Tango Yak, LLC

Groups A and B: Germany defeated France yesterday and both advance to the quarterfinals with Germany in first place of Group A. The Germans will play Japan who ended up in second place in Group B behind England, in the sudden death phase. England plays France next.  Canada, Nigeria, Mexico and the Kiwis are out.

Group C: USA and Sweden battle for first place in this group today Wednesday 7/06 at 11:30 AM on ESPN. The winner gets to avoid Brazil in the quarter finals. The US team looks great and excels in all aspects of the game. They will be tested against Sweden. North Korea plays Columbia at the same time and both are out (snore).

Group D: The fantastic showdown between Norway and Australia today Wednesday 7/06 at 8:45 AM ESPN results in a huge win for Australia. This has been the game of the tournament so far. The Aussies (Matildas) now advance to the quarter, not a small achievement in this tough Group. The socceroos are fast, strong and crafty and have many tricks in their pouch. Is this exciting or what? Brazil dispatches Equatorial Guinea and finish in first place of Group D. they play the loser of the US vs. Sweden game in the quarter finals.

This is a great day to watch the US team in action. The winner of this Group avoids Brazil in the first round. The Brazilian team did not do a lot of preparation due to limited resources. That means they will get better and tougher with each game. All the quarter final spots will be decided today. Soon, it will be on to the next round. The group A/B quarterfinals will be on July 9th, and the C/D groups play each other July 10th. It will be sudden death after today’s matches. The Yak will keep you posted and the schedule will follow soon. Enjoy the day.

This well established festival takes place in beautiful Denver in heavenly Colorado. Great city with lots to do and see. The Denver / Boulder community of dancers is large in numbers and excellent in quality.

The DJ team includes Lung Kuei from New York, Ramu Pyreddy (Tango Sutra) from DC, Lampis Zalavras (the chic Greek) from LA, Felipe Marinez from San Francisco and yours truly from San Diego for the alternative milonga. It has been a while since I’ve seen Ramu and listened to his great music, am looking forward to his milonga as well as the rest of the DJ team.

The teachers include her majesty Marika Landry as well as the master of disaster and agent provocateur par excellence, Mr. Ney Melo. Felipe Martinez, Tara Fortier, James Friedgen and Crista Rodriguez round out the team.

The last Denver Festival was one of the good ones, we all had a great time and hopefully this one will be the same. Am looking forward to great dancing, good music and seeing many good friends. Here is the web link: Denver Labor Day Festival

Santa Monica is the most beautiful part of Los Angeles. First you can drive there to and from the airport without getting on the freeway and you can stop at many little shops along the way including a Harley dealership. The hotels and dancing venues are within walking distance from the Promenade which is stacked with boutiques and great restaurants and has a charming atmosphere with benches, kiosks and side walk musicians. The beach is right there and the festival plans a beach party milonga. Southern California at it’s best.

The LA tango community is rich with wonderful young enthusiastic dancers like the organizers of this festival (Naomi Hotta for example). They are warm and welcoming and fantastic dancers. They are enhanced by the San Diego Nomads, the San Francisco Troubadours and the Santa Barbarians among others. California’s finest dancers will be waiting for you. Last year was the first festival and this year the organizers promise a fantastic event with emphasis on music and hard core dancing.

The teachers are not well known to me (this reflects my ignorance as they are held in high esteem world wide), but am told they are all stellar and quite talented. Utube videos are quite impressive and I trust this is a high caliber group of instructors. the DJ team is headed by Hurricane Shorey and includes Avik Le Sympathique as well as Evan Griffith who am told is great and lastly yours truly the Yak attack.

This is definitely going to be a lot of fun in the Southern California sun. So when shall we all meet again, not in thunder, lightning or in rain. When the hurley-burley is done, when the battle is lost and won, there in Santa Monica at the SMITH (from Macbeth with liberties). Here is the web site: SMITH