I am very excited to co-teach a series of classes on Argentine folk dance with Sole Avila this December!

This all started when Sole Avila showed up for my Chacarera class that I taught during Portland Tangofest week. Sole was extremely excited to find us, told me that she had studied folk dance and the traditional drum, and asked when my next class would be.

I had not planned on teaching more classes. However, I have missed teaching folk dancing since I moved up to Portland in 2008. I had studied a bunch of folk dances when I was in Argentina, but I hadn't taught them for ten years. Perhaps it was time to change that!

I asked Sole if she would co-teach with me, and she agreed. We are still hashing out all the details, but the plan is to teach Argentine zamba, chamame, chacarera doble, and perhaps the escondido and/or gato.

Come dance with us!

A bit about Sole:

Sole comes from Santiago del Estero, the heartland of Argentine folk dancing. She studied folk dancing and music intensively for six years, and performed with the Cruz del Sur performance group. Sole also attained the title of "Bombo teacher" which is the traditional drum used in folk dance music. She first came to Portland in 2004, and became a U.S. citizen last year. This will be her first time teaching the dances that she loves.