I created this weekly radio show as a volunteer DJ for WSCA-lp 106.1FM or Portsmouth Community Radio, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA. Read about our station (and my show!) in the Voices of the City article in The Portsmouth Herald.

The goal of the show is to educate the listeners about Argentine tango and to seduce them into dancing tango.

It went on air for the first time on Dec 4, 2006 and, starting Feb 3, 2007 it became an "official" show on WSCA-lp 106.1FM.

Since Portsmouth does not have a community of Argentine tango dancers, I thought that the program about tango on Saturday mornings might inspire some local folks to take up dancing tango. Also, I thought that if I attach little stories to the music, it will be more accessible to the listeners unfamiliar with the tango music and dance. That's why the full name of my program is TangoTales: music, dance, poetry, people.

The audio archive is created for my fellow tango dancers, especially beginners, who might benefit from knowing more about tango. After all, every tango teacher will tell the same thing to beginners: it is not fancy moves, but musicality which counts when you dance tango.

Contact me

e-mail: Reveal my email

snail-mail:

Elmira - Tango Tales
Portsmouth Community Radio
909 Islington St Suite #2
Portsmouth, NH, 03802-6532
USA

Portsmouth Community Radio 106.1FM

e-mail: programming@wscafm.org

Sending new releases

for NEW TANGO CDs playlist:

e-mail your music (MP3), CD cover image (JPG) and web link.

for radio show and NOTEworthy section:

e-mail/snail-mail your work, press release, website and contact info (I might interview you over the phone!). See CONTACT ME above.

Special THANX to underwriters and supporters

Gordon Sharpless, a fellow DJ on WSCA 106.1FM for his training and many good words and especially for supporting me in the studio during my first broadcast,

Rick Dirk, Development Manager of WSCA, for the support of this program and other crazy ideas which I bring to him,

Alex Shyrokov (a UNH PhD candidate in very noodly science) for quality assurance work for this site, for his tango activism in Seacoast NH and for being  real Mr. Nice Tango Guy.

PortTango, an informal organization of Argentine tango dancers of Portland, ME, who underwrites this show

Who is this Elmira gal, anyway?...

I will start with stating the obvious - I am not an Argentine, I not a musician, I am not a radio professional. Etc, etc... The list of "I-AM-NOTs" is so long, the I'd better to tell who I am:

I am just a social tango dancer (see below the nicely doctored publicity photo with Stan "Stango").

I grew up in St. Petersburg, Russia, where tangos were popular (Russian tangos are usually songs, meant to be listened to. We did not dance tango socially).

I live in Portsmouth, NH, USA - in my view, it is one of the loveliest part of USA: never too hot in summer, never too cold in winter.

I started dancing Argentine tango, because I wanted to dance it ever since I saw it as a little girl on TV - the fabulous Soviet figure skaters Ludmila Pakhomova and Alexandr Gorshkov danced to "La Cumparsita" during the Olympics.

Unfortunately, for one reason or another (University studies, small children, work, etc.), I could not learn tango until a couple of years ago. The local ballroom studio started Argentine Tango for Beginners with a wonderful instructor Ron Gursky. I signed up with my 12-years-old daughter Emma as a pair (alas, I foresaw the lack of men in this first class and decided to learn the lead part with Emma as a follower). I think, we were the oddest couple in Ron's 30-year history of dance instruction - an enthusiastic mom and a reluctant pre-teen girl. For a brief period I also attended the studio run by Cameron Bennett, a talented artist and dancer, who taught me quiet a bit about the technique of dancing.

Emma was a good trooper and supported her mom's first steps in tango with courage. But, eventually, she tactfully hinted to me that she has her own life and dancing tango is not a part of it. Such a pity! Emma was just what a good tango dancer should be - balanced, sensitive, patient. So, I continued with my tango alone and Emma went back to her manga art (she is a very talented manga artist).

I produce my radio program (including all technical aspects - audio editing, web and graphic design) myself (the degree in Computer Science and a stint as a systems analyst became very handy here), so I bring the apologies for the technical imperfections - the jack of all trades is a master of none.

Aside from dancing Argentine tango, I like to dance swing, to read, to photograph, to play with Photoshop,to hang around with my kids... The list of "I-LIKEs" is long.

 Occasionally I teach Argentine tango for beginners through Salsa Club at University of New Hampshire (my alma mater), YMCA in Portland, ME and, most recently, I started the tango program in Mill Pond Center for Arts in Durham, NH.

Jan-Feb 2007