Festival
AUROVILLE TANGO
Festival #13
WELCOME TO
5 days of tango | 11 international artists | 200 dancers
workshops | practicas | milongas
voice work | live music | performances
and brave embraces
ATTENTION ! There is a shift in organisation structure !
For the first time in the history of Auroville Tango Festivals, we have eleven international artists: three Musicians and four Maestro duos joining us.
You will have to select an aspiration for the Festival:
Delight in the Dance
or
Polish your Tango
Then select one of the two main combinations or approaches:
Marianna & Vaggelis
Leo & Flor
or
Natalia & Agustin
Sigrid & Maria
Finally, you will need to choose one additional couple to learn from. You will have three workshops with each of the three couples you have selected.
These options are on a first-come-first-serve basis, so do register early!
Group descriptions
Since we’ve introduced the selection of teachers, there are only two group options this year. They do not correspond to dance levels or years of experience. Instead, we encourage you to choose a group based on your current focus and aspirations.
Delight in the Dance
Focus on finding ease, comfort, and grace in the dance, for a Tango that is expressive and fluid. This group is for those who seek the exquisite before all else.
Polish your Tango
Refine movement, connection, and technique in order to strengthen foundations and push your tango beyond its current limitations.
Meet our maestros
Marianna & Vaggelis
Greece
Marianna Koutandou and Vaggelis Hatzopoulos have been our teachers since the Third Auroville Tango Festival in 2014. They have a huge influence on India Tango, not just in the many students they have taught and inspired, but also in shaping India Tango to this day.
They won the European Championship in the Tango Salon category in 2013 and were Finalists at the Buenos Aires World Championship. They are regularly invited as judges at championships and organise Mundial Championships in Greece.
They have been the director and artistic curator of “Academia del Tango” in Athens since September 2011. As teachers, they are acclaimed for their technical focus, structure, and exact individual feedback, and loved for their generosity and warmth.
Read more about them on their website.
For a brief trip down the memory lane, here are all their performances in Auroville Tango Festivals from 2014 to 2020 and 2025.
Natalia & Agustin
Argentina
Natalia Grisel Agüero and Agustin Venturino began their international journey in 2016, after 13 years of dancing and teaching in Buenos Aires and 10 years of intense research about Tango on its history, dance, and culture through study and conversations with milongueros. They also specialise in body language and dance teaching techniques and studied in the Tango university career at the National Art University of Buenos Aires.
They founded and continue to organise “Tango en La Plata”, an annual celebration in the capital city of Buenos Aires Province that brings to life the youthful energy of Tango in its heyday.
They have been our teachers since The 9th Festival in 2020. Each time they brought a different approach: history of dance, musicality, and their fundamental framework of movement. We can’t wait to see what they bring this time!
Read more about them on their website and follow their Tango explorations on their YouTube channel.
Watch their previous performances in Auroville
Leo & Flor
Korea
Florencia Hwayi Han and Leo Hung-Yut Chen are pioneers of Tango in Korea. They started teaching in Seoul in 2005 and organized the International Seoul Tango Festival for 11 years.
Flor won second prize in the stage category in the 2004 Mundial in Buenos Aires. Originally from Hong Kong, Leo won first prize at the 2002 USA Tango Championship while living in America.
In their first time at The 11th Auroville Tango Festival in 2024, they immediately captured us with their astute understanding of what we needed the most. They engaged even the most experienced dancers with simple structures, and at times they introduced complex figures to show us what dancers in East Asia focus on. Their attention to detail, clarity of explanation, and investment in our development have left a lasting impact.
We’re truly fortunate to welcome them back for the third time!
Read their insightful essays about Tango on their website and explore their innovative teaching approach on their YouTube channel.
For a full experience, watch their previous performances in Auroville.
Sigrid & Maria
France
Returning to Auroville for the second time, Sigrid Van Tilbeurgh and Maria Filali are both academically trained dancers who chose to make Tango the focus of their careers. Before forming their partnership, Sigrid had partnered with Dominic Bridge and Murat Erdemsel from 2015 to 2020, and Maria with Gianpiero Galdi from 2014 to 2018, among many other renowned dancers.
They began working together in 2021, united by a shared teaching philosophy rooted in a somatic approach to movement and spatial awareness. Their research explores how tango’s structure connects with emotion and musicality. In their classes, they consistently bring every concept back to the idea of connection, emphasizing what both roles share rather than separating them. Their aim is to help dancers grow by questioning, discovering, and shifting perspectives to bring clarity and depth to their dance.
Together, they studied and became Practitioners of the Action Types Approach, an approach based on natural motor preferences originally developed for high-level sports. It allows identify how the body moves most efficiently—naturally, effortlessly, and in harmony with its innate mechanisms.
Read more about them on their websites: Sigrid & Maria. Watch their previous performances in Auroville.
Meet our musicians
Sandra Rumolino
Voice
Born in Buenos Aires and based in France for many years, Sandra has devoted her career to the art of Tango singing. She has collaborated with many legends of Tango music, including Juan José Mosalini, and has performed the title role of Maria de Buenos Aires, the operita by Astor Piazzolla and Horacio Ferrer.
She performs internationally and also shares her art through workshops and master classes. Her work is defined by a sober, demanding approach focused on inner intensity, elegance, and emotional truth. She seeks an interpretation faithful to the poetic essence of tango.
Since joining us at The 10th Festival in 2023, Sandra’s singing workshops have become a gem in the Festivals. The personal attention she gave her students is extraordinary, and their presentations on the final Sunday of each festival touched us deeply, resonating with our collective and individual experiences.
In addition to the Singing Workshops, she will conduct a “Voice and Tango” workshop for all participants, sing for us on Friday, and join other artists in the Sunday performances.
Discover Sandra through her website, listen to her on soundcloud or spotify. She’s also on Deezer and Apple Music.
Elbi Olalla
Piano
Elbi is an Argentinian pianist and composer based in Barcelona. She founded Altertango in 2001, a contemporary tango group that has toured extensively around the world. She currently performs in various tango duo and ensemble formats, collaborates with singers, and is preparing Altertango’s ninth album.
A celebrated teacher, Elbi is the founder and director of Estudi 110 in Barcelona (established in 2020), which offers piano and harmony classes and tango ensemble workshops. She served as a professor at the Universidad Nacional de Cuyo in Mendoza for 15 years. In 2010, she created Hear and Listen to Tango workshops to introduce tango dancers and musicians to the essential musical skills of the genre. Her teaching reflects the same dedication and passion that define her music: an unconditional love for the genre and a deep commitment to exploring tango as a living, evolving art form of the 21st century.
Elbi will play live with Sandra and Pablo, conduct the Tango Ensemble on Friday, and join other artists in the Sunday performances.
Listen to the power and beauty of her music, watch her on youtube or open up your spotify.
Pablo Gignoli
Bandoneon
Pablo is an Argentinian bandoneonista and composer based in Paris.
He has made significant contributions to the modern tango scene in Europe as a member of many renowned tango orchestras, including the Orquesta Típica Fernández Fierro and TAXXI Tango XXI Orchestra, and part of the piano and bandoneon duo Volco & Gignoli.
Pablo has won our hearts with his generosity and curiosity in our community and India since his first visit in 2024. In addition to live performances, his work with Sandra on her singing workshops and his Musicality demonstrations in the last two Festivals have broadened our understanding of Tango as a living and evolving musical genre that draws from a rich past, lives in the present, and looks into the future.
He will play live for us with Sandra and Elbi, conduct the Tango Ensemble on Friday, and join other artists in the Sunday performances.
Explore Pablo’s work through his website and youtube channel or listen on Spotify.
For collaborations: Volco & Gignoli, and TAXXI Tango XXI
Deep dive into Tango music
Singing with Sandra
The lyricism of Tango is something we all feel, but it becomes truly meaningful when you learn the lyrics, and even more so when you sing them and let the music vibrate through your body.
Since her first visit in 2023, Sandra’s Singing Workshops have been a gem of our festivals.
No formal vocal training is required to participate, but you do need the commitment to attend two sessions (usually one in the early morning and one in the evening) amidst the busy schedule.
Sandra tailors her approach to each participant, and the results—both in quality and heart—shine through in their presentation on the last day of the festival.
Registration has closed. If you wish to get on the waitlist, you can find contact information here.
Tango Ensemble
Debuted in 2024, The Tango Ensemble has played to the delight of dancers at the last two Auroville Festivals under the direction of Pablo Montanelli. It consists of dancer-musicians from many Tango communities in India and musicians in Auroville. Videos from 2025: Comparsa Criolla & Invierno.
The Third Ensemble will be directed by Pablo Gignoli and Elbi Olalla, and perform at The 13th Festival on 13th of March 2026. We’re looking for more dancer-musicians or non-dancing musicians interested in playing authentic Tango music — not just at this Festival, but carry on playing in the future in their communities so we can develop our indigenous Tango music scene together.
Rehearsals start on Saturday 7 March 2026, 4 days before the Festival.
Please write to tango@auroville.org.in if you’re interested!
Introducing:
Auroville Tango Scholarship
Auroville Tango is organised with the conviction that financial constraints should not stop anyone from enjoying and studying Tango.
This year, we have introduced Auroville Tango Scholarship to help dancers in need of financial assistance to attend the Festival on a Full Pass and who have demonstrated commitment to growing their Tango and sustained involvement in their local Tango community. The number of scholarships available will depend on the funds we receive through registrations and sponsorships.
The scholarship application has been closed. However, we’re still looking for more donations to support the many applications we’ve received.
If you would like to contribute toward The Scholarship, you can donate when registering for the Festival or send your donation to UPI ID: insideindia123@sbi with the note “Auroville Tango Scholarship.” Your donation will be used specifically for this purpose.
FAQs
Registation
Yes, to ensure the quality of learning, we will limit each group to 40 participants (20 leaders / 20 followers). The group + learning track options are on a first-come, first-served basis, so please do register early!
- Early Bird Full Passes: 11,000 Rs (Available till 15 January 2026)
- Full Passes: 15,000 Rs (16 January onward) – access to your selected workshops, all practicas and milongas
- Milonga Passes: 8,000 Rs – access to all practicas and milongas
- Weekend Milonga Passes: 5,500 Rs – access to the milongas from Friday to Sunday
If you need financial assistance to attend the Festival, please apply for Auroville Tango Scholarship.
Only Full Passes are available during Early Bird Period. Milonga Passes and Weekend Milonga Passes will be available from 16 January at the same link.
No. Group choices are not based on dance level or years of experience, but rather on your current focus and goals. We encourage you to select a group that aligns with what you seek for your Tango.
Only you know where you are on your Tango journey! Please make your choices based on what you need for your tango. If you’re unsure, seek advice from those who know you well—your teachers, senior community members, or peers.
We accept GooglePay and bank transfer. Find a friend who uses online banking channels to pay for you and send you a screenshot of the payment so you can upload it on the registration form.
Yes, if you cancel in time! Please email tangofestival@auroville.org.in.
Our cancellation policy:
- 100% refund if cancellation made on or before 31 January 2026
- 50% refund if cancellation made between 1st February to 20 February 2026
- No refund if cancellation made from 21 February 2026 onwards
- All refunds will be processed within a week of completion of the event
- Passes are non-transferable.
Programme
Workshops: For the first time in the history of Auroville Tango Festivals, we have four Maestro couples. Hence the workshop structure is very different. Check details here.
Performances: Maestro performances will be on Sunday 15 March early evening. Don’t leave early if you don’t want to miss the show!
Tentative schedule will be published on this page in January 2026.
We don’t set predefined topics for the workshops. Instead, we want the maestros to design them based on the needs of the participants. This is the approach that has continued since the first Festival and we believe that it provides the most enriching learning experience.
In the registration form, there is a question about your focuses and aspirations. We will compile these responses under the two groups and share them with the maestros. So your input could influence the direction of the workshops.
Each workshop is 75 minutes, with a 30-minute break in between.
No, our group workshops are designed to be progressive and cannot be selected individually. Participants are required to attend only the workshops of their chosen group. Use your free time to rest, explore, and recharge between sessions. Trust us, you'll need it!
Unfortunately, no. Our festival is designed to facilitate progressive learning. We regret that weekend-only participants cannot join the workshops. However, you can take the Weekend Milonga Pass. The Friday Milonga with live music will end at 10 PM due to venue restrictions. If you plan to attend with a Weekend Milonga Pass, please try to arrive by 5 PM to enjoy the full experience.
While our festival focuses on learning, we do offer Milonga passes from 7 January 2026 onward for those who only want to dance. Please note each Milonga lasts for about 5 hours — this is not a tangothon! However, there’re plenty of things to do and enjoy in Auroville. Check out Auroville Events for more information.
Friday 13th March! Please note that it will start at 5PM and end at 10 PM due to venue restrictions.
Yes! Pablo and Elbi will give a concert on Monday, March 9th evening at 8pm — there'll be dancing! On the Monday evening after the Festival, March 16th, there’ll be a concert by Pablo and Shalini.
Any additional events will be announced on the Festival Community announcement channel and our social media.
Logistics
Arrive by Wednesday, March 11th, noon in time for the first two workshops in the afternoon with your primary couples (you’ll miss the welcome practica in the morning though). The Sunday Milonga starts in the early evening and ends by midnight. Maestro performances are on Sunday early evening. Don’t leave early if you don’t want to miss the show.
The nearest international airport to Auroville is in Chennai, which is about 3 hours away by car. You’ll need to book a cab to reach Auroville.
Alternatively, you can fly into Pondicherry, which is around 20 minutes from Auroville. Direct flights to Pondicherry are available from Bangalore and Hyderabad.
If you plan to come by train, the closest major rail hub is Villupuram Junction or Puducherry Railway Station. From Villupuram or Puducherry, you can hire a taxi / auto‑rickshaw to Auroville.
Regular bus services run between Chennai (e.g. from Koyambedu Bus Station / CMBT) and Pondicherry. Once in Pondicherry, you can continue by local bus or taxi to Auroville. Electric AC buses run by Nuego and many other bus services come on ECR (East Coast Road). You can ask to be dropped off at Auroville Road and take a rickshaw to Auroville.
The most common mode of transportation in Auroville is renting a bike or scooter. Some visitors prefer to rent a car from Chennai. Many roads in Auroville are unpaved, and navigation can be challenging for first-time visitors. If it’s your first visit, we recommend you arrange your stay with people you know to make getting around easier.
There is a security check at the Visitor’s Centre Entrance. You will need to show your bracelet (issued at registration on Wednesday morning) for entry. Please wear your bracelet at all times during your stay.
We recommend booking accommodation through Auroville Guesthouses. The closest guesthouses are near the Visitor’s Centre or Bharat Nivas Campus. You can also find private accommodations on popular booking websites.
We have five venues: SAWCHU, Harmony, Bhumika, and Progress are all inside the Bharat Nivas Campus and within easy walking distance. Cripa, located 15 minutes away by bike or scooter from Bharat Nivas, will host the Friday evening Milonga.
Among the five venues, only Harmony Hall is air-conditioned. We recommend wearing light, comfortable clothing and bringing multiple changes of clothes as the weather can be hot in March.
Auroville offers a variety of dining options. You can find a list on the AV food map link. Please note that most restaurants close by 10 PM. The local delivery service, Dropzy, is a convenient option during the packed festival, but delivery is on available till 9pm. You can order from Swiggy; however, better stack up on snacks if you tend to get hungry late at night after milongas!
No, Auroville is a dry place. We maintain a clean Tango environment. Alcohol, smoking, or any substances are strictly prohibited.