Our Artists and DJs
Photo by Steven Thull
Edmond Bardhi - Ann Arbor, MI
Edmond was inspired to start DJing as a result of his early passion for tango music. DJing regularly in Ann Arbor and nearby communities, he has developed a rich style full of rhythmical presence and lyrical complexity. Edmond attentively manages the flow of energy to enhance the dancers' connection, while keeping the crowd invigorated with playful cortinas and milongas so fast, they'll make your feet hurt. Edmond is frequently invited to DJ at various festivals, marathons, and milongas, including Ann Arbor, Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Montreal, New York City, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Tampa, and Toronto.
Photo by Leda Colakyan
Manuk Colakyan (Vinyl) - Philadelphia, PA and Istanbul, Turkey
Manuk is an aficionado of Argentine Tango. He dances, collects its music and DJ's for more than 15 years. With his large collection of recordings, Manuk believes that there is plenty of great music to be offered to the dancers and always tries to play a few of the lesser heard recordings when he DJ's. Manuk DJs mostly in the US, The East Coast and in his native Istanbul during his visits. He has appeared in many festivals, milongas and celebrations. In "non-tango" hours Manuk works as a chemical engineer. He lives in Philadelphia with his family.
Photo by Andrés Dueñas
Kim Dai - New York, NY
Kim was initially drawn to tango by the music, before she fell in love with the dance. She is curious about the wide range of emotional expression that tango allows for and loves how the music inspires her to connect more deeply to herself and others through that shared experience. As a DJ, she aims to share her passion by creating different moods and vibes with her music; encouraging dancers to explore their own emotional depths while connecting to something greater than themselves. She finds it magical when the music is able to enter into the embrace and flow through the couple. Kim currently co-hosts and DJs at a weekly milonga, Gallo Ciego, and a weekly practica, Tuesday Practica, in New York City.
Yulia Kriskovets - Washington, DC
Yulia has been a tango DJ for over 15 years, both locally in Washington D.C. and in various tango events in the U.S. She loves to contrast the music texture and emotional charge in a way that drives the crowd to dance a lot. She aims to get to the trance-like state where dancers feel safe and inspired. Most recently, Yulia is inspired by the idea of the wave from the 5 Rhythms dance practice and incorporates it in her tango DJing.
Photo by Steven Thull
James Oh - Providence, RI
Every dancer who's crazy about tango wants a DJ who can match their crazy with devotion to tango music. If you're that kind of crazy, then James "El LocOh" is your kind of DJ. As the name implies, James is certifiable. Not only will he mastermind an exquisite playlist, he'll also toil over his impressive collection of remastered tunes searching for the winning track, and engineer every detail of the sound quality to get you lost in the music. And don't let his perfectly-crafted D'Arienzo and Biagi tandas fool you, James always has his pulse on the dancefloor and will expertly balance mood and melody to satisfy all of your Golden Age desires. Bring your most padded shoes to this milonga, because when James is spinning you won't be able to leave the ronda.
Photo by Yulia Kriskovets
Ramu Pyreddy - Washington, DC
Ramu took his first tango lesson on April 27th, 2000 in Buenos Aires and was hooked instantly. To share that passion with his friends and colleagues, he started Michigan Argentine Tango Club at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Ramu has since danced, DJ'd and taught all over the US and Canada. His teaching and dancing are characterized by a keen musical interpretation, infectious enthusiasm and a deep love of the music. He is one of the most knowledgeable and sought after tango DJ's in the US and has been a featured DJ at most tango festivals in the US. Currently, he lives in Washington DC where he is the host, DJ and resident teacher at Milonga Zandunga, one of DC's popular milongas.
Photo by Svetlana Petkovic
Davin Quinn (Vinyl) - Albuquerque, NM
Davin Quinn has been a tango dancer since 2006, and a DJ since 2012. Ever since a good friend motivated him to try DJing with his personal vinyl tango records back in 2017, it has been his preferred way to play at milongas and festivals. Spinning tunes on professional Technics turntables, DK has been featured at the Albuquerque Tango Festival, the Los Angeles Endless Summer Tango Marathon, the International Tango Summit, and the Las Vegas All-You-Can-Tango Marathon.
Photo by Michelle Guanca
Dhruv Singh - San Francisco, CA
Dhruv discovered tango at Purdue University and soon after moved to Portland where he became part of a thriving community. Now a resident of the Bay Area, the spontaneity and nostalgia that first drew him to tango keeps taking him across the country for various festivals and marathons. He enjoys the entire richness of the range that tango has to offer values the many flavors tango dancers bring from across the worlds. As a DJ, he believes that a great experience on the dance floor simply originates from a burning desire to dance. He particularly enjoys dancing in the Washington DC community and is looking forward to bring a festive mix to Tango Holiday!
Photo by Nadia Balitskaya
Derek Tang - Los Angeles, CA
Derek is one of the most requested DJs in Los Angeles and has played at festivals and milongas throughout the country. He is a teacher, organizer, and has competed in several Tango competitions throughout the years; winning the SoCal Tango Championship in 2016 and placing first in the Vals and Milonga categories at ATUSA. Derek is known for his tremendous energy as a DJ and dancer.
"The music is an essential ingredient to creating a magical evening. My responsibility as a DJ is to create the energy that will allow every dancer to express themselves to their fullest abilities."
Photo by Alain Tango Aficionado
Jun Yi - San Francisco, CA
Intrigued by the beauty of the music and intensity of the dance, Jun discovered the world of Argentine Tango when studying at Yale University, and started her DJing journey at Yale Tango Club. Her incessant quest for great tango music led her to invitations of DJing by popular milongas in New York City, the vibrant tango community that nourished her growth and blossoming into a mature dancer and DJ. A gentle and sensitive soul, Jun actively listens to the dance floor and she creates an enchanting music journey that speaks to dancers' emotions absorbed in a warm embrace, elegant steps, and playful movement. Known for her impeccable delicacy of storytelling, Jun's music is instrumental to creating some of the most blissful, energized and passionate milongas for the dancers that have heard her.
She has shared her music selections at renowned marathons internationally, such as Bal Tout Terrain (Paris, 2023), Krakow Aires Secreto Marathon (July 2022), Santa Maradona Tango Marathon (Napoli, 2022, 2023), Napul'e Tango Festival (Napoli, 2022), Montreal Abrazo Tango Marathon (Canada, 2022, 2019), San Miguel Tango Festival (Mexico 2022, 2023), and events in the US like Gavito Tango Festival (2022), San Diego Tango New Year Festival (2019, 2022), Nor'Easter Tango Marathon (2022), Big Apple Tango Marathon, Queen City Tango Festival, Violetas Tango Entruenco, Atlanta Tango Marathon I & II, Buscandote Houston Tango Marathon, Las Mujeras Tango Marathon, etc., as well as Milongas in Europe, China and Argentina. Currently residing in California, her journey as a tango dancer, DJ, and community-builder continues to grow and expand through her persistent study of tango music and her consistent tango travels to Europe, Argentina and all over North America.
Hyperion Ensemble was formed in 1992 as an ensemble interested in contemporary music. From the very beginning, it has been deeply interested in the Piazzolla repertoire and to Tango in general. Hyperion has taken part, during its 30 years of activity in over 1,000 shows, festivals and theatres all over Europe, offering a wide repertoire ranging from contemporary Tango to traditional Tango.
Since its foundation, Hyperion has collaborated with various renowned bandoneonists such as Luis Stazo, Juan Josè Mosalini, Daniel Binelli, Alfredo Marcucci, Josè Luis Betancor, Victor Villena; the regular bandoneonists in the Ensemble are actually Nicola Maceratesi and Gino Zambelli, while the singers are actually the Argentinians Martin Troncozo and Hernan Godoy.
Hyperion Ensemble is regularly invited to the most renowned Tango Festivals all over Europe: Paris, Brussels, London, Barcelona (Sitges), Istanbul, Tarbes, Porec, Athens, Torino, Rome, Firenze, Genova, Mantova etc.
The ensemble has musically accompanied many shows with famous international companies and dancers like "Tangovivo" with Union Tanguera of Esteban Moreno and Claudia Codega, "Tango x 2" with Miguel Angel Zotto, "Tango Metropolis" with Claudio Hoffmann and Daniel Binelli, "Conceptango" with the company of Leo Calvelli y Eugenia, "TangObsesion" with the company Leonardo Cuello, "Tango Nuevo" with Roberto Herrera's company and, others: in 2015 and 2017 Ensemble took part to the German tour of Gustavo Russo's company in the show "Tango in Red." In this occasions the ensemble has appeared in the most famous theatre scenes over Europe, such as Teatro Regio
and Auditorium Lingotto in Turin, Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Teatro Carlo Felice in Genua, Darmstadtium in Darmstadt, Brucknerhaus in Linz, Die Glocke in Bremen Auditorium della Conciliazione in Rome, Dom Musyck a Mosca, Teatro Regina Victoria in San Sebastian, Trui teatro in Palma de Mallorca, Concert Noble Brussels, Mustafa Kemal Merkezi in Istanbul, Mohammed V in Rabat (Morocco), Blue Note in Milan.
In 2019 the ensemble did 2 intercontinental tours: in Bali-Jakarta-Dubai (March) and in the USA (December). In 2023, in February Hyperion performed in the historical milongas in Buenos Aires, Argentina, as "La Viruta," "Milonga Parakultural" at Salon Marabù, "La Nacional," also at the international tango festival "Cumbre de Las Cumbres" in Zarate.
The ensemble has often performed with others famous dancers such as Sebastian Arce and Mariana Montes, Chicho Frumboli and Juana Sepulveda, Miguel Angel Zotto, Javier Rodriguez, etc. in several venues and festival around Europe. Often the ensemble features soloists like Cristina Vilallonga, Sandra Rumolino, Silvia Lallana (voice), Franco Luciani (harmonic), Luis Bacalov (composer and pianist), Cesar Angeleri (guitar). Recently it began collaborating with the singer Antonella Ruggiero in the show "Contemporanea Tango." The ensemble has often performed accompanied by symphonic orchestra, mainly with the 45 musicians of the Orchestra Filarmonica Italiana. Hyperion's record production has released 9 CDs: "Livin Tango" (1998) – "Boulevard Tango" (2000) – "Corso Buenos Aires" (2005) – "Buenos Aires hora cero" (2006) – "Hyperion Live in Paris" with the special participation of Luis Stazo (2008) – "Contemporanea Tango" with Antonella Ruggiero (2010) – "Epoca de Oro" (2011) – "Remembranzas" (2014), "Tango 9" (2016), "Hasta siempre amor" (2018).
Firenze Grande Encuentro de tango 15, 2022, Notte del Venerdi
2019 New Year's Eve, San Diego Tango Festival
De repente el baile de tango de Amanda y Adrian Costa en Parakultural
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