In Martinique, the Vaya con Tango Exole de Dance in Saint-Pierre offers tango dance classes with José Désiré- Faula. He has trained with Argentine maestros Hernan Villegas, Gaston Torelli, Raul Bravo and Olga Uralde, as wellas the French masters Gerome Lefevre and Dominique Lescarret. He is convinced that the tango will lose its richness if it is limited to a single style,. He teaches three main styles— traditional tango, tango salon and tango nuevo. Tango soirée are sometimes held at the Ô Tango Bar in Saint-Pierre, Martinique. They are organized by the Association TangoFelino which holds practicas in Fort de France on Thursdays. Their school has a full range of classes, and is located in Le Lamentin. In January, they hold a festival called Madin’ Tango.
In Puerto Rico, Rut Riv organizes a regular Wednesday milonga, called Milonga Realenga. It is held on the Condado at El Barril Bar. Rut also organized the October Puerto Rico Tango Festival for five years. However, the 2015 festival was the last. There may be another someday. But, none is planned now.
In October, they host the Puerto Rican Tango Festival. It began in 2010, when Juan Rosa and Rut Riv traveled to the Istanbul Tango Festival, while Carlos Riverea Burgos and his wife traveled to Miami Tango Festival. They all wanted to do something similar in Puerto Rico. Then, they met Emily Ortiz who was teaching workshops in Puerto Rico at that time. She was thinking the same thing. They started dreaming about the possibility to do it; and in 2011, they did!
When they started the festival, hey were focused about the Puerto Rico tango community. The goal was to recreate the experience for the local community of what they had experienced at other tango festivals. They wanted to inspire the community. They wanted to give them the feeling of being transported to another place without leaving the island. At the same time, they wanted to let the world know that on this little island there is a group of committed tangueros.
The festival has contributed a lot to put Puerto Rico in the tango map. Throughout all the years, they have received plenty of emails asking them about tango in Puerto Rico. Most people are surprised to find how vibrant the tango community here is, The festival has done a lot to maintain that sense of community.
Puerto Rico are part of the USA. But it is also a Caribbean island. US citisens can travel to the island without a passport. When people get to the festival, they can expand their horizons, have a cultural infusion. experiencing the Puerto Rican culture, music and food. This is not your usual tango festival. The Puerto Rico Tango Festival mixes tango and culture in a friendly atmosphere.
All of the venues are historical places, like old barracks and castles in the magical city of Old San Juan. There are free salsa workshops for the participants and a beach milonga. They dance in magical venues, filled with history. San Juan is a beautiful setting- the sun, the ocean, the antique and the new....
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