Marisa & Oliver

> Compact CV (click here)

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




Some key moments of Marisa & Oliver's tango career

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
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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.
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Sproken, Theater Het Net Brugge, 2001
Performance directed by actor Josse De Pauw on a theater stage with the trio Veritango of Alfredo Marcucci.

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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.
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Aktueel Denken en Leven, CVA (Centrum voor Amateurkunsten) Brussels, 1999
Performance on a theatre stage together with the music group Laïs...
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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...