Humans of Tango

By Liz SabatiukSociety & Culture Arts Music

Humans of Tango episodes

October 30, 2024Our mentors, ourselves, with Aja Fenn
Aja Fenn on the value of committing to our teachers, the significance of the yin-yang symbol to tango, how performance culture has evolved since she started, her philosophy on social dancing, and what's inspiring her 24 years into her tango journey.
Producer/Host: Liz Sabatiuk | Music: "Duo de Amor" written by Astor Piazzolla, performed by Tango Bardo | Image Credit: Maurice Kaplan
Show Notes
Learn more about Aja's current activities through Fabrica Tango's website or by perusing her YouTube channel, then watch Aja perform with Fabrica co-founder Masha Abapolnikova (in Philly, as mentioned in the episode).
See the trailer of the film that inspired Aja to try tango, The Tango Lesson.
See what Aja's first maestro, Matías Facio, is up to these days, then learn more about legendary milonguero Tete Rusconi and Aja's first practice partner, Mitra Martin.
Learn more about Sharna Fabiano's current work exploring the relationship of lead and follow, then watch clips from TangoMujer performances and a performance where Sharna and Aja switch roles.
Nerd out about the origin of the yin yang.
Listen to a Humans of Tango episode featuring Brigitta Winkler, then watch a performance or visit her website.
Watch a performance by Nancy Lavoie.
Nerd out about tango nuevo.
Read a transcript of Aja's episode here.
36 min
August 10, 2024Tango women, with Camila Arriva
Singer. Producer. DJ. Argentine woman on a mission. Camila Arriva is working in multiple ways to bring women's voices to modern tango. (And yes, she also dances.)
Producer/Host: Liz Sabatiuk | Music: "Cantando" by Mercedes Simone; short clips of "Soñando," by Paquita Bernardo with lyrics by Eugenio Cárdenas, and “Ni una Menos” by Verónica Bellini, all performed by Camila Arriva Grupo as part of their MUJERES project | Image Credit: Facu Suárez
Show Notes
To learn more about Camila and MUJERES, visit her website at http://camilaarriva.com.
Listen to a 2018 BBC audio documentary about the feminist revolution in Buenos Aires, read an article about the feminist tango movement, then check out 2 groups Camila mentioned in her interview, Tango Hembra and Movimiento Feminista de Tango.
Listen to Michael Lavocah's episode or visit his website to learn more about tango's Golden Age. Bonus: follow "Volver," the TV channel Camila watched as a child, on social media!
Learn more about Paquita Bernardo and some of the “cancionistas” that inspire Camila (including one who didn’t make it into the episode): Tita Morello, Azucena Maizani, Mercedes Simone, and Nina Miranda.
Hear an NPR podcast on why cumbia is the musical backbone of Latin America, then listen to a playlist of Argentine Cumbia.
Listen to the version of "Ni una Menos" by China Cruel, the band of songwriter Verónica Bellini, then watch a video of Gaby Mataloni and Rocío Lequio dancing to Camila's version.
Read a transcript of Camila's episode here.
26 min
June 22, 2024The ear, the heart, and the feet, with Michael Lavocah
"Listen with your bodies, listen with your feet, listen with your heart. Listen with every cell of your body. Listen with your spirit." ~Tango Stories: Musical Secrets
Michael Lavocah danced tango for 20 years before writing his first book. He hasn't stopped since...
Producer/Host: Liz Sabatiuk | Music: “Adiós, Pueblo,” written by Agustín Bardi and performed by Orquesta Típica Ricardo Tanturi, courtesy of Crackling Tunes; and "Tierrita," also written by Agustín Bardi with lyrics by Jesús Fernández Blanco and performed by Alfredo Gobbi y su Orquesta Típica with Héctor Maciel | Image Credit: Veronika Korchak
Show Notes
Check out Michael’s 7 books, starting with Tango Stories: Musical Secrets, then moving on to his Tango Masters series, which to date includes Aníbal Troilo, Osvaldo Pugliese, Carlos di Sarli, Juan D’Arienzo, Francisco Canaro, and Osvaldo Fresedo.
Watch Christine Denniston, Michael's first teacher, talk about her experience with tango.
Learn more about Julio de Caro (the musician who inspired what Michael refers to as the DeCarean school for making complex music), Pedro Laurenz, Pedro Maffia, and Alfredo Gobbi. Then watch Cecilia Berra and Horacio Godoy perform to "Tierrita," the Gobbi tango you hear a clip of in the episode.
Learn more about the singers Michael mentions: Rosita Quiroga, Azucena Maizani, Libertad Lamarque, and Ada Falcón.
Listen to Tango by Year.
Read more about lunfardo, "the secret language of the Tango Rioplatense."
Listen to Humans of Tango episode 6, "Disappearing so tango can talk, with Juan Cantone."
Read a brief musing on cadencia from New-York-based dancer and teacher Ney Melo.
Watch an interview (en español) with "El Gallego" Manolo, from whom Michael learned the figure that digested for 9 months before appearing in his body.
Read a transcript of Michael's episode here.
38 min
May 04, 2024Flowing together, with Avik Basu
What does environmental psychology have to do with tango? Quite a lot, it turns out. Tango DJ, teacher, organizer, and social dancer Avik Basu lays it out for us.
Producer/Host: Liz Sabatiuk | Music: “Sin Palabras” by Mariano Mores, with lyrics by Enrique Santos Discépolo and performed by Aníbal Troilo y Su Orquesta Típica with Alberto Marino | Image Credit: Steven Thull
Show Notes
Learn more about Avik's work and play in tango and environmental psychology, then learn more about the Inner Experience of Tango survey. (Bonus: listen to Avik on Joe's Tango Podcast!)
Read about Avik's first teachers, Yelena Sinelnikova and Ramu Pyreddy, and the college club in Ann Arbor where Avik started dancing.
Learn more about Mihaly Csikszentmihaly's theory of flow via video or text, then read Charles Walker's chapter on social flow.
Avik mentioned learning from the embraces of Alex Krebs, Cacho Dante, and Gustavo Naveira. Read some musings from Cacho Dante (RIP), then check out Gustavo's and Alex's respective websites.
Read a transcript of Avik's episode here.
28 min
February 02, 2024Tango (r)evolution, with Sol Orozco
"When I was twenty, this was NOT possible..."

A lot has changed in the 25+ years since Sol Orozco started dancing tango in Buenos Aires. Luckily, Sol is a big believer in change - in her own life and in the world around her.
Producer/Host: Liz Sabatiuk | Music: “Ilusión de Mi Vida” by Feliciano Brunelli, arranged and recorded by Asato-Pais Duo | Image Credit: Oscar Chang Photography
Show Notes
The music in Sol's episode is a contemporary interpretation by Asato Pais Duo of "Ilusión de Mi Vida." (Read Spanish? Here's some history about the song.) Asato Pais were among the artists gracing the Garufa TangoFest stage. Learn more about them on their website, where you can also find their social channels, including the adorable and incredibly informative music education videos they post on YouTube!
Watch one of my favorite videos of Sol performing (with Juan), then watch a video by Heyni Solera featuring Sol.
Listen to Humans of Tango episodes featuring Juan Cantone and Heyni Solera.
If you have any doubts about why Sol’s family might think of the U.S. as the “big bad monster,” here's some useful background.
Read about the history of knives in tango (and/or watch a video by the same author).
Follow Garufa TangoFest on Facebook or Instagram to stay tuned for August 2024! (Bonus: Watch Juan and his current partner, Virginia Cutillo, perform at the 2023 edition.)
Want to study with Sol? You can follow and contact her through Facebook and Instagram.
Read a transcript of Sol's episode here.
33 min
December 12, 2023Small movements toward tango for all, with Arno Plass
“...so many people in this world, within their own cultural frames, are not able to do everything with their body they could do. And that's a pity.”
Austrian dancer and academic Arno Plass shares what he's learned while talking and dancing his way around Europe and South America for a PhD project on the transformative power of queer tango.
Producer/Host: Liz Sabatiuk | Music: “Flor de Montserrat,” composed by Juan Santini with lyrics by Vicente Planells del Campo and arranged and recorded by Sexteto Cristal with Guillermo Rozenthuler | Image Credit: Martín Pérez
Show Notes
Watch Arno's "Una Tanda Queer Con..." series and visit his website to learn more about his work.
Check out Chamuyo Queer's website or follow on Facebook / Instagram to see what's planned for 2024 - including an online Conversatorio like the one that inspired Arno's PhD project!
Listen to the Humans of Tango episode featuring Alex Pacheco Castillo.
Watch Arno's "Una Tanda Queer con..." interview with Gonze E.
Watch Rocío Lequio (of Rocío and Bruno, the couple Arno mentions visiting Vienna) queering her tango with Gaby Mataloni.
Read a transcript of Arno's episode here.
34 min
October 08, 2023Party every day, with Yolanda Hume
Yolanda Romero Hume gives new meaning to the aphorism YOLO (a.k.a. carpe diem). Find out how she makes the most of every day - in her local DC tango community and around the world.
Producer/Host: Liz Sabatiuk | Music: “El Adiós” composed by Maruja Pacheco Huergo with lyrics by Virgilio San Clemente and arranged and recorded by Sexteto Cristal with Guillermo Rozenthuler | Image Credit: Unknown
Show Notes
Watch a mini-tour of the tango studio in Yolanda's house, featuring paintings by another epic DC-area tanguera - Viviana Levinson.
Watch videos of Jake Spatz; Alejandro Barrientos and Rosalía Gasso; Martín Maldonado and Maurizio Ghella; Serkan Gokcesu and Ozhan Araz; Juan Cantone and Sol Orozco; and Marcelo Gutierrez. (You can also find/connect with most of these folks via Facebook and/or Instagram.)
Listen to the episode of Humans of Tango featuring one of Yolanda's tango children, Juan Cantone.
Read a transcript of Yolanda's episode here.
36 min
August 08, 2023Pragmatic dreaming, with London Hong
South Korean honorary New Yorker London Hong thought he was too old to become a professional dancer. Then he fell in love with tango.
Producer/Host: Liz Sabatiuk | Music: “Yunta de Oro” composed by Osvaldo Ruggiero and performed and recorded by Tango Bardo | Image Credit: Irina Novak
Show Notes
Watch the Forever Tango performance featuring Carlos Gavito and Marcela Durán that first inspired London’s tango obsession.
Listen to some of London's bandoneon maestros - Rodolfo Zanetti, Javier Sanchez, and Hector Del Curto - and to the NYC-based band London helped found, "Los Peores del Tango."
Visit the website of the tango academy London founded with his dance partner, Sol, or go straight to their YouTube channel.
Learn more about the World Tango Championship (from a former champion!) and check for 2023 updates on the government website of Buenos Aires (en español).
Read a transcript of London's episode here.
28 min
May 17, 2023Instinct Tango, with Aníbal Dominguez
"The tango dancing is going to happen, and you don't need to push that hard."
Aníbal Dominguez was on the verge of quitting tango when he discovered contact improv. Since then, dancing has only gotten better...
Producer/Host: Liz Sabatiuk | Music: “En un Bondi Color Humo” performed by Daniel Melingo with lyrics by Luis Alposta | Image Credit: Alejandro Persichetti
Show Notes
Listen to the radio station Aníbal grew up with, Radio Clarín.
Learn more about Montevideo’s carnaval.
Learn more about Colectivo Periférico in this video that includes Aníbal and one of the teachers he mentions, Eduardo Ferrer (who was also one of my teachers when I lived in Montevideo).
Watch an improvised solo by the founder of contact improv, Steve Paxton.
Watch Daniel Melingo perform "En un Bondi Color Humo" live and read how he created the song, then check out the original poem in Spanish or German on the blog of its author, Luis Alposta.
Read a transcript of Aníbal's episode here.
31 min
March 26, 2023Giving and growing, with Ayano Yoneda
When Ayano Yoneda moved from her native Japan to San Francisco for a job in finance, she never imagined that a chance encounter with a Halloween "Cinderella's ball" would change her life forever...
Producer/Host: Liz Sabatiuk | Music: “Ninguna” written by Raúl Fernández Siro with lyrics by Homero Manzi and performed by Angel D'Agostino y Su Orquesta Típica with Angel Vargas; and “Amarras,” written by Carlos Marchisio with lyrics by Carmelo Santiago and performed by Alberto Castillo y su Orquesta Típica | Image Credit: Mido Kwon
Show Notes
Learn more about the Tango Poetry Project and watch past lectures on their YouTube channel.
Learn more about Ayano and Felipe and stay updated on their activities. (You can also listen to Felipe's Humans of Tango episode.)
When we spoke, Ayano shared her appreciation for interviews. Some of her favorite sources are Joe's Tango Podcast, Tengo una pregunta para vos, Informal Tango Interviews, and Tango Angeles (I particularly love their episode about Tango Poetry Project). And if you understand Japanese, listen to an interview with Ayano in her native language!
Follow Ayano's teacher Javier Rodriguez on Facebook, or just enjoy watching him perform on YouTube.
Read English translations of "Ninguna" and "Amarras." Also worth noting that the most famous version of "Amarras" was recorded by Héctor Mauré with Juan D'Arienzo y su Orquesta Típica.
Read a transcript of Ayano's episode here.
30 min