Listening to tango music

Michael’s world famous musical secrets lecture has delighted participants in 29 cities in 13 countries. What are we listening to when we listen to tango music? This talk is guaranteed to change the way you listen to the music, and thus how you dance.

Orchestra presentations

The Osvaldo Pugliese story

A 90 minute audiovisual presentation exploring the life and music of Osvaldo Pugliese (1905-1995). What is the Pugliese style exactly? Why was the orchestra persecuted by the government, how did it survive this repression, and what was the impact of that on the musicians, and on the music? The Pugliese style is explained with the use of little known videos and the whole presentation is richly illustrated with rare archive photographs.
Optional: additional 45 minute dance workshop.

The Aníbal Troilo story

A 90 minute audiovisual presentation exploring the life and music of Aníbal Troilo (1914-1975). In the early 1940s Troilo perfected the integration of the singer into the orchestra which characterises the music of tango’s Golden Decade. In this presentation Michael introduces the key musicians who made Troilo’s music possible, and explains how Troilo made increasing use of different kinds of musical contrasts to create the most sophisticated music of tango’s Golden Decade.

Dance to the orchestras

Workshops on dancing to the different orchestras, with an emphasis on mastering the skill of dancing to the different layers in the music: beat, rhythm, melody and lyrics (feelings). Previous topics: D’Arienzo, Di Sarli, Troilo, Pugliese, Biagi, Donato, Fresedo, Firpo, Laurenz and more…
For all the dance workshops Michael is available to teach either solo or with his teaching partner, the elegant Siobhan Richards.