Instructors

Experience

Dance Experience

Ilana Rubin and Tony Fan bring to the tango a life-long interest in dance. They were both trained in ballet and modern dance, and bring to tango an exciting, accessible, individual style. Ilana's extensive dance training includes modern dance with Martha Nishitani, as well as ballet and folk dancing. She performed for five years with Radost, Seattle's premiere folk dance ensemble. Tony started his dance career studying modern ballet. Later, he continued with ballroom dancing before he discovered the Argentine tango. Tony has also studied tango in Europe. Tony and Ilana have been dancing the Argentine tango together for over nine years. Together, they have studied with such notable dancers: Juan Bruno, Pepito Avelleneda, Susanna Miller, Julio Balmaceda and Corina de la Rosa, Osvaldo Zotto and Lorena Ermocida, Daniela Arcuri and Armando Orzuza, Mariella Franganilla, Eric Jorissen, Brigitte Winkler, Rebecca Shulman, Cacho Dante, and Omar Vega.

Teaching Experience

Tony and Ilana teach a regular curriculum of tango classes in the Seattle area. Their lessons, which focus on understanding the building blocks and musicality of tango, have grown increasingly popular since their first weekly classes in 1996. They are now leading one of the major tango schools in Seattle and offer special workshops around cities in the west coast. Their workshops have been featured in the Northwest Folklife Festival, Portland Tango Festival, as well as many tango communities in the west coast from Los Angeles to Vancouver B.C., Canada. Their regular classes are offered through the Bellevue Ballet Arts Center, WAC, North Seattle Community College, Shoreline Community College, and Bellevue Community College.

Performing Experience

Tony and Ilana were featured performers during an evening of tango at the 1997-2003 Northwest Folklife Festival in Seattle. They are the stars of the independent film, The Last Tango, produced by Carl Tanne. In 1997 they appeared in Sonny Newman's full-length tango ballet, The Loves of Margarita, with Sandor and Tiffany, stars of the Broadway show Forever Tango. Tony and Ilana are the performers for the ACT theater opening ceremony and many other Seattle theater events. Tony and Ilana also perform at different tango communities in the west coast and Canada. Their latest performance was with the world renown Argentine pianist Pablo Ziegler at the Meydenbauer Theater, with Daniel Trenner at Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, and with Chelsea Eng at the Stanford University. Tony and Ilana frequently perform at workshops, theater shows, festivals, dinner Shows, and other special occasions.

Tony & Ilana Promotional Photos

		Photo Gallery #1 Photo Credit: Cassie Jenkins

		Photo Gallery #2 Photo Credit: Marc Carter

		Photo Gallery #3 Photo Credit: Carl Tanne

		Photo Gallery #4 Photo Credit: Unknown

Workshops with Tony & Ilana
May 11th, 2008 Bellingham, WA. Workshop Host: Bluemoon Ballroom Contact Info: Telephone: (360) 647-9778 Address: 1213 Cornwall Ave. Bellingham, WA 98225 Email: bluemoonballroom@gmail.com Web: http://www.thebluemoonballroom.com/index.html ----------------------------------------------------------- Aug. 22nd-24th, 2008 Portland, OR. Workshop Host: Polly McBride & Paradise Ballroom Contact Info: Telephone: (360) 647-9778 Address: 826 SE Belmont Email: atango2@aol.com Web: http://www.paradisestudio.us/web/p/home

Teaching Approach and References
Teaching Approach
	Tango is a conversation. Tango is an improvised dance with no set patterns; couples dancing the tango are responding to each other while being motivated by the music. Our classes prepare the students to enter that conversation, encouraging them to understand both the leading and following roles. We also work on the crucial foundations underlying the conversation: improving carriage, coordination, balance, and rhythm. Taking part in the conversation means listening and responding to one's partner. Learning the tango is like learning a foreign language. This takes patience and sensitivity, but, when mastered, it creates a dance that is truly an interplay between two people. In our classes, the students will experience both leading and following roles as they build communication with their partner on the dance floor. The students will become more aware of their partner, making the dance more intimate, social, and accessible- more truly a conversation. Most importantly, we teach the language of tango, not just a few words or memorized sentences. In our classes, we will learn the vocabularies of tango, looking for its syntax, and how to put phrases together in a way that sounds natural. Tango is a language, and one can only master it when they understand how the basic elements link together to form a dance. We will teach the students how to link simple rhythmic building blocks- the phrases of tango- and showing them different ways of constructing these phrases into poems. We finish each lesson with demonstrations of more phrases built on the same principles. We emphasize the idea of building the dance from basic elements rather than offering figures for memorization. We frequently work with linking steps, and navigational skills, demonstrating how to use them in a variety of situations. We believe that when students see the tango as a flexible dance, and understand the beauty of how to piece different elements together with the music, the dance becomes more exciting for them. They can truly make this dance their own with their own expression and flavor.

Reference

"Tony and Ilana really help you to break the dance down into its essential elements, and then show you how to put it all together again. It's more than just talk."
Chris Chantrill, Seattle, Washington

"Thank you for being such a good tango instructor, and especially for the one on one advice you've given both me and my partner."
Matt Gianni, Bellevue, Washington

“I have had the pleasure of taking a number of Argentine tango workshops with Tony and Ilana, and I have always enjoyed them. I appreciate their superb analysis and breakdown of the individual steps, and have experienced many an ‘aha’ moment during their classes. They are very personable, diplomatic, and helpful, and give a lot of individual attention. After a class I usually leave with a heightened sense of accomplishment and a renewed inspiration for the dance. I recommend them highly.”
John Sanders, Vancouver B.C., Canada

"Fabulous Dancers!"
Pablo Ziegler, B.A., Argentina

"We saw Tony and Ilana perform at the Crystal Tango Ball last October. We were so delighted with their style, that we asked them to come and teach a weekend workshop and perform for us in April, 98. Their style of teaching is fun, creative, and informative. It leaves you wanting more. We were impressed with a statement that leaders should pause more and give the followers "pockets of time" to play. We have had many asking how soon we could get them back for another workshop. We are so excited that they will be back in September. Can't wait for more lessons with them. Great style! A couple of our favorite performers and teachers!"
Dan & Dolores Timmins, Vancouver, Washington

"Best in the Northwest!'
Gary Wembers, San Francisco, CA

"Tony and Ilana are valuable assets in the Argentine Tango teaching and performance community. They presented a very clear, well thought out workshop on basics and adornments and presented a spectacular tango performance at our Tango Ball."
Clay Nelson, Portland, Oregon

"As dancers Tony and Ilana create a dynamic if violent conversation.
As tango teachers they are able to clearly break down the dance as one would dismantle a puzzle, the different being in reconstructing the dance one gains an inkling of the infinite nature of the tango and thus are drawn into it's passionate intricacy."
Irma Verde & Tsing R. Hum, Victoria, Canada