Péter Stefanics
Péter Stefanics started to dance in 1994, studying ballroom dancing, flamenco and modern dance. He soon realized that he is interested in the joy of dancing with a partner rather than competition or choreographed performance.
In 1997 he started to take tango classes in New York City in a variety of styles with local (Rebecca Shulman, Fabienne Bongard), European (Brigitta Winkler, Constantin Ruger, Eric Jorissen), and Argentine (Fabián Salas, Mariano Chicho
Frúmboli, Pulpo y Luiza, Cacho Dante, Pablo Verón, Omar Vega, Susana Miller, Esther Pugliese, José Garófalo) teachers.
He also danced several days a week at milongas and practicas and attended various tango festivals in the U.S. and in Europe and was a regular DJ at the South Street Seaport and Central Park milongas in Manhattan.
Since 2006, he is involved with the Argentine Tango community in Budapest, Hungary where he organizes and DJs regular weekly milongas.
Michalina Patrzalek
Michalina Patrzalek - Misia - discovered tango thanks to Paulina Policzkiewicz-Wozniak and Janek Wozniak,
who founded the Argentine Tango scene in Poland. Fascinated by the beauty of this dance and tango music, she devoted herself to tango completely and tango travelled across Europe for numerous tango festivals.
She took part in a number of workshops with teachers from all over the world including Adrian Veredice & Alejandra Hobert, Gisela Passi & Rodrigo Rufino, Thierry Le Cocq & Delphine Bianco, Diego El Pajaro (milonga), Jan Fredriksson & Marta Eek and many more.
While emphasizing the meaning of passion, emotions and music in her dancing, she quickly realized the fundamental importance of the good technique, which she studied extensively with Beata Maia Gellert in Poland and later on during her stay in Buenos Aires with Cecilia Garcia, Carolina Bonaventura and Gachi Fernandez.
Primarily fascinated with the milonguero style, she got interested in tango nuevo as well as in contemporary dance,bodily awarness and yoga.
Along these lines she developed her skills in Pablo Villaraza and Dana Frigoli's Studio - DNI and in Tango Brujo (Gaston Torelli and Mariela Sametband's tango nuevo school) taking numerous classes during her stay in Bs As in 2007.
Misia & Péter
Peter and Misia met in 2007 and soon they realized that there was real chemistry between them both in dancing and in real life.
Coming back from Buenos Aires Misia moved to Budapest. In 2008 they travelled together to Buenos Aires to further develop their dancing plus teaching skills. Their main inspiration there were the classes with DNI team (Pablo & Dana, Christian & Carolina, Adrian & Kyoko, Stella, Maxi) and Tangobrujo (Martin Gutierrez & Samantha Di Paolo, Mariela Sametband) teachers. Their constant inspiration are Homer & Cristina Ladas as well as Mariano Chicho
Frúmboli & Juana Sepulveda.
Currently they're teaching classes and workshops in Budapest and abroad. They also organize weekly milongas and other tango events in Budapest. They both see Argentine Tango as an improvised social dance and believe that it is elegant,
effortless movement and the connection between the leader and follower which leads to the enjoyment of the dance and the music.
In their classes they teach their students the fundamentals - posture, embrace, musicality, creativity and body awarness.
As well as exploring the world of nuevo tango, they also enjoy dancing milonga traspie or tango de salon.
They believe that while tango is Argentine in its origins, it belongs to everyone who understands its structure and feelings.
Why Tomatango?
We were looking for a name that has something to do with tango, it's not banal and represents both of us. After much time spent brainstorming, asking friends and family, we were still not closer to finding the right name. Then, looking at Homer Ladas website - freshlaundrytango.info, we thought: we might as well call the site something related to what we both like, such as salmon. Or tomatoes. Strange? Yes. Unusual? Yes. Short? Yes. Unique? Yes. Easy to remember? We hope so.
Apart from dancing, teaching and organizing tango events, we both love to DJ...
Peter as a DJ:"The point of DJ-ing a milonga for me is to create a good mood, to make sure people have a great time and are inspired to dance quite a bit during the evening. I play tangos mostly from the Golden Age, as well as some music recorded in a traditional style by contemporary tango orchestras and once in a while tanda of tango nuevo or alternative songs, in a T-T-M-T-T-V tanda structure. My goal is to keep the mood positive, fun, and romantic rather than melancholy or dramatic, and to play songs that inspire both beginner and more advanced dancers. I lean towards tracks with a steady compás (dancing beat) and towards singers who use their voice as if it were another instrument in the orchestra instead of dominating the whole song. While I enjoy introducing new songs during a milonga every now and then, I do it keeping in mind the concept of danceability – I want dancers to start (or keep) dancing after hearing the first few measures of a song, and then realize it’s something they’ve never heard before, such as Malerba, Rodio, García, or Buzón."
Misia as a DJ:"I believe that Golden Age music is the quintessence of tango. My DJing is influenced by emotions - sometimes more melancholic and romantic, sometimes optimistic, sometimes passionate. I always try to play upbeat music though, with clear compas and not too dramatic singer (exception: Podesta :) ). I also like to play one alternative tanda towards the end of milonga. Throught the whole evening my main focus is to stay in touch with the dancefloor, feel the energy of it and adapt the music accordingly. The main challenge as a DJ for me is to help the dancers connect with the music and each other on the way to 'tango bliss' and create emotional moments not to be forgotten. "