Marisa & Oliver
Background before tango...
Oliver Koch
(German) received a training as a dance teacher and a stage dancer in Hamburg
and at the Rotterdam Dance Academy. He started his career as a dancer with
Rosas, the well known
contemporary dance company of Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker.
With Rosas he danced in the performances Erts, Woud, Just
Before, Achterland, Drumming, I said I, In Real Time
and others. Oliver also danced with the companies of Michèle Anne De Mey and
Feria Musica (circus). He had a leading role in the dance films Les Noces
and Love Sonnets (Thierry De Mey). In 1993 Oliver Koch discovered
Argentine tango. It was a revelation and tango immediately occupied an important
place in his life and dance career. For many years Oliver combined his work as a
modern dancer with his passion to dance and teach tango. At the end of 2001, he
left Rosas in order to dedicate himself totally to his career in tango.
Marisa van Andel grew
up in a Dutch family in Northern Italy. As a very young child already, she
followed regular and frequent dance lessons of all kinds. Yet, when she left
school, she opted for the university and in 1986 she left Italy moving to
Brussels to study journalism and European studies. She started to dance tango in
1994 and immediately got passionate. In 1998 Marisa succeeded in combining her
passion for dance with her job, when she became promotion and press officer with
the Rosas dance company of
choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. After office hours she worked as a
tango dancer and teacher. At the end of 2001 she left Rosas in order to dedicate
herself fully to tango.
Tango background and training...
Marisa & Oliver met
on the Brussels tango scene in 1996; they are dance partners and in life since
then. They were trained by old tango maestros such as Pepito Avellaneda,
Eduardo Arquimbau, Mingo Pugliese... as well as by younger teachers, among which
Gustavo Naveira, Pablo Veron, Julio Balmaceda & Corina De La Rosa, Gabriel
d'Angio & Natalia Games, Geraldine Rojas & Javier Rodriguez and Claudia Codega &
Esteban Moreno. Oliver & Marisa regularly travel to Argentina to improve their
technique and dancing style working with the best teachers and milongueros.
About the dance style...
Over the past 10 years
Marisa and Oliver
have developed their own dancing and teaching
style, combining the intimacy and the close embrace of the tango de salón with
the creativity and playfulness of the tango fantasía and neo tango elements.
They created in 1999 "Al compás del corazón", a non-profit association with the
aim of developing, promoting and teaching tango in Belgium. Al compás del
corazón (the title of a famous tango meaning "to the beat of the
heart") is the aim of Marisa and Oliver's tango... The intimacy in their
tango dance comes from a non verbal communication in which leading and following
are no longer coming from muscular force, but from the heart and soul... They
permanently search the energy, the connection that is created between two
persons when the melodies of he tango give birth to a dance of pure
improvisation. Permanently feeling and listening to each-other, they give free
flow to a game full of challenges and surprises. Oliver and Marisa's tango is a
harmonious proof of the association between intimacy and a skillful game of legs
and feet.
About the teaching...
Marisa & Oliver's
teaching focuses on improvisation. The main quality of their pedagogic approach
consists in the permanent and progressive analysis of the basic structures of
the tango. By teaching traditional or original figures, they focus on the
techniques and details of leading and following, the active role and elegance of
the movements of the lady, the consciousness of the individual and shared axis,
as well as harmony, fluidity, synchronisation and interpretation of the music.
About the tango career...
Oliver and Marisa have been teaching
and performing since 1996 all over Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as in
Italy, France, Germany, the UK, Austria, Switzerland, the USA, Turkey and Buenos
Aires. They collaborated with several dance, theatre and circus companies, such
as Feria Musica,
Sidi
Larbi Cherkaoui and
Ensemble Leporello. They danced for TV programmes, trailers and commercials,
as well as in several tango shows and festivals with renown orchestras as
Tango al Sur with Dirk Van Esbroek, Alfredo Marcucci's
Veritango,
Los Reyes del Tango,
Color Tango,
Silencio, Quinteto Zárate,
Quinteto Quilombo,
Tango Dorado,
Otra,
Juan José Mosalini,
and the
New York Tango Trio. They have choreographed, created and danced in several
theatres throughout Europe the successful show
Ensueños
de tango (2003-2008), with 4 dancers and 5 musicians of
Quinteto Zárate on stage.
When seeing the première of Ensueños in The Netherlands, well-known theatre and
TV actor and director
Frank Groothof invited Marisa and Oliver to be the lead dancers in his new
performance,
Orpheus. In December 2005 this theatre and dance performance to live
music was successfully created in The Netherlands, followed by a tour in 2006 in
about 60 theatres. End 2005 Oliver and Marisa worked for the TV show "Let's
Dance" (VT4), choregraphing and teaching Belgian celebrities 5
tangos
which all scored very high points from the jury.
In June 2006, Marisa and Oliver became the proud parents of their first
daughter, Alena. Since then they have decided to focus their tango career more
on the Belgian scene. In September 2006 they opened their own tango place in
Brussels,
La Tangueria,
which has quickly become one of the references for tango in Belgium. A complete
tango
training scheme offers classes on 8 different levels for beginners till
(semi) professionals. La Tangueria also proposes regular
workshops, practicas,
milongas and exhibitions and proudly hosts the workshops of the yearly
Brussels Tango
Festival. In 2009 Marisa &
Oliver created with the Compañia Zarate the show
Motivo de tango.
At the same time they started a collaboration with the orquestra
Quilombo
for the Belgian tango show
Bailame.
In 2010 their dance shcool La Tangueria was
selected as the location for the filming of an episode for the TV series
Witse. Besdides creating and teaching the tango choreography to
the main actors
Dimitri Leue
and Lotte
Pïnoy, Marisa and Oliver acted in some scenes, as well as several of their
students. Subsequently to this collaboration, main actor
Hubert Damen
(Commisaris Witse) asked them the next year to create together the show
Estrellas del Sur (2011).
Shows on stage:
-
Estrellas del sur (2011)
Tango show with the orquestra
Camerata Con Cor(d)e o.l.v. diriector Alain Roelant, actor Hubert Damen,
bandoneonist
Claudio Constantini, guitarist Jean Van der Schueren. Performances in
Belgium.
- Bailame (tour 2009-2011)
Tango show with dancers Birkit Wildenburg & Muzaffer Demiray and the orquestra
Quinteto Quilombo. Performances in Belgium.
-
Motivo de tango (tour 2009-2010)
Tango show with dancers Birkit Wildenburg & Muzaffer Demiray and the orquestra
Quinteto Zarate. Performances in Belgium and The Netherlands.
- Ensueños de tango
(tour 2003-2008)
Tango show with dancers Birkit Wildenburg & Muzaffer Demiray and Quinteto
Zárate. Performances in Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Germany, Sweden.
- Orpheus en de
Hellehond van de Hades
(tour 2005-2006)
Theatre, dance and live music show with actor/director Frank Groothof
and Quinteto Zárate. Performances in Belgium and The Netherlands.
- Tango au 140, Théâtre 140 Brussels, 2006
Tango show on stage with actors Sandrine Laroche and Gilles Nicolas and the musicians of Cuarteto Cedron
- Spettacolo di tango,
Osimo, 2004
Tango show on an open air stage with dancers Annalisa Di Luzio and Tobias Bert
- Tango Pasión,
Concertgebouw Brugge 2004
Tango show with Alfredo Marcucci, Sexteto Veritango and Juan José Mosalini and
his ensemble and dancers Jorge Rodriguez and Maria Filali.
- Druivenfestival
Hoeilaart, 2004
Tango show with dancers Birkit Wildenburg &
Muzaffer Demiray and Quinteto Zárate
- Un Mare di Tango,
Porto di Genova 2004
Tango show to live music in the open air theatre of the Port of Genova with
dancers Pasquale Bloise & Emmanuelle, Alejandro Angelica and others.
- Spettacolo di tango,
San Vito lo Capo, 2004
Tango show on open air stage with dancers Fernando Serrano & Martha Giorgi and
Ricardo Gallo & Carla Maria Paz
- Aktueel Denken en Leven,
Stadsschouwburg Mechelen, 2002
Tango show on stage with Cuarteto Tango al Sur.
- Festival van Vlaanderen,
Place Marché aux Poissons Brussels, 2002
Performance on stage in opening of the concert by Guidon Kremer.
- Sproken,
Theater Het Net Brugge, 2001
Performance directed by actor Josse De Pauw on a theater stage with the trio
Veritango of Alfredo Marcucci.
- Dinner-show Babalù,
New York, 2001
Tango show at Argentine restaurant Babalù in New York with the New York Tango
Trio.
- Spettacolo di tango in
Piazza, Pianoro (Bologna), 2000
Tango show on an open air stage with dancers Patricio Lolli & Amaray Cochero.
- Aktueel Denken en Leven,
CVA (Centrum voor Amateurkunsten) Brussels, 1999
Performance on a theatre stage together with the music group Laïs...
- Tango show at the VUB
(Vrije Universiteit Brussel), 1999
Performance with the orquesta Sexteto Oblivion of Brussels.
TV work:
- TV film Witse, 2010, Eén
VRT
Choreography for the leading actors, recordings in La Tangueria
- Sterren op de dansvloer 2008, VTM
Special act, dancing a tango with presentator Francesca Vanthielen
- Let's Dance 2006, VT4
Tango choreographers and teachers for the Endemol
Television programme 'Let's Dance', broadcast on Belgian TV channel VT4.
- TV spot Confederation Cup 2005, VT4 & KA2
Tango dance in the TV clip announcing the Confederation soccer cup, broadcast on VT4 and KA2.
- TV spot for Telenet, 2003, VRT, VTM, KA2, VT4...
Lead dancers in 2 TV spots broadcast on most Flemish TV stations.
- Presentation of the
television season, 2003, VT4
Tango performance at the dinner and presentation to the press and advertisers of
the television season of Belgian channel VT4.
Performances for companies, special events and parties
Albert
Hall, Art Cube,
Bal Moderne, Brussels
Comic Strip Museum, Casino Oostende, Casino Knokke, Castle of
Alden
Biesen,
CC Dilbeek,
Chill2Party,
De Otter Creators, Deloitte,
Discoteek Carré, Euroheat & Power,
Evenementenbureau 2Tact,
Finale
Events, Harbour of Rotterdam, Haute
Coiffure Belgium, I Fiamminghi,
Il Ballo,
Kanaal 2, KPN Telecom,
Lions
Club, Maison du Spectacle La
Bellonne, Nexus Creative People, Noche de la Pasión,
Opera van
Gent, PARTS dance school,
Permanent
Representation of The Netherlands at the EU, Prestige de la Mode,
Promotheus, Radio 2, Rosas dance company,
Skylight Dance Club,
Swedish Representation at the EU,
Uitreiking van de Vlaamse Sportprijzen, Tour & Taxis, Vlaams Radio Orkest
Flagey, Weekend Knack, Women's International Club of Brussels...
International Tango Festivals:
Brussels, Hasselt, Eindhoven, Maastricht, Bologna, Ferrara, Firenze, Roma, Cordes, Lille, Umea, Washington DC
Workshops, performances and exhibitions on the international tango scene:
Achen, Düsseldorf, Konstanz, Grafing, Stuttgart, Lausanne, Salzburg, Edinburgh, Cordes, Frayssinette, Lille, Lyon, Paris, Wattrelos, Antwerpen, Brugge, Brussel, Gent, Hasselt, Amsterdam, Den Bos, Den Haag, Eindhoven, Enschede, Leeuwarden, Maastricht, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Abano Terme, Baveno, Bologna, Calampiso, Chianciano Terme, Ferrara, Firenze, Forli, Genova, Ispra, Padova, Pescara, Pianoro, Ravenna, Roma, Siracusa, Torino, Ustica, Umea, New York, Washington DC, Istanbul...