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From left to right:
Photo by: Ray Veliz |
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MariaPia De Pasquale, Artistic Director and Head Instructor, was born in Milan, Italy, and first started dancing Argentine Tango in Boston, Massachusettes in 2001. She was enchanted by the seductive dance: “Argentine Tango is an elegant and sensual dance that makes two people connect through its music.” MariaPia co-founded Tango Nashville in order to expose Nashvillians to this extraordinary art, and enhances her own Tango expertise by traveling to festivals and workshops around the country, training with Argentine Tango masters, and teaching, choreographing, and performing with the Tango Nashville Dance Troupe. See MariaPia's full bio here. |
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Christoph Rosenmuller was born in Minneapolis and raised in Germany. He moved to the U.S. in 1998, earned a Ph.D from Tulane University in New Orleans, and now teaches Latin American History as an Assistant Professor at MTSU. Christoph says that “Tango is a great way of getting away from the daily grind by listening to appealing music, exercising while moving to the tunes, and meeting exciting people.” |
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Tonya Miller first learned to dance Argentine Tango while living in Buenos Aires as an intern at the American Embassy. “Argentine Tango emulates emotional, physical and spiritual expression for musicians, dancers and spectators. Tango is irresistibly seductive and every dance takes us further into our basic instinct of passion.” When she is not dancing, Tonya trades futures on the Chicago Board of Exchange. |
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Anna Kovalkova is originally from Moscow, Russia, and currently works as an investment professional at a local private equity firm. She performs many different styles of dance, including ballet, folk, and ballroom, but she fell in love with Argentine Tango when she first began lessons one year ago. Anna says this about the Tango: “the dancers are like an artist's paint brush drawing a beautiful painting on the dance floor, expressing the changing colors of Tango music.” |
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Yasar Kaya was born in Istanbul, Turkey, and moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky, in 2003. He earned his MBA from Western Kentucky University and, in 2006, started his own business, Kaya, Inc., which imports ceramic tile from Turkey. Yasar began dancing Argentine Tango in 2002 in Istanbul, where he also presented two Tango shows. He then went on to teach at Western Kentucky University in 2003. Since then he has attended workshops both in Turkey and in the US. For Yasar, Tango has been the pivot point in his life. "It has changed my life and introduced me to the most beautiful woman in the world - my wife." |
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Crystal Kaya was born in Southern California. In 2001, she and her parents moved to Kentucky where she is currently pursuing a degree in Psychology at Western Kentucky University. In addition to her studies, she works in Western Kentucky University's Women's Studies Department and also teaches classes in Ballet and Jazz. Crystal has been dancing Argentine Tango for approximately two years. Crystal says about Argentine Tango, “It is my oasis in the world of dance, and at times in the world in general. It's how I met my husband and how I rekindled my love for dance." |
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Tim Pennycook was raised in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, but obtained his BA in Physics from Reed College in Portland, Oregon. He is now pursuing his Ph.D in Physics at Vanderbilt University, working with famous condensed matter theorist Sokrates Pantelides. In the five years that he has danced Argentine Tango, Tim has come to see the Tango as not just a set of steps, but a language through which the leader and follower communicate, reacting harmoniously to the music and to each other. “I enjoy dancing outside the box, incorporating, for instance, elements of swing and blues into the dance, as well as anything that enhances the musical interaction of follower and leader.” |
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Tim DeBolt was born outside of London, England, grew up stateside, and then came to Nashville from Southern California. He has been involved with Argentine Tango since 2004, and also enjoys dancing Flamenco and Salsa. Tim describes Argentine Tango as the "passion dance," and loves that it is capable of expressing any human emotion shared between lovers in the form of a dance. Tim currently works for The Tennessean as their Online Manager. |
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