Mark Sakowski – Baltimore/Washington DC, USA
For the last 17 years he has DJ’ed predominantly but not exclusively Argentine tango and specializes in playing an inspiring mix of traditional tango, vals & milonga in a similar style as the best milongas in Buenos Aires. A few of the venues Mark has DJ’ed at are: Eastern Market Milonga – DC, ESL Milonga – DC, El Besito Milonga – NJ, Milonga de Luz – DC, Milonga Portená – DC, Domingo Tango Club – NYC, La Nacional Milonga – NYC, Fandango De Tango 2014 – Texas, The All Night Milonga – NYC, Boston Tango Festival 2015, 2016 & 2017, One City Tango Marathon 2015 – VA, Milonga la clasica – Philadelphia and the Official USA Argentine Tango Championships in San Francisco in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 & 2019, the 2016 Providence New Year’s Eve Tango Marathon and the International Tango Maya Tango Festival in Cancun, Mexico 2017 & 2018, Chicago Mini Tango Festival 2019, En tus abrazos encuentro 2019. Mark was the DJ at Midsummer Night Swing “Hardcore Tango Night” with the Aces of Rhythm Sextet at Lincoln Center in New York City in 2017.
Mark also won the “1st Annual Tango DJ Competition” in Somerville, Massachusetts in September of 2013, is a guest DJ regularly at the prestigious Astoria Tango Club Milonga on Sundays in New York City and was the organizer, host and DJ of the longest running weekday milonga in the Washington DC area; Milonga Diversité in Coco Cabana Grill in Hyattsville, MD every Monday night for over 10 years.
Mark has DJ’ed over 1200 milongas and is very excited to be DJing in April 2020 for the seventh consecutive year at the ATUSA Tango Championships in San Francisco! He is also looking forward to DJing again the “Silver Ball” NYE celebration at the All Night Milonga in NYC and the Astoria Tango Club’s NYE celebration with two live orchestras!
Mark and his life partner Hitomi Hayashi have organized & hosted the very successful 4th Saturday “Milonga Uno” in Washington, DC for the past three years.
Mark will play on Fri April 9 from 12 midnight to 2.30am and on Saturday April 12 from 9.30 pm to 2.30am
Frank Ji – Beijing, China/ New York, NY, USA
A native of Beijing and currently based in New York City, Frank Jin is a Tango DJ, Tango Music Collector and a Tango Researcher.
Well-established as he is, Frank Jin has been showcasing his music extensively in 30+ countries, including legendary milongas in Buenos Aires, countless festivals, marathons and encuentros in Asia, Europe, North and South America. He is most-wanted by organizers, and beloved by dancers worldwide.
Frank Jin’s vast tango music collection and in-depth knowledge of tango culture legitimately vouch his skills in creating colorful and authentic music narratives; his rich experience helps him read the stories happening on the dance floor and decipher the secret codes of milongueros from different cultures at ease. His recent performances include Boston Tango Marathon, Moscow Tango Holiday, Ithaca Tango Marathon, Toronto Tango Experience, Zürich Tango Festivalito and Seoul Tango Encuentro among others.
Frank will play on Friday April 10 from 9.30 to 11.30pm and on Sunday April 12 from 9.30pm to 2.30am).
Marcelo Rosensaft, Montevideo, Uruguay/ Tel Aviv, Israel
Marcelo grew up in Montevideo, Uruguay, in a family where tango was played and danced daily. Going out to dance tango was Marcelo’s parents leisure activity and his young uncle Jorge played piano in a band, mainly tango and bolero music. Of course, tango was for the oldies so Marcelo just accepted it as part of the culture, without much enthusiasm. Once he got to his 50’s, and very far from his home town, he met tango again and fell in love hopelessly.
Marcelo started started his carear as a DJ after studying the tango music for several years when a new friend, Daniel, organizer, teacher and performer – needed help at his milonga and Marcelo became the house DJ of Daniel’s El Milongón, a bi-weekly milonga on Saturday evenings in Tel Aviv, After that he was invited to DJ in most of the milongas of that time in Tel Aviv. And also in special weekend gatherings from the tango old timers of Israel. Today Marcelo is the house DJ of La Milonguita and plays intermittently in Anka Kuhnel’s milonga and practica Alpha and at Tanya and Ilya Shwartz’s milonga Negra.
Between November 2013 and February 2015 Marcelo was spent all the time between in Buenos Aires and New York where Marcelo was “discovered” as a DJ and started his international DJ career. He played in some of the NYC milongas and started developing an informal fans club.
Since 2015 until today Marcelo visits New York 3-4 times a year and is invited in repeated occasions to play in most of New York milongas such as all Triangulo’s milongas – Carina Moeller’s La Sala, Maura Hays and Richard Ariza’s Friday Afternoon Milonga, Maura’s Twilight (Saturday) Milonga and Eddie Sanabria’s Domingo Tango Club, Lucille Krasne’s Esmeralda, Maria Jose Sosa’s Tango y Te practica, Alicia Cruzado’s Pasion Milonguera, Renee Rouger’s Milonga Falucho, Jon Tariq’s Mi Barrio and Paciencia milongas, Dragan Ranitovic Milonga Loca, Adam and Ciko Tango Café milonga, Yamila Viana’s Milonga Ferrari, Sarah La Rocca All Night Milonga, Juan Vicente and Coco’s La Nacional and Héctor Pulpo Pereira’s Astoria Tango Club milonga.
Besides his “home tango towns:” Tel Aviv and New York, in the last years Marcelo has played all over North America and lately also in Europe: Boston, Philadelphia, Denver, Seattle, Vancouver, San Francisco, Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Diego, Chicago, Phoenix (AZ), Albuquerque (NM), Santa Fe (NM), Saarbrucken (Germany), Den Haag, Culemborg and Bussum (The Netherlands)
In 2018 Marcelo started DJing at encuentros milongueros, marathons and festivals such as Andy Stein’s Newport News encuentro, Amy Allison’s Seattle encuentro, Melina Sedo and Detlef Engel’s FCA, Yemiko Yagui and Jae Young’s Utopia encuentro (Charleston, SC), Ray Barbosa’s Chicago tango festival, Alla Lakov’s Boston marathon among others. Several events have already booked Marcelo’s schedule for 2020, including several milongas in Buenos Aires.
Marcelo is devoted to danceable music and is an intuitive DJ. More than feeling the energy of the dance-floor – like one usually hears in the DJs’ jargon – Marcelo sets the energy at every moment. He always arrives at the milonga with a pre-arranged full playlist and here and there makes surgical adaptations according to his feeling of the atmosphere. Of course, he’s musicalized a full milonga creating the playlist on-the-fly but he likes more to prepare his list in advance.
Marcelo has developed his own unique program which displays information about the music to the dance-floor. Written in C#, Marcelo’s program “talks” dynamically with the music system and displays information to a wall, using a compact projector that he carries with him. In addition to a title with the name of the milonga, the organizer and the DJ, the system displays the actual tanda – orchestra and vocals/instrumental, the actual song with the time elapsed, and the next tanda.
Marcelo will play on Thursday April 9, 2020.
Marcelo will also be the 2019 Official Competition DJ
Special DJ Workshop by MARK SAKOWSKI
The workshop is designed for tangueros who are interested in understanding more about the tango music, the different orchestras styles, periods, etc
More experience Djs do come and be part of the conversation!
Cost: $40 per person if check is received by March 25
$45 cash at door
Registration and payment with check for the DJ Workshop
Make check to the order of: Argentine Tango USA
Send it to: 530 Showers Dr, Suite 7 – 178 Mountain View, CA 94040
Do not forget to include your name and email when your send your check.
EDUARDO SAUCEDO is from Buenos Aires, Argentina, a Master Teacher and Dancer of Argentine Tango (all styles), Choreographer, DJ, MC, and Producer of Tango Shows, Internationally recognized for his love and passion for the dance.
Claudio took his first steps at an early age. His roots come from his grandfather, Hector Contreras, who was his mentor in the early stages of his Tango training. He then followed teachings by Juan Aurelio, Juan Carlos Copes, Virulazo, Antonio Todaro, Pepito Avellaneda, Gloria and Eduardo, Dinzel, N. Guichanduc,- world-famous recognized “Maestros “ who contributed extensively to his training.
Classical dancer since she was 3 years old, graduated from the Royal Academy of Dance in London (2000), with great experience in many styles of dance (classic ballet, jazz, ballroom dance, samba, flamenco), Helena Fernandez becomes an international tango dancer and choreographer after 10 years of study and dedication to this dance. She was on tour to teach workshops and to perform in several shows in Europe, Asia and America. She also graduated in Physiotherapy specialized in neurological patients, which gave her extra tools to include tango-related concepts in her women´s technique classes.
Leandro Oliver is Argentine. He has been dancing Argentine Tango since he was 8 years old. His main masters and trainers in the Argentine Tango field have been Ricardo Oliver, Jorge Dispari, Miguel A. Zotto, Carlos Copello, Osvaldo Zotto, Juan Carlos Copes, Gabriel Angio, Natalia Games, between others.
Laila Rezk was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her dance and artistic background includes Classic Ballet (Estudio Gurquel Lederer & Teresita Campana), Jazz Dance (Estudio Gurquel Lederer & Manuel Vallejos). Miguel Angel Zotto, Milena Plebs, Guillermina Quiroga, Alejandra Mantinian, Graciela Gonzalez, Gabriel Angio and Natalia Games are have been her principal Tango Masters.
Tomas Galvan, came from disciplines related to body language, began his life in dance at 13 years, has worked in prestigious tango houses as “Taconeando” and “Piazzolla Tango”.
Gimena Herrera, came from disciplines related to the sport, began her career in dance tango in adolescence, she has working in prestigious tango houses of Buenos Aires as “Taconeando” and “Piazzolla Tango”.
Ivan Leonardo Romero is the winner in “Tango Escenario” of the Tango Buenos Aires Dance World Cup (Campeonato Mundial deTango de Buenos Aires, Argentina) of 2004, held in Buenos Aires since 2003. Since then, he travels the world teaching both professional and amateur dancers.