About UsMargaret is teaching basic tango classes this spring.
She is a great teacher!
Margaret is a lifelong dancer who began her training by studying and performing with Ballet Workshop Betsey Mills in Marietta, Ohio. She continued her studies at School of Ohio Ballet. Margaret has danced both classical and contemporary ballet. She has performed solo roles in Don Quixote and Swan Lake, and principle and solo roles by independent choreographers combining ballet, modern, and jazz dance. Margaret studied with Boston Ballet and won a scholarship to North Carolina School of the Arts where she studied and performed ballet and jazz. She has taught ballet and jazz classes at various times and places since her late teens.
After moving to NYC Margaret discovered and began practicing meditation. Through the study of Eastern cultures and religions she found Kathak dance, the classical dance of Northern India. Kathak is a dynamic, rhythmic, and evocative dance style requiring intricate foot rhythms danced to the tabla, delicate hand gestures or mudras, and abhinaya, or expressional acting. Margaret studied and performed Kathak of the Lucknow Gharana, or lineage, under Pandit Birju Maharaj, Saswati Sen, and Satya Narayana Charka.
Margaret was head of dance studies at The School of Practical Philosophy for several years. She taught abhinaya, yoga, and dance to students of all ages, and organized regular performances. While in this role, Margaret choreographed for Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, which was performed by actors and dancers from the School of Practical Philosophy in NYC.
Margaret began her tango studies with Ellen Chrystal and Nina Jirka of TNP. She has studied with many well known teachers at Albany Tango Society and in NYC. In July 2010 Margaret competed in the NYC tango salon competition. Margaret enjoys teaching the basic series at TNP with Nina Jirka and is grateful to the teachers, students and community of tango dancers in the Hudson Valley for all the wonderful tango moments she has experienced.
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