Washington University Tango

Tango legend Brigitta Winkler will host a weekend of dances and workshops Dec. 10-12 for The Tango Group at Washington University in St. Louis.

On Friday, Dec. 10, Winkler will host a free tango/swing/salsa dance from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. The event will begin with a half-hour introduction to swing dancing and also include, at 9:15 p.m., an introduction to authentic Argentine style tango. Tom Stermitz, organizer of Denver’s annual Memorial Day and Labor Day tango festivals, will dj with traditional Argentine tango music.

The dance is free and open to the public and will take place in Karl Umrath Lounge, located in Umrath Hall, immediately north of the Mallinckrodt Student Center, 6445 Forsyth Blvd.

In addition, Winkler will lead a series of tango workshops at 1, 2:45 and 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 11; and at 1 and 2:45 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 12. Cost for each class is $20 and a discount is available for the series. Beginners are welcome. Workshops take place in the Mudd House Multipurpose Room, located in the university’s South 40, on Shepley Drive just east of Big Bend Boulevard.

For more information about the dance or the workshops, call Shaun Sellers at (314) 935-6098 or visit http://cec.wustl.edu/~hs3/.

Winkler, a native of Berlin, is one of the world’s foremost teachers and performers of tango, known for her exquisite creativity, clarity and understanding of the dance and music. In 1987, Winkler co-founded the highly respected Tanzart studio in Berlin as well as the internationally acclaimed Tango Mujer, a pioneer dance company exploring the boundaries between tango and contemporary dance. In her classes, Winkler integrates more than 20 years experience of teaching and performing the tango with techniques adopted from Body-Mind Centering, an experimental approach to movement re-education.