Igor "El Espejero" (Toronto)
Igor “El Espejero” started dancing tango in 2011, and DJing in 2012. Since then he has been invited to play his music to over 350 milongas and events in England, Ireland, Belgium, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Serbia, Romania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Turkey, North Cyprus, China, Taiwan, US, and Argentina (Salon Canning and Club Fulgor, Buenos Aires), while actively DJing at various milonga venues and organizing own events in Toronto, the city of his residence.
His musical selection is firmly grounded in Golden Age, while his style is influenced by the profound and sensual choices of the younger generation of Buenos Aires musicalizadors.
Igor says: “I believe that it is the dance floor that dictates the choices to the DJ, not other way around. Thus, I neither program my music in advance of the event, nor I attempt to ‘educate’ or ‘challenge’ the dancers. My only goal is to deliver the best danceable music and abundant energy to the floor, from the first to the last tanda, without a single exception.”
JASON JIANG (Toronto)
JASON JIANG A dancer, DJ, producer of tango show/film and organizer of Tango events based in Toronto (Canada) and Shanghai (China).
As a DJ, he is passionate about tango music from Golden Age, offering a wide range of music to generate the most rewarding and inspiring dancing experience for milongueros. He collects and owns some of the best 78 RPM transfers tango music currently in the world including CTA, AMP, Audio Park and Tangotunes. His selection of music is characterized by dynamic and sensation of dancers, dictated by the energy flow on the dancing floor. He likes to DJ and compiles tandas “on-the-fly” at the milonga! He has been guest DJ at various festivals and milongas in Asia, America, Europe and Buenos Aires such as Festival International de Tango de Sitges, Primavera Budapest Tango Marathon, Tango Maya Fest, Toronto Tango Congreso, Toronto Tango Festival, Taipei Tango Festival, Tokyo Tango Festival/Marathon, Beijing Tango Festival, Shanghai Tango Festival and at local milongas in Canada, United States, Mexico, Barcelona, Tokyo, Shanghai and Beijing. He had been invited to DJ in some of the most traditional and prestigious milongas in Buenos Ares, among them, Lo de Celia, El Beso, Porteño y Bailarin, El Motivo, Los Bohemios, Fulgor, Si Sos Brujo, Club Pedro Echagüe and Parakultural Salon Canning.
As a producer, he produced the Asia Premiere of musical Tango On Air with Sebastian Arce y Mariana Montes and Orquesta Tango En Vivo at Shanghai International Dance Center on March 11, 2018. He participated in Natalia Hills y Luis Tarantino’s film “Ella Baila” as commercial producer in 2021.
Steven (Rochester, NY)
Steven Thull is a tango dancer, DJ, and photographer. He lives in Rochester, NY, where he has been organizing milongas and teaching classes since 2017. Steven approaches every milonga with an attentive eye on the ronda, a keen ear for the sound, a large collection of high quality recordings, carefully crafted tandas, and a passion to put it all together for the dancers.
Steven has been growing in popularity as a DJ since debuting nationally in 2021, playing in festivals and marathons such as Regalo, Windy City Tango Festival, La Entrega, Toronto Ocho Festival, Cleveland Tango Marathon, Queen City Tango Festival, and more
Andrea (Montreal)
Andrea Shepherd co-owns and runs the MonTango dance school in Montreal. She has been dancing tango for 25 years, teaching for more than 20 and DJing for 15.
Andrea has been organizing and DJing MonTango's Sunday afternoon milonga since it opened in 2008. It is one of the school's most consistently popular activities, thanks in large part to Andrea's creative musical selections.
Andrea can lose herself for hours in digging up new tangos and building tandas. She fell into DJing almost by accident, starting by just throwing together playlists for her school’s first milongas and then gradually learning how to actually be a DJ and build a milonga playlist on the fly for a live crowd with contrast and flow. And what a fun learning process it has been.
While her first love is traditional tango, Andrea is not afraid to think outside the box and is also a popular DJ of alternative milongas. Basically, she loves music, loves to dance and loves to keep dancers happy and on the dance floor.
In addition to milongas in and around Montreal,
Andrea has DJed in cities such as Halifax, NS, and Lima, Peru, and in 2016 she won first place in a local DJ competition held at Tango Social Club.
Andrea, also a writer, is author of the book 25 Tango Lessons.
Ivan (Ottawa)
Ivan Aleksandrov is a professional dancer who discovered Argentine Tango in 2008 and has been studying it ever since with tango masters from around the world. Ivan is passionate about all aspects of tango: he is a sought-after teacher, an exceptional performer and an avid milonguero.
An evening as a DJ is always a unique adventure for Ivan: it represents an opportunity for him to create a memorable experience for the dancers on the floor and to unite them around a shared energy.
As a DJ, he has a very personal style that aims to create a positive atmosphere, from begining to end.
His approach is the result of many years of experience dancing at festivals and marathons, and he loves to share the breadth of his knowledge, his powerful energy, and deep emotions with everybody.
He loves all the good classical tangos with their incredible temperament and passion, but he also appreciates modern orchestras that seek to create new forms of expression in the present day.
“For me, the most important thing is that the dancers have fun on the dance floor!"