A Christmas message by Hugo - From Buenos Aires, Argentina.

I really enjoy this time of the year as it is when I reflect back on what has been achieved during the year both personally in what is already my second year touring the planet and all the success happening at our Alma De Tango Escuela. 2015 has been a great year for us and I feel very proud of what has been achieved and very appreciative of all the hard work put in by our School’s leading team: Shirley Yao and Olga Ristic and the awesome work of our Lead dancer and Teacher Marcel Giermanski.

There is no doubt that our leading team is one of our greatest strengths as an organisation, along with our tango culture. We talk a lot about how we make a difference in our dance commitment and we are all truly privileged to work in an art expression where we can make a difference in the lives of others every day. It is really important that we continually recognise and appreciate that it is indeed the whole group: the Directors, the Teachers and the Students who make the greatest difference, and not any one individual. Our team and our respect for the traditional classic tango principles culture we foster underpin all the good work that we do, and the lives that we are able to help change.

Arguably, our most significant achievement this year has been our complete success in the 15th anniversary of our Argentine Tango Courses at The University of Queensland through the UQ Sports And Fitness Centre great Team lead by Jodi Fulwood. Each term achieved a great number of students who did not save words to praise the commitments of our teachers.

As a result of our ongoing commitment to empower our students to achieve their goals and our exceptional work as a team, several new members joined our School in Brisbane and we expect many other to join early in 2016.

This year has also seen a new stage in the organisation of our already legendary Alma de Tango Milongas. Thanks to our leading DJ and sound engineer Chris supported by lovely Helena by providing with unique insight to the judgment and decision making when things need to be solved quickly and his commitment to providing only the traditional Buenos Aires-styled Milongas that has characterised our gatherings since I started them in 1999. We all look forward to what 2016 has in store for our Milongas.

And surely we need to mention our exciting rotative class program: our Greatest Saturdays of Tango in Brisbane! Throughout the year we have provided with an unprecedented dynamics in our teaching philosophy that is unique in Australia and surely in most of the world, as recognized by the dozens of visiting students from intestate and overseas that populate our studio every Saturday.

Overall it has been a busy and very productive year for The Alma de Tango School, culminating in celebrations on the 12th and 13thy of this month with all the usual suspects plus some new ones; celebrating the fact that our School has been in action for 15 years. Fifteen years ago I did not envisage that our School would be the powerful Team that it is today given the fact that I have been absent often! It has been 15 years of empowering dancers, developing confidence in a team and tango culture of which I am proud to be associated, and most importantly, keeping the work together to make a difference to the lives of all the people that we meet through our work. Fifteen years on, and I still believe in what inspired me which is what we do today, and that what we do makes a real and tangible difference in the lives of many.

I look forward to 2016 in anticipation of continued success in helping our friends achieve their artistic goals and welcoming new members into our fabulous team to help us make a difference.

Hugo Fernandez - Principal