Arjan & Marianne: 26 years of tango in two minutes
In 1991 Arjan Sikking and Marianne van Berlo hear for the first time an Argentine tango, performed by the renowned Orquesta Típica of Osvaldo Pugliese Seized by this music we take lesson the same year and visit Buenos Aires.
The beautiful milongas (tango salons) in Buenos Aires are for us a source of inspiration, particularly the feeling that the dancers radiate: feeling for each other, for the music, for the other dance couples. Here you experience tango at its best.
Touched by the tango we take lessons with Lalo and Mirta Diaz in 1991, teachers from the Academia de Tango in Amsterdam. From them we learn the tango and tango culture.
On our first trip to Buenos Aires in 1991 we come in contact with maestro Pepito Avellaneda, the ‘ King of the Milonga.’ With this important maestro we take a lot of lessons and we learn besides tango, a lot of milonga and in 1994 also our first steps of the tango of the 20s, tango canyengue. Pepito passed away in 1996.
In The Netherlands we meet maestro Antonio Todaro and learn his style of dancing. We follow his classes for a short period. He died in 1994.
In 1994 the Academia de Tango Lalo and Mirta ask us to start teaching. We begin in Leiden, and continue our professorship in Amsterdam at the Academia de Tango. Up to 2004 we teach three nights a week all levels of tango there. We also give special courses such as milonga (with traspies), tango waltz, tango canyengue and music styles in tango based on orchestras such as Di Sarli, Pugliese, Caló, d’Arienzo, Biagi, Canaro and Fresedo.
In 1996 we choose our two main Maestro’s: Aurora Lubiz and Jorge Firpo from Buenos Aires. Next to tango and milonga, we specialize with them in tango orillera and tango canyengue.
It is Aurora and Jorge who for us make a few choreographies for tango fantasía with which we, in addition to own choreographies, regularly perform.
We still work together with both of them, they also regularly give workshops to our students.
For didactics of teaching we attended a number of weekend workshops in 2001 with Juan Lange from Uruguay/Berlin. Beginning in 1981 Juan stands at the cradle of the revival of tango in Berlin. He develops also a method for teaching and has much influence.
Since September 2004, we give courses under our new name Tango Argentino Amsterdam . The first year in the newly opened dance center DanceStreet in Amsterdam.
In September 2005 we start our own Tango studio De Plantage in the Plantage area of Amsterdam.
Due to the sale of the property, most of our activities will now take place in Grand Café Frankendael from September 2020.
See here for an article about the building in De Plantage in
Fluisterende muren
(Whispering walls) of Ons Amsterdam (in Dutch).
And about us in De Plantage in the
bulletin
for Friends of De Plantage.
From 2006 till 2008 we dance in the show Tango Heroes of Carel Kraayenhof 60 performances, beside it we perform regularly.
Our activities for the school and the salon take up a lot of time. Especially the school grows strongly, we now teach fourteen courses spread over five nights of the week.
In 1985 Marianne van Berlo graduats at the Royal Academy of Art and Design at ‘s-Hertogenbosch in the disciplines painting and drawing. She combines her work as Plastic Artist with that of tango teacher and tango dancer.
Art by Marianne
Arjan travels around the world for some time. He performs his milatery duty in Suriname, travels four years in Asia, Australia and South America, and works a.o.
in the copper- and gold mines of Australia. Besides he is photographer and co-organizes for years the workgroup of Photography Sinus, a meeting place for photographers in development coached by mentors. As chemical researcher Arjan works at Shell and is furthermore active in the Trade Union and the Staff Council.
In 1995 he leaves the Company to devotes himselves entirely to the tango.
From 1993 to 2004 he participates and makes a very important contribution to the organization of the Academia de Tango. The school eventually grew to 600 students by 2004.
Summer 2004 Arjan & Marianne start their own school and salon.
See here for a krantenartikel (newspaper article) with Arjan.
