YVONNE MEISSNER
FORMATIONS & WORK
Training
1986 -1989 First tango workshops with Wouter Brave and Martine Berghuis
1990-1993 Tangoschool Amsterdam, the Netherlands, teachers: Rob and Inez Classes with Vanina, Gustavo Naveira and others (tango fantasia).
1993-1995 Private classes with Pepito Avellaneda (milonga), Pocho Pizarro (canyengue), Tete and Maria (tango de salon).
1994-1995 Training on didactics, teaching methods and body techniques by Susanna Miller (tango de salon apilado)
Body techniques and work on posture
1994-1995 Contact improvisation for modern dancers, Perron 2, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
1996-1997 Alexander technique with Tom Clifton Koch, Amsterdam/New York
Teaching/ Shows/ Jury/ Salon
1994
Start weekly classes Amsterdam, Haarlem and 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands
Exhibition Theater festival Venlo with Quinteto Marcucci, the Netherlands (with Rob Nuijten) and group of Academia de Tango.
1994
Weekly classes Amsterdam, Haarlem and 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands
Exhibition Theater festival Venlo with Quinteto Marcucci, the Netherlands (with Rob Nuijten) and group of Academia de Tango.
1995
Weekly classes Amsterdam, Haarlem and 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands.
Workshops El Centro, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Claraklooster, 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands.
Salon weekly salon El Centro, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Shows 'Canyengue' El Centro, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (with Pocho Pizarro)
1996
Weekly classes Amsterdam and 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands (from November with Jan Dirk)
Workshops Azijnfabriek, 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands (with Jan Dirk)
Zollhaus, Düsseldorf, Germany (Solo)
Tangoschule Zürich, Schweiz (with Susana Miller)
Salon El Centro, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (three times a month)
Shows Azijnfabriek 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands (with Jan Dirk)
Volta Amsterdam, the Netherlands (with Jan Dirk)
Zollhaus Düsseldorf, Germany (with Jan Dirk)
1997
Weekly classes Amsterdam, 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands (with Jan Dirk)
Monthly classes Zollhaus, Düsseldorf, Germany (Solo)
Workshops Dojo, Florence, Italy (Solo)
Lupe, Nürnberg, Germany (Solo)
Centro di Danza Mimma Testa, Roma, Italy (Solo)
Zollhaus Düsseldorf, Germany (with Jan Dirk)
Lupe Studio, Nürnberg, Germany (with Jan Dirk)
Amauta Brussel, Belgium (with Jan Dirk)
Kapel Kontich, Belgum (with Jan Dirk)
Boulevard 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands (with Jan Dirk)
Barrio de Tango, Meyer et Fils, Rotterdam, the Netherlands (with Jan Dirk)
Shows Salon Regin, Buenos Aires, Argentina, inauguration salon del miercoles (with Jan Dirk, other milongueros: Tete, Tommy and Adrian Romero).
'La Beauté du Geste Humaine', Amauta, Brussel, Belgium (with Jan Dirk, Sergio Molini (Arg.) and Gisela Graef-Marino, Nathalia Games and Gabriel Angio (Arg.), Eugenia Usandivaras and Leo Calvelli (Arg.), Nathalie Prudon and Pedro Andrade)
Summer party with Quinteto Marcucci, Zollhaus, Düsseldorf,
Germany (with Jan Dirk)
Amauta, Brussel, Belgium (with Jan Dirk)
1998
Weekly classes Amsterdam, 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands (wtih Jan Dirk)
Monthly classes Zollhaus, Düsseldorf, the Netherlands (Solo)
Bárbaro, School Roberto Duclos, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, summer course (Solo)
Workshops Florence Dance Center, Florence, Italy (with Ruben Terbalca)
Tangoschule Bochum, Canyengue (with Ruben Terbalca)
Zollhaus Düsseldorf, Germany (with Adrian Romero)
ATAK, Enschede, the Netherlands (with Jan Dirk)
Florence Dance Center, Florence, Italy (with Jan Dirk)
St. Gallen, Switzerland (with Jan Dirk)
Zollhaus Düsseldorf, Germany (Solo)
Bridge to the Tango: travel to Amsterdam, Organisation: Daniel Trenner (USA), (Solo and with Daniel Trenner)
Festival de Sitges, Spain (with Adrián Romero, and Gustavo Naveira, Giselle Anne, Alejandro Sanguinetti, Natalia Games and Gabriel Angió, Jorge Udrisard and Andrea Ponzetti, Osvaldo Zotto and Lorena Ermocída, Pablo Ojeda and Beatriz Romero)
Zollhaus Düsseldorf, Germany (Solo)
Tango-Festival Hamburg, Germany (with Pocho Pizarro, others: Osvaldo Zotto and Lorena Ermocida, Fabián Salas and Cecilia Gonzáles, Ricardo Calvo and Marisa Talamoni, Diego Cornella and Pilar Fernandez, Alejandro Sanguinetti a.o.).
Tour with Pocho Pizarro 1998: Kopenhagen (Danmark), London (England), Düsseldorf (Germany), Zürich, St. Gallen (Switzerland), Konstanz, Nürnberg, Düsseldorf, Wangen, Würzburg (Germany), Toulouse (France), Rome, Bologna, Florence (Italy), Düsseldorf (Germany), Amsterdam, Nijmegen (the Netherlands)
Exhibition Canyengue, Florence Dance Center, Florence, Italy (with Ruben Terbalca)
Zollhaus, Düsseldorf, Germany (with Adrian Romero)
Festival de Sitges, Spain (with Adrián Romero)
Festival Hamburg, Germany (with Pocho Pizarro)
Kopenhagen, Danmark (with Pocho Pizarro)
London, London Welsh Center, El Once Club de Tango (with Pocho Pizarro)
Konstanz, Erlangen, Germany (with Pocho Pizarro)
Toulouse, France (with Pocho Pizarro)
Jury Activity Concours de Tango Trophée Amauta, Concours Belge, Amauta,
Brussel, Belgien (Jury with Jan Dirk, Eugenia Usandivaras and Leo
Calvelli (Arg.), and others)
Journalism/translation Translation for the Dutch review 'La Cadena'
Start of a series of interviews with 'Los Grandes del Tango' (for example: Carmencita Calderon, milongueros as El Tano Guillermo, Ricardo Maceiras, Pocho Pizarro and others)
Interview by 'Emisora Ona Sants-Montjuïc', Tango para el mundo, Barcelona, Spain, during the festival of Sitges
Television programm on the festival of Sitges, Spain
Practica April through august 1998: weekly practica 'Barbaro', Amsterdam, the Netherlands (with Jan Dirk)
1999
Workshops Düsseldorf, Germany (Solo)
Nimes, France (with Gilles Kotzebtchouk)
Florence Dance Center, Florence, Italy (Solo)
Konstanz, Germany (Solo)
Escuela Nestor Sanchez, Gran Buenos Aires, Argentina (Solo)
Den Bosch, Harfsen/Enschede, the Netherlands (with Gilles)
Düsseldorf, Münster, Germany (with Gilles)
Cambridge, England (with Gilles)
Düsseldorf, BRD (Solo)
Paris, France (with Pocho Pizarro)
Berlin, Germany (with Pocho Pizarro)
Düsseldorf, Germany (with Pocho Pizarro)
Oslo and Bergen Norwegia (with Pocho Pizarro)
Kopenhagen, Denmark (with Pocho Pizarro)
Festival Toulouse, France (with Pocho Pizarro and Solo: body techniques)
Bridge to the Tango: travel to Amsterdam, Organisation: Daniel
Trenner (USA), (Solo)
Düsseldorf, Germany (Solo)
Lyon, France (with Gilles)
Firenze, Italy (Solo)
Istanbul, Turkey (Private classes, solo)
Düsseldorf, Germany (Solo)
Konstanz,, Germany (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Lausanne, Switzerland (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Cambridge, Great Britain (Solo)
Edinburgh, Great Britain (Solo)
Bristol, Great Britain (Solo)
Cardiff, Great Britain (Solo)
Firenze, Italy (Solo)
Düsseldorf, Germany (Solo)
Würzburg, Germany (Solo)
Exhibition Buenos Aires, Argentina,Caffé Max (with Gilles Kotzebtchouk)
Buenos Aires, Argentina, Salon Maragata (with Gilles Kotzebtchouk)
Münster, Germany (with Gilles Kotzebtchouk)
Düsseldorf, Germany (with Pocho Pizarro)
Festival Toulouse, France (with Pocho Pizarro)
2000
Istanbul, Turkey (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Düsseldorf, Germany (Solo)
Cambridge, Great Britain, (Solo)
Würzburg, Germany (Solo)
Vienna, Austria (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Firenze, Italy (Solo)
Düsseldorf, Germany (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Würzburg, Germany (with Eduardo Aguirre)
London, Great Britain (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Cambridge, Great Britain (Solo and with Eduardo Aguirre)
Edinburgh, Great Britain (Solo)
Newcastle, Great Britain (Solo)
Bristol, Great Britain (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Firenze, Italy (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Pistoia, Italy, exhibition/workshops (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Bologna, Italy, exhibition Cheek to Cheek (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Düsseldorf, Germany, workshops, Zollhaus (Solo)
Albany, New York, USA, workshops/exhibition (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Ithaca, New York, USA, festifval/exhibition (with Eduardo Aguirre) amongst Miguel Zotto and Angeles
Boston, USA, workshops Tango Society and Boston Tango School (with Eduardo Aguirre)
New Orleans, USA, exhibition/workshops (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Haarloo, Holland, workshops (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Wangen, Germany, workshops, (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Gent, Belgium, exhibition/workshops (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Bristol, Great Britain, exhibition/workshops (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Cardiff, Great Britain, workshop (with Eduardo Aguirre)
London, Great Britain, workshops/exhibition, Welsh Center (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Edinburgh, Great Britain, workshops (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Düsseldorf, Germany, workshop (Solo)
Perugia, Italy, workshop (Solo)
Firenze, Italy, workshops (Solo)
Würzburg, Germany (Solo)
2001
Firenze, Italy, workshops (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Albany, New York, USA, workshops/exhibition (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Rochester, New York, USA, workshops/exhibition (with Eduardo Aguirre)
New York City, New York, USA, workshops/exhibition (with Eduardo Aguirre), many different venues
Boston, USA, workshops Tango Society and privates (with Eduardo Aguirre)
New Orleans, USA, exhibition/workshops (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Miami, FL, USA, exhibitions/workshops (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Haarloo, Holland, workshops (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Frayssinette, France, workshops (with Eduardo Aguirre)
La Rogaia, Umbria, Italy, workshops (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Todi, Umbria, Italy, workshops (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Firenze, Italy, workshops (Solo)
Wangen, Germany, workshops (Solo)
Bristol, Great Britain, workshops (Soo)
Cambridge, Great Britain, privates (Solo)
London, Great Britain, workshops (Solo)
Würzburg, Germany (Solo)
Portland Festival, Oregon, USA, workshops/exhibition (Solo)
Albany, NY, USA, workshops (Solo)
Rochester, NY, USA, workshop (Solo)
Boston, MASS., USA, workshops/privates (Solo)
Firenze, Italy, workshop series with Luis Ferraris & Eduardo Aguirre
2002
Firenze, Italy, workshops (Solo)
Winchester, Great Britain, workshops (Solo)
London, Welsh Center, Great Britain, workshops (Solo)
Cambridge, Great Britain, workshops (Solo)
Portland, OR, Portland Festival, USA, workshops and exhibition (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, workshops and exhibitions (with Eduardo Aguirre)
San Francisco, CR, USA, workshops and exhibitions (with Eduardo Aguirre and Solo)
Anchorage, Alaska, USA, workshops (Solo)
Portland Valentine Festival, Oregon, USA, workshops and exhibitions (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Boston, Massachusetts, USA (Solo)
London, Welsh Center, Great Britain, workshops (Solo)
Winchester, Great Britain, workshops (Solo)
Bristol, Great Britain, workshops (Solo)
Düsseldorf, Germany, workshops (Solo)
Firenze, Italy, workshops (Solo)
La Rogaia, Umbria, Italy, holiday tango week (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Saltsprings, British Columbia, Canada, workshops (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, workshops (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, workshops (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Boston, Massachusetts, USA, workshops (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Haarloo, Holland, workshops (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Frayssinette, France, workshops (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Winchester, Great Britain, workshops (Solo)
London, Dome, Great Britain, workshops (Solo)
London, Welsh Center, Great Britain, workshops (Solo)
Portland Oktober Festival, OR, USA, workshops/exhibition/festival (Solo)
Saltsprings, British Columbia, Canada, workshops (Solo)
Port Townsend, Washington, USA, workshops (Solo)
Boston, Massachusetts, USA (Solo)
Firenze, Italy, workshops (with Eduardo Aguirre)
La Rogaia, Umbria, Italy, week holiday workshops (with Eduardo Aguirre)
2003-2005
Valsinestra, ski tango week, Engadin, Switzerland, workshops/exhibition (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Düsseldorf, Germany, workshops (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Bergen aan Zee, weekend-workshops in a hotel at the seaside, workshops/exhibition (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Firenze, Italy, workshops (with Mike Lavocah)
Istanbul, Turkey, workshops (solo and with Eduardo Aguirre)
Firenze, Italy, workshops (solo)
Norwich, Great Britain, workshops (solo)
Seattle, Washington, USA workshops and exhibition (solo)
Port Townsend, Washington, USA workshops (solo)
Portland, Oregon, USA workshops and exhibition (solo)
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA workshops (solo)
Boston, Massachusetts, USA workshops and exhibition (solo)
Denver Festival, Colorado USA workshops (solo)
2005-2007
Body/mind professional trainings: Diploma Basic Focussing
Diploma Somatic Experiencing Practicioner (R)
Firenze, Italy, workshops (solo)
Norwich, Great Britain, workshops (solo)
London, Welsh Center, Great Britain, workshops (Solo)
Cambridge, Great Britain, workshops (Solo)
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA workshops (solo)
Boston, Massachusetts, USA (Solo)
Portland, Oregon, USA workshops and exhibition (solo)
Firenze, Italy, workshops (with Eduardo Aguirre)
La Rogaia, Umbria, Italy, week holiday workshops (with Eduardo Aguirre)
2007-2012
Formation diploma Alexandertechnique in 2014
Firenze, Italy, workshops (solo)
Norwich, Great Britain, workshops (solo)
London, Welsh Center, Great Britain, workshops (Solo)
Cambridge, Great Britain, workshops (Solo)
Firenze, Italy, workshops (with Eduardo Aguirre)
La Rogaia, Umbria, Italy, week holiday workshops (with Eduardo Aguirre)
Brandon Vermont Tango Festival, Vermont, USA
Boston Tango Society, Boston, USA (solo)
Time to Tango, Boston, USA (solo)
2012
Villa Rogaia, Umbria, Italy (with Yerpun Castro)
Perugia exhibition, Italy (with Yerpun Castro)
Nürnberg, Germany (solo)
Bamberg, Germany (with Suer)
Tangoholiday near Pisa, Italy (with El Pibe Avellaneda)
Istanbul exhibitions, Turkey, (with El Pibe Avellaneda)
Nürnberg, Germany (with El Pibe Avellaneda)
Denver Colorado, USA (solo)
Albuquerque Festival, New Mexico, USA (solo)
Paris, France (solo)
Montreuil, France (solo)
2013
Florence, Italy (sola)
Dubai, Aarb Emirates (solo)
New Delhi, India (solo)
Mumbai, India (solo)
Bollywood, India (solo)
Province Pisa, Casciana Terme, Italy (with Pibe Avellaneda)
Florence, Italy (with El Pibe Avellaneda)
Cecina, Italy (with El Pibe Avellaneda)
Villa Rogaia, Umbria, Italy (with El Pibe Avellaneda)
Villa Le Querciole, Casciana Terme, Italy (with Pibe Avellaneda)
Pisa, Italy (solo and with Pibe Avellaneda)
Amsterdam, Haarlem, Leiden, Netherlands (solo and with Pibe Avellaneda)
Beijing, China (solo)
Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon, Vietnam (solo)
München, Germany (solo and with Pibe Avellaneda)
Curriculum Vitae
Yvonne Meissner starts to dance Argentine Tango in 1987: First in the style Tango Fantasía (Vanina Bilous & Alejandro Aquino, Gustavo Naveira), after some years Tango de Salón apilado (Pepito Avellaneda, Tete Rusconi & Maria Villalobos, Cacho Dante & Susana Miller), from 1990 also called Tango Milonguero and Canyengue Orillero (Rodolfo & Maria Cieri, Pocho Pizarro).Yvonne has formations in Contact Improvisation, Modern Dance Techniques and holds titles in body work formations like Focusing and Somatic Experiencing® Trauma Institute as well as the Alexander-Technique after 2012. From 1994 she is one of the first teachers in Europe to combine these techniques for tango teaching. As a consequence she is invited througout Europe on invitation from 1996 to apply this surprising blend that speeds up bodily integration of movements .
In 1994 she set up tango in the Dutch cities Haarlem and ‘s-Hertogenbosch. In the same year Yvonne was the first organizer ever to bring (for then) no-name milongueros from Argentina and so f.e. Susana Miller and Cacho Dante started their first international steps outside Argentina in her school in ”El Centro” in Amsterdam. A benchmark in European tango history when dancing close embrace, Tango de Salón Apilado as they say in Argentina (from 1990 known as milonguero style) was still unknown outside Argentina.
Her international carreer starts in 1996, teaching social dancing in a close embrace brings her first all over Europe and from 1999 to the USA, Canada, Brazil, Argentina. After Brigitta Winkler she was the second non-Argentinian female teacher to be invited teaching in the USA. From 1999 onwards she worked with her partner in life Eduardo Aguirre who sadly has passed away in April 2010. She has since continued teaching in Europe and in festival in the USA in 2011 and is invited in US festivals in 2012. She has worked with famous social dance teachers like Rubén Terbalca, Pocho Pizarro, Susana Miller, Cacho Dante, Daniel Trenner, Ricardo Maceiras (El Pibe Sarandì), Ana Maria Schapira, Eduardo Aguirre, Luis Rojas, Jorge Firpo, Fernando Serrano, El Pibe Avellaneda next to her own international curriculum.
Yvonne’s teaching emphasis is on the use of the torso and torsion, hip movement, synchronization of the movement inside the couple and interaction between lead and follow resulting in a conversation of bodies. For Yvonne tango functions as a way of tender communication in general and starts with a decisive, elegant way of walking and overall awareness and physical presence in space. These communication aspects became the philosophy of her teaching, that is based on contact improvisation as well as rational explanation with the help of modern dance’s body techniques to understand where a movement starts from and consecutively arrives at the dance partner. Sublimation of this bodily communication will result in moving as ‘one heart with four legs’ as her teacher Cacho Dante said…
Tango movement schemes might be part of figures, though not being aimed at figures. Music with it’s rhythm and silences, in Argentina ‘el compas’, functions as the primary inspiration and creates a sculpture of movement in space. Rhythm and pauses, turns and staccati become a challenging game in between the couple. Yvonne got famous for the rhythmical decorations of her footwork, being taught by the older female dancers (milongueras) in Buenos Aires she witnessed in the 90-ies plus Canyengue delivering an unbridled sense of communicative play for the couple. To watch her dance is to realize that there is a tremendous amount of freedom in the follower’s role. Yvonne’s style redefines the role of the follower in Tango.
Festivals Yvonne worked in (quick overview): Toulouse Festival/France (2x), Sitges Festival/Spain, Hamburg Festival/ Germany, Portland Octoberfest (4x) and Portland Valentine’s Fest/Oregon/USA, New York Ithaca Festival/USA, Colorado Denver Milonguero Festival/USA, Vermont Brandon Festival/USA and in 2012 Albuquerque Festival/USA. In 2012 in Asia.
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Tango holidays
ASIA tour: march / april 2013
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