Tangomalaysia - My Story
Tango, this beautiful "Dance of the Heart" has worked its way into the most unexpected corners of the world - e.g. Nepal and Malaysia a Moslem country) In each place, it has been the determined & impassioned efforts of one or two people to initiate the community.
My story started with a tango show "Tango 2000" that I saw in late 1999. I was mesmerized and my heart lost forever. From that moment, there was a burning desire to learn this dance. It was not till May 2002, when visiting Los Angeles, that I had my very first tango lesson. Immediately, I went to all the milongas and practicas to get as much dance experience as possible. With only 5 lessons under my belt it was time to return to Kuala Lumpur.
Back in Kuala Lumpur, no Argentine Tango. I was very much into Latin Ballroom and Salsa but my heart yearned for tango. In desperation, I decided to teach the little that I knew of this dance to my dancing friends. The aim was to create a group, so that should the opportunity arise for a teacher to come by, there would be a demand. The obvious way to get started - I bought a teaching video. Studied the video many times over, and decided that "this shouldn't be too difficult"! Understatement of the century! No-one came back after the first 6 week course. No-one came back after the second 6 week course! Both these classes were taught in a dance studio.
During that time, teachers came through Kuala Lumpur and I organized workshops for them. A turning point came about when the classes started at "Little Havana" on Changkat Bukit Bintang. Social dancing (milonga) started after the classes in the evening. The next big step forward was the formation of the website - initiated by Gonzalo Ramirez in July 2003, as I was not that computer literate. Johan Shaik got me the domain name and between them, the first page and information on Tangomalaysia began.
My first trip to Buenos Aires was in 2005. I was there for 2 months and completely immersed myself in tango - doing classes 4 days a week and dancing 7. On an average, I danced 7 hours a day for the 2 months. When I returned to Kuala Lumpur, I could not teach as I had done before - which was essentially a sequence of steps. I lost many students as I stumbled through this new way. Again with perseverance and determination, I carried on. In 2006, again I spent 1 month in Buenos Aires, doing more of the same.
2007, Andreas Lehrke, a German dance teacher from Cologne, (he had started the tango community in Nepal & Bangkok) decided to relocate to Kuala Lumpur. This was the first time, that I had a regular partner and we taught together for 2 years. In 2008, we organized the first Kuala Lumpur Tango Festival. Sadly, due to health reasons, Andreas returned to Germany and I continued to teach alone. However, he comes back to Kuala Lumpur for a month, prior to the set dates, to help with the tango festival.
My story started with a tango show "Tango 2000" that I saw in late 1999. I was mesmerized and my heart lost forever. From that moment, there was a burning desire to learn this dance. It was not till May 2002, when visiting Los Angeles, that I had my very first tango lesson. Immediately, I went to all the milongas and practicas to get as much dance experience as possible. With only 5 lessons under my belt it was time to return to Kuala Lumpur.
Back in Kuala Lumpur, no Argentine Tango. I was very much into Latin Ballroom and Salsa but my heart yearned for tango. In desperation, I decided to teach the little that I knew of this dance to my dancing friends. The aim was to create a group, so that should the opportunity arise for a teacher to come by, there would be a demand. The obvious way to get started - I bought a teaching video. Studied the video many times over, and decided that "this shouldn't be too difficult"! Understatement of the century! No-one came back after the first 6 week course. No-one came back after the second 6 week course! Both these classes were taught in a dance studio.
During that time, teachers came through Kuala Lumpur and I organized workshops for them. A turning point came about when the classes started at "Little Havana" on Changkat Bukit Bintang. Social dancing (milonga) started after the classes in the evening. The next big step forward was the formation of the website - initiated by Gonzalo Ramirez in July 2003, as I was not that computer literate. Johan Shaik got me the domain name and between them, the first page and information on Tangomalaysia began.
My first trip to Buenos Aires was in 2005. I was there for 2 months and completely immersed myself in tango - doing classes 4 days a week and dancing 7. On an average, I danced 7 hours a day for the 2 months. When I returned to Kuala Lumpur, I could not teach as I had done before - which was essentially a sequence of steps. I lost many students as I stumbled through this new way. Again with perseverance and determination, I carried on. In 2006, again I spent 1 month in Buenos Aires, doing more of the same.
2007, Andreas Lehrke, a German dance teacher from Cologne, (he had started the tango community in Nepal & Bangkok) decided to relocate to Kuala Lumpur. This was the first time, that I had a regular partner and we taught together for 2 years. In 2008, we organized the first Kuala Lumpur Tango Festival. Sadly, due to health reasons, Andreas returned to Germany and I continued to teach alone. However, he comes back to Kuala Lumpur for a month, prior to the set dates, to help with the tango festival.