Barbara Durr
Barbara first became captivated by tango in 1988. While on vacation in Buenos Aires, she saw an old man dancing on the street for money. He danced with women of his generation who happened to pass by, and they moved so beautifully that she became entranced. She followed him around for two days, met his family, learned a bit about tango, and then had to go home to Chile, where she was living at the time. It wasn't until several years later that she began to learn the dance-with visions of the old man still running in her head. She even moved to Buenos Aires for a brief period to study tango at the source.
Barbara has been dancing and teaching tango for over twelve years now, and is nationally known in the United States. She returns to Buenos Aires regularly, and is well known in the milongas there. She has studied with such tango luminaries as Lorena Ermocida, Aurora Lubiz and Jorge Firpo, among many other fine teachers. But her dance and her teaching have been most influenced by Susana Miller, Brigitta Winkler and Cacho Dante whom she counts as among her friends.
Barbara's specialty is the highly rhythmic close embrace style, also know as milonguero or apilado, which predominates in the crowded milongas of central Buenos Aires. This strictly social style tango has a rich and complex choreography of compact footwork, yet emphasizes connection between partners and musicality.
In addition to her weekly classes in Atlanta, Barbara regularly teaches at national and regional tango festivals in the US, including Denver, Meet in the Middle, and Portland. She is frequently invited as a special guest teacher to other cities including Memphis, Ann Arbor, St. Louis, Cleveland and Cincinnati. Outside Atlanta, Barbara frequently teaches with Robert Hauk of Portland, Oregon. She has also been a guest instructor at Emory University and the University of Georgia, and has been the performance partner of the head of the UGA Department of Dance.
Barbara is locally available for private classes (individuals, couples or small groups). For more information, please contact her using our CONTACT page or by calling 404-223 5456.
Angel Montero
Angel started studying tango in early 2002, and discovered the "close embrace" style in 2003, after taking classes with several teachers brought to Atlanta by Barbara Durr (Brigitta Winkler, Alicia Pons and Susana Miller, from whom he keeps learning). He has been a student in Barbara's class ever since, and he started collaborating in the class in May 2004.
He has also taken classes with milonguero legends like Cacho Dante and Ricardo Vidort, and some of the best "close embrace" teachers in the US, like Robert Hauk, Robin Thomas, Christopher and Caroline, Tomás Howlin and Eric Jorissen. His curiosity for tango has taken him to study with teachers of other tango styles.
In addition to assisting Barbara, Angel also DJs at several milongas in Atlanta (Milonga Pasional, Tangueros Emory, Carpe Diem, and now Milonga Bohemia, Salsambo and Holy Springs) and has been invited to DJ and teach in Memphis; St. Louis; Durham, NC; Augusta, GA; Ann Arbor, MI; Charleston, SC, Asheville, NC and Salamanca (Spain).
For the last two years he was bee invited to teach "Tango en Español", as part of the Spanish Immersion Program of Morehouse College in Atlanta.
Angel is a co-organizer of the Atlanta Tango Festival , one of the best new tango festivals in the US.
Angel is also available for private classes (individuals, couples or small groups). For more information, please contact him using our CONTACT page or by calling (404) 376-6732.
APRIL PARKER
April began her journey into the world of Argentine tango in 2003, while on a trip to Buenos Aires. She immediately fell in love with the music, and then the dance when she took her first class there. After taking classes in open embrace for some time after she returned to the US, April joined Barbara Durr’s class in 2005 to learn more about the close embrace style. She studied closely with Barbara and Angel, and over time began to develop her own dance. Her curiosity, love and enthusiasm for the dance and its music are infectious and inspiring to both her dance partners and to observers at milongas.
April has studied with highly regarded teachers and masters of Argentine tango such as Susana Miller, Alicia Pons, Brigitta Winkler, Robin Thomas, and Eric Jorissen. She has also learned from and enjoyed dancing with old milongueros like Juan Manuel Suárez, Ricardo Vidort and Rubén Harymbat. In 2008, upon suggestions by both Barbara and Brigitta to start teaching, April took on the task of learning how to teach tango, and has been apprenticing under Barbara’s close direction since. She currently teaches Wednesday night's FUN WITH FUNDAMENTALS classes with Barbara.
She has been invited to teach with Angel Montero in St Louis MO, Augusta GA, Durham NC, Charleston SC and Salamanca, Spain. April also assisted Susana Miller's teaching in her recent visit to Charleston, SC.
Also, in conjunction with Angel, April has also for the last two years been invited to teach "Tango en Español", as part of the Spanish Immersion Program of Morehouse College in Atlanta.
April is also available for private classes (individuals and couples only). If you are interested in inviting April to your community to teach workshops, please contact her for availability. For more information, please please contact her using our CONTACT page or by calling 678.499.1111.