Ellen Chrystal
About Us
"Expression and freedom to interpret and improvise to different styles of music ... that is what I love to share with dancers.
We are all born dancers, but somehow this joy of movement and expression is not encouraged and
it can be lost ... but it can also be rediscovered."
Ellen Chrystal
As a child, I remember listening to my mother´s eclectic music collection and joyfully losing myself in dance. I begin to study dance in my early twenties. I studied ballet, jazz and modern dance in Toronto and San Francisco from 1970 - 80´s. In the early 70´s I travelled and performed with Tisziji Munoz as part of his improvisational Jazz Troupe. It was through listening, dancing and experimenting with Tisziji's music that I discovered creative jazz improvisation.
In 1995, I went to the Sandra Cameron Dance Studio in New York City to study ballroom dance. One evening, while looking through a glass partition, my eyes fell on a woman, gently passing over the leg of her partner and then softly sweeping her body back in front of his. This movement fascinated me, as did the strains of the unfamiliar music. What was that dance? Argentine Tango! It was a perfect dance for improvisational expression and yet it gave me the opportunity to dance with a partner, to follow and to lead. I was hooked!
I have had the opportunity to study with many of the greatest Argentine tango masters in classes, workshops and private lessons. My major influences were Mariela Franganillo, Pablo Pugliese, and Daniel and Maria -- the godparents of the New York City tango scene. Others whom I have had the privilege of taking workshops or classes with include Julio and Corina Balmaceda, Armando and Daniella, Omar Vega, Pablo Veron, Juan Carlos Copas, Carlos Copella, Fabian Salas, Gustavo Navieda, Miguel Soto, Carina Mueller and many others. I performed tango (choreographed by Diego Di Falco and Carolina Zakalski) at The Town Hall Broadway Theatre in NYC for the TangoFest 2000. At the present time, I continue to study with teachers who represent the essence of tango whenever I have the chance.
I love to travel and dance tango wherever I go and I have danced in New York, Buenos Aires, Montreal, Ottawa, Denver, Santa Fe, San Francisco, Zurich, Berlin, Amsterdam, Italy, Geneva and, of course, right here in the beautiful Hudson Valley. It is a wonderful way to meet people at home and in other places.
I am very fortunate to have a partnership with Nina Jirka and Carina Mueller. Together we have formed Tango New Paltz and we are achieving our goal of sharing this dance with others while helping to develop a strong, vibrant dance community in the Hudson Valley.