His first move was to train a partner. This role was filled by Olga Pomer, a top competition ballroom dancer. Olga was very young - still a senior at high school - and never had any formal training in tango but Graeme had noticed her potential at the fortnightly Wellington Performing Arts Centre milonga (which David had established in 1993 in Allen Street). After training she began teaching the following year. Olga later became the first New Zealand woman to study tango in Argentina.
Graeme Dallow’s second move was to drop all the ballroom dances (foxtrot, waltz, cha-cha, etc.) and then lastly the salsa, which was instead taught by Jackie Cook. So tango eventually became the only dance on Graeme's programme. These moves apparently proved successful and the number of students quickly doubled, tripled and more. The ethos of this period of rapid expansion is succinctly stated by the last of the original tango dancers, Gordon Cessford: 'We simply did our own thing.' At one stage tango was taught at four different venues, the main one
being the Irish Club, which provided four classes on Wednesday nights: seniors, intermediates, beginners and simultaneous with the latter, a first- nighters class. This required of course a number of extra partners such as Olga Gladkikh, Karen Taylor and Ksenija Karalic; all of whom went on to partner emerging teachers such as Neville Waisbrod and Alex White. And of course there was Federico Mattiuzzi, who went on to teach in Sydney and recently won the All Australian Show Tango Championship. This period was also the nursery for other future teachers such as Geoff Nicholls, Beth Condon, Keith _______, Mark Sidebotham, Gordon Cessford, Grant ____ and lately Ian Jenkins.
Contemporaneously Cindy Velthuissen started teaching at the studio previously used by 4E where she also ran a popular milonga on Wednesday nights. She followed the original Backler programme namely ballroom, latin and salsa with of course some tango. Later she put a lot of work into Ceroc.
On a Friday night in 1997 Graciella Herida, who had been teaching tango in Auckland, arrived unheralded at the Wellington Performing Arts Centre (WPAC) where Graeme and Olga were teaching. She exclaimed that she was full of joy and pride to see her national dance being taught in the capital city of New Zealand. In 1998 Rudolpho Monteleone became the first Argentinian professional teacher to visit Wellington direct from Argentina. He conducted several workshops and gave private lessons. Monteleone’s stay was naturally a great boost to local standards. Incidentally Monteleone’s father taught Madonna to dance for her role in Evita.
In 1997 Marian Cameron and Berndt Gill started the first independent milonga at the Grand Hotel on Sunday afternoons. Marian also ran spasmodic milongas at various locations, some superbly decorated for the occasion. She doubled as a DJ under the title of Tango Red and produced a newsletter. Marian later joined up with Bill Vela to run various milongas, particularly at The Jimmy and the Loaded Hog, then later at Latinos.
One of the students, Tim Stevenson, always aspired to be a tango teacher. He subsequently studied in Buenos Aries on two occasions in 1998, and then became the third operating teacher in Wellington. He conducted a weekly session at premises in Lorne Street, but without a regular partner. He also assisted Marian in running milongas. His biggest contribution was the introduction of the first practica, which was extremely helpful in developing tango at all levels in addition to being another social occasion.
However in 1999 when Alex White returned after study in Buenos Aires, Tim handed over his venue and pupils because at that stage Wellington could not support four teachers. Alex also established a teaching partnership with Olga Gladkikh, who had been one of Graeme Dallow’s partners at Khandallah and at the Performing Arts Centre. Alex and Olga are still teaching together now (as at early 2014) - a New Zealand record.
To boost trade Alex could often be seen busking the tango in lower Cuba street, in the process enhancing its bohemian flavour. This required chutzpa and various Wellington dancers would join him there. This no doubt was a forerunner to his becoming the first Kiwi to give public performances, first with Olga Gladkikh and much later with Jacinta Roe. Incidentally, New Zealand’s 2012 Hollywood Oscar song winner Brett McKenzie also started off busking in Cuba Street. In 2000 Alex took the ambitious step of forming the Viva Latina company and leasing the former studio the 4E Ballroom Academy. He also took out an expensive advertising contract with Wellington’s cinema chain. Unfortunately he was over-committed and both contracts were surrendered. So the old 4E studio once again became a graveyard for tango teachers. Unfortunately high expectations could not match the high rent. Yet today Alex has the biggest spread of tango venues and holds the record for the longest practising teacher.
So far we have covered the first ten years which actually brings us to the end of an era as far as style is concerned. As you will have observed, the first three tango teachers had all been ballroom dancers. Naturally their style was oriented in that direction but slowly the style started to change, evolving into the more authentic Argentinian style, namely close embrace.
Many factors brought this about. First there were workshops and private lessons from visiting Argentinian teachers. Then there were the trips to Buenos Aires by locals. Imported videos were another influence. Expatriate Argentinian dancers, Enrique and Ricardo settling in Wellington helped the process. Another big contributor in this movement was Neville Waisbrod, who started teaching the milonguero style at Eastbourne in 2001. Neville has since been a frequent visitor to BA eventually buying his own apartment there. Lastly the annual New Zealand Tango Festival, established in 2001, was a great boost to tango in Wellington when it finally settled there in 2005.
Part 2
Tango needs to be seen as more than teachers and shows.
The key influences are:
- Teachers some of whom may have moved from other dance 'codes'
- Teachers who run milongas
- 'Entrepreneurs' who run milongas
- A local community large enough to encourage others and to draw in influences from the history of tango and from travel
- Visiting teachers especially from BA and Argentine expats living in NZ
- International travel particularly to BA to bring back motivation, ideas, dance technique, attitudes and values
- NZ Tango Festival (Tango Colectivo) (2002-) and other festivals NZ and elsewhere
Wellington tango - a narrative
From 1991 were the early days at the Wellington Performing Arts Centre (WPAC). David Backler operated up to about 1995 under the guise of Tango Bar and Sidewalk Tango. Then, after a gap, by Bill Vela, Bernd Gill and the performing arts centre.
Graham Dallow with Olga Pomer originally taught tango at WPAC in Allen Street. WPAC moved to Vivian St about 2002 and to its current premises, still with dual dance formula (tango and salsa on separate floors) in 2009.
This is Wellington’s and New Zealand’s longest standing tango teaching venue. Initially a range of dance codes were taught but it eventually involved just the teaching of tango. The dual tango and salsa format dates from the era when Ricky Martin popularised the salsa rhythm and
when Jackie Cook came on to teach a salsa class. The CD Best of Ricky Martin came out in 2001 so his pop influence may have been on the go from 1998 or so.
WPAC is still using the simultaneous dual salsa and tango room format which enables a good cross-over between the Latin dancers. Tango used to be the only code but it has long been the poor cousin to salsa with generally poor conditions and production (no DJ present, etc.) in the tango room. Numbers and demand is now greater for salsa. Nevertheless, a number of dancers now on the tango scene ‘graduated’ from the WPAC salsa scene.
1997-2002, The Grand, Courtenay Place. Afternoon milonga on the last Sunday of every month. This was the first real milonga set up in Wellington, a milonga as opposed to teaching with some social dancing tacked on at the end. The organisers were Marian Cameron and Bernd Gill and it was the first bar venue for tango in Wellington. The upstairs bar was fitted out with beautiful wooden floors and long elegant mirrors – perfect for a tango venue. Marian’s trademark was an elegant plaster leg clad in fishnets and a single tango shoe, that she would site somewhere near the DJ’s stand. Entry was by gold coin, as little as $2-3.
The only hassle was when we were bumped by afternoon rugby matches and we re-located to The Bristol. The Grand, eventually became Shooters (a sports bar) and that was the end of that. Shooters lost out and the bar is The Grand again, but tango has never gone back there.
In 1996 or 97, a regular milonga there followed attendance at Sally Potter’s The Tango Lesson, then showing at The Embassy.
In the bigpicture, The Grand was the outstanding tango venue in Wellington and formed a strong body of dancers who were floor-savvy. Although there were a lot of flying ganchos and even drops, people learned to dance in a manner that suited a transition to dancing internationally and especially in Buenos Aires. Important and sought-after dancers on the floor were Alina, Katrina, Natasha , Marian Cameron, Peter Moore, Geoff and Nancy, Neville Waisbrod ….
Lloyd Jones (novelist) was mesmerized by the scene on the dance floor at The Grand and wrote a short story 'Another way of walking' (NZ Listener January 13, 2001: 330-333) set in The Grand with some identifiable characters from the scene. Later he wrote a novel Here at the End of the World We Learn to Dance (2008) in which tango was a motif that decorated some grander themes and narratives than simply men and women getting together to dance.
From 1996-1997, the Thistle Hall, upper Cuba Street, became an important alternative tango venue. There were Sunday afternoon milongas once a month and other occasional milongas and teaching sessions here.
In 1998-2000, at the Brooklyn Community Centre (School Hall), there were regular mid-week milongas run by Nancy Nichols Acevedo. Nancy also had Saturday milongas at St Michael’s Church Hall, Kelburn, and St Marks School Hall, near Basin Reserve.
In about 2003, Neville Waisbrod and Gordon Cessford set up a mid-week early evening venue at The Grand, downstairs.
From 1996 t __________ , Graham Dallow and Olga Pomer taught at the Irish Club Fifeshire Ave, with ‘social dancing’ after the lesson. Eventually from about 2000, it became also a regular mid-week milonga. The Irish Club is now the longest established teaching/milonga venue in New Zealand with an excellent wooden floor. It is currently run by Ricardo Paino.
From 1997-2002, Alex White and Olga Gladkikh (now, Olia Glade) taught at the Church Hall in Woburn Road on Sunday afternoons from 1998 until Alex set up Viva Latina in 2002. Among others who first learned here were NZ salon champions Matthew Civil and Sarah Heyward.
The Sunday tango venue moved to Latinos in Tory Street in 2002. This was after The Grand closed the door on the Sunday afternoon sojourns. Marian Cameron, Tango Red, ran weekly Sunday night milongas. Other regular DJs were Pedro (Peter Williamson), Matthew Civil and Sarah Heyward. Proprietor Manuel Rodriguez had a weak spot for tango and Latinos' has easily been the longest duration of any bar venue in New Zealand, matched only by Auckland’s Limon (on the water front). Many great tango and salsa events were held here. A salsa band from the Esmeralda (Chilean training ship) played here when the ventilation was still poor and the floors ran with sweat.
Atfirst we danced on an elevated floor on the windows side of the bar, with tables and seating on the concrete floor. Later the concrete floor was lined with polyurerthaned MDF and the seating was on the elevated area. Manuel closed the bar in 2009 and in response to that, Nina van Duynhoven set up the regular Crossways Sunday milongas.
From 2002, the dance studios upstairs at 22 Webb St became a practica and teaching venue. Teaching here was by Viva Latina (Alex White and Olga Gladkikh) after Alex left the studio at 8 Fifeshire Ave. Viva Latina also ran occasional dual format (salsa and tango) milongas here.
Toujours Tango (Matthew Civil and Sarah Heyward) also taught at 22 Webb Street from 2003; their sessions eventually developed into their regular Saturday afternoon practica. Matthew and Sarah were the first NZ professional stage tango champions and semi-finalists in the 2006
World Championships in Buenos Aires. They started teaching after a world tango-study tour in 2001. Various DJs, including Pedro, played at their practicas. The Webb Street premises had two studios with sprung or raised floors, a barre and wall mirrors.
From about 2003, there were various occasional milongas at the Tararua Tramping Club Hall, Moncrieff St. Camila Zapatti and
David Palo ran classes in 2005. Also from 2007 alternate Friday milongas and practicas were hosted by Geoff Nicholls. It had a very good wooden floor and unusual atmosphere (ice-axes and skis on the wall).
From 2000 to about 2002, Cindy Velthuizen set up Studio Red in the dance studio at 8 Fifeshire Ave. It was a tango / salsa / martial arts studio and she also established a Wednesday night milonga. Christine Denniston (hosted by Toujours Tango) taught classes here when she visited in 2000. In 2001 Viva Latina (Alex White) took over the lease from Cindy. Viva Latina moved to 22 Webb Street in 2002.
The New Zealand Tango Festival was established by Heidi Hughes (Jambalaya Education Charitable Trust) in 2006 at Te Whaea, New Zealand School of Dance, Newtown. As at 2014 this was the pre-eminent New Zealand tango festival with eight seasons at T Whaea. The festival had early seasons at the Chateau (2002, 2003), Martinborough (2004) and Auckland (2003).
From 2002 there have been occasional classy milongas and tango tango/salsa balls at The Jimmy (St James foyer), also a few at The Loaded Hog (waterfront). These were generally organised by Bill Vela.
From 2007-08 onwards at St Mark’s School Hall there has been a monthly Saturday night milonga set up by Nina Van Duynhoven. Also special events pre and post festivals. From this date also there has been teaching by Tango del Alma (Neville Waisbrod and Ksenija, later Aleece
Alesker, and recently Jemima (beginners) and Craig and Regine Barkwith (intermediate).
From 2008 at Crossways, Mt Victoria, Sunday evening milongas here have become an institution, hosted by Nina Van Duynhoven. These filled the gap left by the closing of Latino’s Bar. Wise Nina says: 'I would really like to see if we can[not] create a Wellington Tango community in which everybody feels comfortable and has a good time. We need to put our energy into the positive..... With this in mind I invite everybody to the new Sunday milonga. However, I request that all who attend do their bit to contribute to a good atmosphere by being respectful of our differences.'
From 2010 at Thistle Hall, upper Cuba Street, Tango Atelier (Sharon Vanesse) has presented lessons and occasional milongas with guest stars, lately every second Friday, continuing a long tradition of Latin events at Thistle Hall. Although Friday events compete with the longest standing of all Latin dance traditions in Wellington, the fortnightly WPAC Friday events, it could be argued that WPAC can stand and indeed even needs that competition.
Editor's note: The following chart is very much a work in progress. Corrections and additional information are needed so if you have any, please don't hesitate to contact Jill at jilian.lloyd@xtra.co.nz .
Date |
Venue |
Who? |
|
1991-the early days
|
Wellington Performing Arts Centre
|
David Backler ran milongas up to about 1995 under the guise of Tango Bar and Sidewalk Tango. Then, after a gap, milongas were run by Bill Vella, Bernd Gill and the Performing Arts Centre. Originally in Allen Street, moved to Vivian St about 2002 and to its current premises and
still with dual dance formula (tango and salsa on separate floors) in 2009. |
|
1996 onwards
|
Irish Club, Fifeshire Ave
|
Graeme Dallow and Olga Pomer; subsequently (from 2006?) Ricardo Paino and Karen Taylor
|
|
1996-97
|
Thistle Hall, upper Cuba Street
|
Bill Vella, Tim Stephenson
|
|
1997-2002
|
The Grand, Courtenay Place
|
Marian Cameron, Bernd Gill, Tim Stephenson and Gordon Cessford
|
|
1997-2002?
|
Lower Hutt, Church Hall in Woburn Road
|
Alex White and Olga Gladkikh (Olia Glade) taught here Sunday afternoons from
1998 until Alex set up Viva Latina in 2002? |
|
1998-2000?
|
Brooklyn Community Centre (School Hall)
|
Nancy Nichols Acevedo
|
|
2000-2002
|
Dance Studio, Fifeshire Ave
|
Cindy Veldhuizen set up Studio Red - a
tango / salsa / martial arts studio - in 2000 and established a Wednesday night milonga. In 2001 Viva Latina (Alex White) took over the lease from Cindy. |
|
2002?
|
22 Webb Street practica and teaching studios. Premises owned by NZ Academy
of Bharata-Natyam. |
Teaching here by Viva Latina (Alex White and Olga Gladkikh) from 2002? after
Alex left the studio in Fifeshire Ave. Also in the dual studio format Toujours Tango (Matthew Civil and Sarah Heyward) taught here from 2003? |
|
2002-
|
The Jimmy (St James foyer), The Loaded
Hog (waterfront) |
Bill Vella
|
|
2002-2009?
|
Latinos, Tory Street
|
Marian Cameron, Tango Red
|
|
2003?
|
The Grand, downstairs
|
Neville Waisbrod and Gordon Cessford
|
|
2005-
|
Tararua Tramping Club Hall, Moncrieff St
|
Various occasional milongas here over the years; Camila Zapati and David Palo ran classes in 2005. Also from 2007 alternate Friday milongas and Sunday practicas hosted by Geoff Nicholls.
|
|
2005-2006?
|
Latinos, Tory Street
|
Enrique
|
|
2006-
|
Te Whaea, New Zealand School of Dance, Newtown
|
Tango Colectivo, the New Zealand Tango Festival commenced in 2002. It was
established here at Te Whaea from this date by Heidi Hughes (Jambalaya Education Charitable Trust). |
|
2007-8 onwards
|
St Mark's School Hall
|
Monthly Saturday night milonga set up by Nina Van Duynhoven
|
|
2007-8 onwards
|
St Mark's School Hall
|
Teaching by Tango del Alma (Neville Waisbrod and Kseniya ##, later Aleece
Alesker) |
|
2008 onwards
|
St Andrew’s on the Terrace, later mostly at St Marks School Hall
|
Monthly milongas hosted by Nina Van Duynhoven
|
|
2008 onwards
|
Crossways, Mt Victoria
|
Sunday evening milongas here have become an institution, hosted by Nina Van Duynhoven.
|
|
2010
|
The Loft (Top floor, Whitcoulls Building in Lambton Quay)
|
Tigre Viejo Milonga
|
|
2010 onwards
|
Crossways Mt Victoria
|
Monday evenings Queer Tango classes and practicas
|
|
2010 onwards
|
The Thistle Hall, upper Cuba Street, and Irish Club, Friday milongas and other
events |
Tango Atelier, Sharon Vanesse
|
With thanks for comments to Marian Cameron.
