What happened to Queer Tango London in 2019?

We flourished – thanks to you!

QTL has a mission – “Dancing to Change the World”, be it ever so slightly. In particular, we value and promote all alternatives to some people’s assumptions of who does what on the tango dance floor. We think these are good in themselves, but that they also reflect welcome changes in the wider world and should be celebrated.

We live in unsettling times. In the present climate, the need to do this is greater than ever.

We can’t do it on our own! That’s where you have helped us. We welcome onto our dance floor ALL DANCERS who also value this approach. We also reach out to all others who support us, either as teachers, performers or as musicians.

So, firstly, THANK YOU to all our regulars at our weekly prácticas – and to everyone who has popped in from time to time. We are always very pleased to see you.

We would also like to thank our invaluable guest teachers. In 2019, these have included:

Diego Bado

Iván Antonio Arandia

Laísa Souza

Leo Di Cocco & Carolina

Natasha Lewinger & Haris Mihail

Los Ocampo aka Monica Romero & Omar Ocampo

Jenny Smith

THANK YOU, too, to everyone in 2019 who came to one or more of our five “special events”:

ONE: 8th February - Historical Queer Tango Milonga for LGBT History Month at St George the Martyr, Borough High St

TWO: 27th February - Big Love Tango Tea Extravaganza at the Clore Ballroom, Royal Festival Hall

THREE: 25th August - Queer Tango on the Thames, The Terrace, South Bank Centre

FOUR: 7th December - QTL Festive Follies at St George the Martyr, Borough High St

FIVE: Queer Tango London on the Thames Winter Special, at the Clore Ballroom, Royal Festival Hall

We have been especially indebted to:

The Tango Terra Quartet (Tim Sharp, Juampi Mauro, Kamila Bydlowska, Alfredo Martin Espindola)

Corina Piatti & Simon Morris

Tango on the Thames, who, through Peng Newman (and in various combinations) organised professional performers Dante Culcuy, Chris Benson, Paula Duarte, Celeste Cimino, Luciano Millequeo, Mara Oviedo and David Chartoriski

Los Ocampo aka Monica Romero & Omar Ocampo (again!)

Quite apart from our own activities, in 2019 you will have seen QTL dancers at milongas across London busy making queer tango part of the new “normal”.

So farewell 2019 – for Queer Tango London at least, it was a “Good Year”!

We thank EVERYONE who helped make it so.

2020?

Even as I type the QTL Team are working hard on making the next 12 months even more memorable – WATCH THIS SPACE!!!