BIOGRAPHY
Daniela and Luis met in 2005, during her first trip to Buenos Aires. What was supposed to be Luis's last tanda for the night turned into two hours of dancing together. The magical connection they experienced that night led them to join their paths. Daniela left her career as an MIT engineering professor to become Luis’s tango partner. Luis left Buenos Aires to join her in New York City, where they lived from 2006 to 2012. In 2012 they embarked on a new adventure together, moving back to Buenos Aires where they set up Tango Oasis, their dance studio and guest house.
Since the beginning of their professional partnership in 2006, Daniela and Luis have established themselves as popular dancers and instructors. They have participated in numerous festivals, including the prestigious Ostertango in Switzerland, Phantastango in Germany, and Copenhagen Tango Festival, among others, and given workshops and performances in more than 90 cities distributed across four continents.
As performers, Daniela and Luis' enjoy the spontaneity and profound focus of improvisation. Their dance weaves together techniques from all tango styles, never losing sight that these are only a means and never an end. The result is a charismatic tango that is infused with joy, sincerity and heartfulness, with occasional touches of comedy. Check out some of their performances here!
Daniela and Luis approach teaching with seriousness and passion. They are fascinated by the challenges posed by the transmission of tango and constantly refining their syllabus. Deeply empathetic, they strive to create an atmosphere of generosity and acceptance in class and often make use of a bit (or more) of humor to ensure that the learning process stays enjoyable. They have developed a teaching methodology that leverages Daniela’s engineering, mathematics and classical piano and Luis’s massage therapy backgrounds, prioritizing proper body mechanics, improvisation skills and sophisticated musicality over complex sequences of steps.
Their ultimate goal is to help students build their dance from the inside out, with a deep understanding of their bodies and the music and awareness of the partner's movement, ultimately developing their own unique style.
Besides their participation in numerous tango events around the world, other accomplishments they are most proud of are:
- the assistance of USA ice dancers Meryl Davis and Charlie White in their Argentine tango-based routine, which won the 2011 World Championship;
- the creation in 2008 of The Tango Zone Dance Company with fellow dancers Ana Padron and Diego Blanco and production of “Man Vs Time" and "Dreamonia”, a double-feature, 90-minute multimedia show combining tango, theater, comedy and film;
- the development of their Foundations Immersion Seminar, a 20-hour training program focusing on technique, body awareness, connection, musicality and floorcraft, which is offered yearly in Buenos Aires since 2011.