2022 was a big year for Moonlight Tango with a number of special achievements. As we look back over the year, we would like to thank everyone who has supported, participated in and contributed to our events and our goal to grow the tango community in Australia.
What did we achieve in 2022? Here are our top 6!
1. Two sold out Gala Milongas at Evita restaurant (3rd of April and 5th of June). A beautiful space in which we could share our love of dance while enjoying delicious Argentinian food. We continued our tradition of live music cortinas in collaboration with Eddie Gazani.
2. Noches de Tango on Wednesday nights at Evita started mid April and was designed to bring new dancers into our tango community by offering a free beginners’ class by rotating teachers in a space that enabled a relaxed introduction to tango and a chance to socialise. This worked well with at least 10 new dancers now taking classes at various tango schools. Our Tango Jam collaboration with Eddie Gazani has encouraged a number local musicians to start playing tango music, growing our pool of tango musicians and the likelihood of dancing to live music. Incredible achievements in just 7 months!
3. Moonlight Tango Winter Festival (MTWF) 2022 - our small team put together this grand festival in just 4 months! Offering Australia a festival that showcased live music by Brisbane Tango Orchestra and the Eddie Gazani Tango Quartet, workshops and performances by Rina & Nadim of Tango Esencia (Melbourne), local Brisbane teachers Jose & May and Rosemary & Greg (E-tango). All four gala milongas were held in the stunning Brisbane City Hall, and offered food, bar and tango shoe and clothing vendors. The highlights of the festival included the opening by the Consul General of Argentina Silvina Aguirre, and speeches by Brisbane City Cr Vicki Howard and Parkinson's' Disease QLD CEO Miguel Diaz. As a not-for-profit association Moonlight Tango Inc was very proud to donate all proceeds to PD QLD.
4. Our partnership with PD QLD and Rina Sawaya of Tango Esencia saw us launch Tango for PD classes in Brisbane. With the support of the Honourable Member for Greenslopes, Joe Kelly we will continue these classes throughout 2023.
5. In November we launched the Moonlight Tango Winter Festival 2023. We worked hard to expand upon our inaugural festival and now offer an eight day program with 3 international couples- Vanesa & Facundo; Gianpiero & Lorena; and Cynthia & Sebastian (2022 World Champions of tango pista); our beloved Australian couple Rina & Nadim and international orchestra - Tango Bardo! With workshops for dancers and musicians, special music concerts and six milongas across four stunning venues, our 2023 edition places MTWF on the international tango festival circuit!
6. Co-directors Annie and Alessandro travelled to Europe over November and December to connect with our collaborators and make new connections with tango teachers and dancers. Spreading the word about MTWF 2023 we look forward to welcoming international dancers to the festival in July and some exciting teachers in 2024!
Thanks to all of you for your participation in 2022 and we wish you all a dance-filled, peaceful and joyous 2023!
Comments