Academia del Tango

TEACHERS

Vaggelis Hatzopoulos

& Marianna Koutantou

Champions of Europe, Champions of Greece

Finalist at the Buenos Aires World Championship

Argentine tango dancers since 2004 and a couple in life.

They have been the director and artistic curator of “Academia del Tango” in Athens since September 2011. They have won the European Championship in the Tango Salon category and also won the 1st place in Greece in the same category.

Members of the Natalia Hills “Tangueros del Sur” compania and the Greek compania “Tango en Eros”, dancing to major Greek theaters, such as Herodion and the Megaron – The Athens Concert Hall. Frequently invited to seminars and shows at international events, Milongas and festivals (such as TanGo to Istanbul Festival, Tango Follies Festival, Tango Emotion Festival, Oktober Pest Tango Festival, AniverTango Festival, Taipei Tango Festival, Auroville Holi Tango Festival, De la noche Tango Festival, Ostuni Med Tango Meeting, Cyprus Tango Festival, Tango Lovers Festival, Unchained Tango Festival, Todos Tango Festival, Syros Tango Festival, Kalamata Tango Festival etc.) in many countries around the world, such as Argentina, India, Taiwan, Germany, the Netherlands, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Russia, Italy, Turkey, Switzerland, Greece, Cyprus and elsewhere.

Their primary teachers are Silvio la Via and Leandro Oliver & Laila Rezk and they have attended many lessons with Sebastian Arce & Marianna Montes, Gabriel Misse, Natalia Hills & Alejandro Aquino, Julio Balmaceda & Corina De La Rosa, Gabriel Angio & Natalia Gamez, Sebastian Jimenez & Maria Ines Bogado, Sebastian Achaval & Roxanna Suarez, Daniel Nacucchio & Cristina Sosa and many others.

They are known for the cleanliness and accuracy of their technique, for the sensitivity they emit as a couple, but also for the positive energy they share on shows and lessons.

Contact:

Vaggelis and Marianna

Academia del Tango HOME - 12 Agatharchou Str., Psirri, Athens

Academia del Tango STUDIO - 15 Agatharhou Str., Psirri, Athens

Tel.: 210-3310605 / 6973308930

www.academiadeltango.eu

FB: Vaggelis Marianna PAGE

Lucas Gauto

& Naima Gerasopoulou

4th place in the 2019 Buenos Aires World Championship

Naima Gerasopoulou began her career with dance at a very young age, initially with classical ballet and rhythmic gymnastics while also pursuing other types of dance. But when she got to know the tango she was dedicated to it. In 2014 she won the first place in the Tango Acropolis (Meditarranean & Eastern Tango Championship) competition in the Tango de pista category. Since then she has counted many entries in Greek and International Festivals with courses and shows next to some of the most important names in the tango scene.

Lucas Gauto started his career with Tango at the age of 12 in Argentina and has since achieved many successes, reaching No. 3 at the Tango World Championship in Buenos Aires in the Tango de Pista category. He has taught at Buenos Aires and Cordoba milongas and schools and has performed at major Buenos Aires milongas as well as at Argentine and European Festivals along with major Argentinean dancers and maestros.

Their joint course begins in August 2015 in Argentina. In 2019 they took part in the Tango World Championship in Buenos Aires and took the 4th place in the Tango Salon category. Their dance and lessons are based on a deep understanding of the technique and use of the body in each movement as well as on creating respect and affection for Argentine tango culture and traditions. Follow them to discover the communication through the tango hug and experience the intense emotions that only the tango can cause.

Alexia Silabrou

Alexia Silabrou with a classical dance major, a ballet graduate from the Royal Academy of Teachers of Dancing in London, came into contact with the tango in 1995 attending classes with tango leading teachers.

In 1997 she created (along with her former partner of Tasso Kechaya) Tanguero Dance Studio, one of the first schools in Greece to teach the until them unknown Argentine Tango.

Numerous appearances and performances all over Greece, including top performances at the Megaron- Athens Concert Hall in 2006, Cyprus Rialto Theater, Rock Festival “Melina Mercouri” in 2005 and many more with major orchestras such as Tango Total (Argentina), Mala Junta (Austria) and Quinteto Tangarto (Greece).

With her many years of experience as a dancer and teacher of Tango and her love for dance, she seeks to share her knowledge by focusing on the technique but also on the understanding of the dance culture and philosophy.

Orestis Dimitriou

Orestis Dimitriou started dancing in 1996 in Thessaloniki and his love for tango brought him to Athens in 2004. Since then he has been working professionally with Argentine tango taught by great Argentinean maestros and important people of the modern and older tango period.

He has attended numerous seminars but also private lessons in Argentina and Greece with world-renowned maestros such as his main maestro Silvio la Via, Miguel Angel Zotto, Daiana Guspero, Milena Plebs, Fabian Peralta, Sebastian Achaval, Roxana Suarez, Sebastian Misse, Francisco Forquera, Alejandro Aquino, Natalia Hills, Sebastian Arce, Daniel Nacucchio, Christina Valeria Sosa, Sebastian Jimenez, Maria Inez Bogabo.

Iliana Grammenopoulou

Iliana Grammenopoulou has been involved since childhood in classical ballet, contemporary and Latin dance. She started dancing tango in 2007 and started teaching private and group lessons since 2018.

She has learnt and danced with numerous great Maestros in Greece and Argentina, such us Raul Bravo, Alejandra Mantinan, Silvio La Via, Natalia Hills, Vanesa Villalba & Facundo Pinero, Virginia Gomez & Christian Marquez (Los Totis), Fabian Peralta, Natalia Games & Gabriel Angio, Sebastian Achaval & Roxana Suarez, Roberto Herrera, Natasha Lewinger, Magdalena Gutierrez & German Ballejos, Clarisa Aragón & Jonathan Saavedra etc.

The combination of her love for tango Argentino and her postgraduate studies in Social Anthropology, allows all new dancers to learn the history of the dance and the significance and meaning in expressing the power of this music.

Fotis Kakkiou & Lydia Moushoundi

3rd place in the Tango Stage category at the Pan-European Championship in London 2022 & 2024

Lydia Moushoundi began her dance career first through classical and contemporary ballet. The occasion to get to know tango was a performance that made her fall in love with tango and to want to dedicate herself exclusively to it. Her postgraduate studies in Dance Therapy have helped her to connect how movement works therapeutically in humans and to teach based on the needs of each student. For her, tango is expression and connection.

Fotis Kakkiou started his involvement with Tango in 2013. His love for tango came on the occasion of a milonga he found by chance. This mystery in the closed embrace of two people made him look for his first steps in tango and since then never stop dancing.

Their journey began in October 2016. Since then they have been dancing and teaching together, delivering seminars and shows all over Greece, while in 2022 & 2024 they took part in the Pan-European Tango Championship in London and won 3rd place in the Tango Stage category.

They have jointly attended many seminars and private lessons with world-renowned maestros such as Leandro Oliver, Laila Rezk Silvio la Via, Miguel Angel Zotto, Daiana Guspero, Fabian Peralta, Sebastian Achaval, Roxana Suarez, Sebastian Misse, Alejandro Aquino, Natalia Hills, Sebastian Arce, Daniel Nacucchio, Sebastian Jimenez, Maria Inez Bogabo.

If they could describe in one sentence what tango is to them they would tell you its a way of communication, a dialogue between two people conversing through their arms.