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 and theatre companies, such as 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, 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 a 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.
Shows on stage:
-
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:
- 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...