PRIMAVERA TANGO WEEKEND

Naoko Iwatsu (accordion), Taeko Akimoto (Piano), Aogu Tanimoto (violin)

Since its formation in Fukuoka in 1999, the group continues to thoroughly representing the dynamism and fun of Argentine tango. Every spring since 2002, they held the "Tango no Sekku" along with Tango dancers Kenji & Liliana, including performances in Japan. They performed at the “Tokyo Tango Festival 2012”, “Fukuoka Sakura Tango Festival 2014” (since then, they have performed every spring), “Shanghai International Tango Festival”, and “Nara Tango Festival” in 2015. In winter of the same year, they performed for the first time in Europe such as Luxembourg and Vienna and the fourth time in Buenos Aires, Argentina. They have been described as "A sense of air of Buenos Aires, the home of Tango,", "The unthinkable performance intensity of only 3 persons", and "The first band from Japan that makes you dance".

In spring of 2016, they released the new CD “6”.

Ou Kubota:
Ou Kubota started ballet dancing at the age of eighteen and joined Ballet group, “The Tokyo Ballet” of Tchaikovsky Memorial in 1995.
After leaving the group in 2004, he was fascinated by Argentine Tango, and tied up with Yoshiko Mamada in 2007. They became the winners of Stage Tango category for the Asian round of the World Competition in 2010(the 3rd place in 2009).
He opened his own dance studio “Inspiracion” in Fukuoka in 2011. He performed ballet and tango as a free-lance stage dancer. He also works successfully in all parts of Japan as an instructor.

Sakurako:
She has been doing artistic gymnastics since she was 3 years old, and received many awards in competitions such as the National Sport Festival and Inter-scholastic athletics competition.
She retired at the age of 18 and went to study abroad in Paris in 2015. At the same time, she started learning Tango at Paris Université Club where it is one of the most largest sports associations in Paris.
After returning to Japan, she studied under Mr. Ou Kubota who is an Asian champion of Argentine Tango in 2010.
She performed with Astro Rico, a global tango ensemble at Fukuoka Civic Hall in 2017, and now she works performing actively in Kyushu such as Oita and Kitakyushu.

HARUNA: Possessing a burning passion for performing arts from a young age, Haruna takes great join in interpreting music through dance and helping the audience to connect with the music. This is especially true of the passionate and sensual dance of Argentine Tango, for which she has sacrificed much to move to Tokyo so that she may dedicate herself to training to become a professional dancer of tango, both on stage and social dance.
Having trained in classical ballet for over 10 years, Haruna is a firm believer in dedication to technique in dance and this is evident in her performances. She is also a skilled musician of both the piano and violin, which is very evident when one observes the dynamic musicality that she displays in her performances.
Although Haruna has only dedicated herself to tango for four years, her natural talent and dedication to continual growth in dance have allowed her to quickly gain recognition throughout Asia, being crowned champion of the Singles Competition at the 2019 Shanghai Tango Marathon and making the podium in both the categories of Tango and Milonga. Haruna also competed at the Tango World Championships in Buenos Aires in 2019 in both Pista and Stage, and performed several times in various milongas in Tokyo as well as at the Fukuoka Tango Festival. She is scheduled to again perform in Tokyo several times in 2020, as well as in the Chinese cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Wuhan, Suzhou and Chengdu, and also in Hong Kong. Also, she is invited as a guest dancer for Suzhou Tango Festival 2020. Having already visited Buenos Aires four times, she relishes the opportunity to make the pilgrimage each time to study and train, always seeking out authenticity of the dance in the cradle of Argentine Tango.
Haruna counts among her maestros Ezequiel Paludi & Geraldin Rojas, Sebastian Achaval & Roxana Suarez, Pablo Giorgini & Noelia Colletti, Javier Rodriguez, Maximiliano Cristiani, Silvio la Via, Jonathan Saavedra & Clarisa Aragon, Simone Facchini & Gioia Abballe.
She is currently studying under Cristian Andres Lopez and Naoko Tsutsumizaki (Champion of Milongueros del Mundo in 2012, 3rd place in both Tango Pista & Stage in 2010 and 3rd place in Stage in 2009) on a full-time basis to maximize her potential as a professional dancer and artist and share her passion and knowledge of tango with other tangueros, both on and off the dance floor.

GLEN ROYCE: Currently based in Guangzhou, China as a licensed school dance instructor with 20 years of school-teaching experience, Glen was first exposed to both social tango and stage tango in Buenos Aires while studying in Buenos Aires. He began his professional tango career in Beijing from 2010-12 as one of the original staff instructors of Tango Chino and organized the capital city’s first tango weekend, as well as its first two festivals. In 2012 Glen returned to Buenos Aires full-time (after having visited to train in tango each summer and winter for several years), where he studied and worked as both a tango instructor and stage performer (in Bar Sur, Café Tortoni, El Viejo Almacen & Sabor a Tango) for 5 years, until 2017. In Buenos Aires He reached the semi-finals of the Metropolitan Championship each year (and the finals once) as well as the semifinals of World Tango Championship twice, each time with a different dance partner.
Wanting to become the most skilled teacher of tango possible, during his time in Buenos Glen studied over an extended period of time with nearly every famous maestroof tango including:
Ruben & Sabrina Veliz, Sebastian Achaval & Roxana Suarez, Facundo Pinero & Vanessa Villalba, Fernando Carrasco & Jimena Hoeffner, Cristian Lopez & Naoko Tsutsukimizu,Gabriel Angio & Natalia Games, Pablo Giorgini & Noelia Colletti, Javier Rodriguez, Mario Morales, Maximiliano Cristiani, Carolina Bonaventura, Veronica Salmeron, Andres ‘Bichi’ Laza Moreno, Horacio Godoy, Alejandra ‘La Guty’ Gutierrez, Gasper Godoy and Gabriel Misse.
In Buenos Aires he enjoyed the amazing opportunity to not only learn their dance styles, but also teaching styles. Glen also dedicated himself to studying both classical ballet and modern dance to enhance his technique in tango.
Glen has won or placed several international competitions and won titles in Tango Salon/Pistaat the Santa Fe Open of Argentina and the Valparaiso Championship of Chile. He was also tri-champion (Tango, Vals & Milonga) of the China Open in 2018.
He has performed in several international festivals, including:
The Beijing Tango Festival, the Beijing Tango Marathon, The Shanghai Tango Festival, the Chengdu Tango Festival, the Bali Tango Festival, the Tango en Tokyo Festival and the Orlando Tango Festival.
He has also performed in various milongas in:
Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, La Plata, Bahia Blanca, Cordoba (Argentina) Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Nanjing, Dalian, Qingdao, (China) Tokyo, Kanazawa (Japan), Orlando, Boston, Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Louisville, Nashville (U.S.A.) and Montreal (Canada).
He is invited as a guest performer in Suzhou Tango Festival 2020.

Born in Mar del Plata, Argentina. He has been involved with Tiempo Iberoamericano´s project in Fukuoka, Japan since 2002.
He is a key-player in the development of tango in Fukuoka being undoubtedly the local main tango DJ for 15 years.
He is one of the organizers, producer and has played as DJ in Sakura Tango Festival since the first edition.

An accordionist who flies around Fukuoka, nationwide, and to the other side of the globe.
As a soloist, DJ Naoko plays musette, chanson and classical music. She has also performed and recorded with artists of various genres, including chanson, folklore, Latin, folk and classical music, and enka.
She is an active member of the Argentine tango band "Trio Los Fandangos". At the moment, she has done 5 tours in Buenos Aires, Argentina and has performed in several nationalwide and international tango festivals and milongas.
DJ Naoko is completely in to Argentine Tango, so she started to pursue "Easier Dance Performances".
She has released CDs as soloist, as a member of duo and as a member of a trio. She is also the sponsor of the accordion class "Jabara Club".
As a tango DJ, she creates a comfortable atmosphere in the floor, making full use of her entertainment skills and musical taste as a musician.