Our History

Here is a timeline of our history and past activities. 

  • November 2004: Andreas, Detlef and Melina watch the German movie Schulze gets the blues and get the idea for the Tangokombinat. Read more about this here.
  • December 2004: The Tangokombinat is founded by Andreas, Anne-Cecile, Detlef and Melina. The first practicas take place in January. Shortly after that, Damian Lobato and Ina Wagner join us.
  • February, 26 2005: Our first big ball is organised in St. John’s church in Saarbrücken. (Nacht des Tango). Workshops with all three Tangokombinat couples take place at Plattform 3
  • March 2005: First monthly Tangokombinat Milonga at the Bootshaus.
  • April 2005: The TK organises the Gran Milonga SaarLorLux in cooperation with Metz Ville Tango in Metz. Both TK couples now work as regular teachers in Metz.
  • Mai 2005: Damián Lobato returns to Argentina and then moves on to the USA. Ina Wagner still works with the TK for a while before she quits tango for more than 10 years.
  • July 2005: Our monthly Milonga takes place in the Theater Blauer Hirsch.
  • September 2005: Our newly renovated studio in Saarbrücken  is inaugurated. 
  • Also in September 2005: The Tangokombinat cooperates with artist Alwin Alles  in the context of an art festival (Tag der Bildenden Kunst) in Saarbrücken.
  • October 2005: 2. Nacht des Tango in the Johanneskirche (St. John’s church) with the  orchestra Sabor a Tango media-artist Volker Schütz
  • January 2006: Both Tangokombinat (D&M and A&AC) teacher-couples are invited to give regular classes in Landau. This cooperation in two cities (a similar project had already started in Metz) encourages us to review our technical and musical concepts in order to offer a consistent teaching approach. This era is significant for our development as teachers.
  • February 2006: Vernissage with works of the media-artist Volker Schütz in our studio. 
  • 2007: Tangokombinat meets Tanzwerkstatt. Workshops and demos in Darmstadt.
  • From 2007: The Tangokombinat members are internationally more active: Detlef & Melina do their first USA tour and Andreas builds a solid base in the UK.
  • December 2007: X-Mas Milonga at the Bootshaus with guests from Germany, France, Luxembourg, Switzerland and the UK. Demos of the TK couples with our friends Luis Parra & Nicole Burns-Hansen. Dj is Torsten Zörner from Düsseldorf.
  • July 2008: Melina & Detlef participate in the experimental movie „Der Tanz von Prinzessin Hiroshibelle“ by Volker Schütz.
  • September, 20/21, 2008: First Festivalito con Amigos in the Johanneskirche. Although not intended to be an international event, the FCA attracts dancers from several European countries. We invite Celine Deveze & Philippe Gonella and Nicole Hansen & Luis Parra to do a demo and teach some classes. The demos are finished by a dance in which the invited teachers and the Tangokombinat couples switch partners. This event marks the begin of a long tradition of international events for social dancers by the Tangokombinat. Although the format of „Encuentros“ has not yet been established officially, the first FCA can – after the Raduno Milonguero in Impruneta – be seen as one of its predecessors.
  • December 2008: X-Mas Milonga with dj Bernd Maurer (Milonga Orillera)
  • February 2009: Battle of the DJs: Uwe, Melina and Andreas dj together for the first time on occasion of a milonga in the Bootshaus..
  • September 2009: Festivalito con Amigos with djs Philippe Gonella, Thorsten Zörner and Uwe Willié. Demos and workshops by Marek & Olivera Szotkowski and Thorsten Zörner & Nora Winkler. 
  • Also in 2009: Our last Milonga in the Bootshaus takes place. By now, Andreas has moved to the UK. Detlef & Melina have given up their regular classes in the bigger region and are traveling most of the year. With only two TK members (Uwe and Anne-Cecile) actually present in our home region, local milongas are not any more feasible. For the next 10 years, the Tangokombinat concentrates on its international activities and on organising annual events for milongueros. By this, the TK contributes immensely to the development of the Encuentro-Milonguero-community in Europe. But our ties to the original home region get very much severed. 
  • 2010: Festivalito con Amigos with visitors from 18 different countries at four wonderful locations. Our most international event until then! Demos and workshops by Antonio Martinez & Francesca Bertelli, Sebastian Coli-Bazzini & Josefine Boza, El Chino Aguerrodi & Miho Omaki.
  • December 2010: One-time Tangokombinat Christmas-Milonga at Theater Blauer Hirsch in Saarbrücken.
  • May 6-8 2011: Abrazos1 in Devon, UK. This first encuentro milonguero in the UK is a huge success. Actually it is a festivalito milonguero with classes and a demo. The teachers are Marek & Olivera, Detlef & Melina. It is organised by Andreas and his partner Lynn – now officially the Tangokombinat UK section.
  • October 2011: Festivalito con Amigos with DJs Uwe Willié, Andreas Wichter, Bärbel Rücker, Lampis Zalavras. Special guests: Monica Paz, Alexis Quezada & Celine Giordano, Carole Beauxis & Bernard Casas-Reales. Visitors from 20 countries. This is the first FCA without classes, now after the new Encuentro format with balanced numbers of leaders and followers at 3 of the 4 Milongas. Only the Saturday evening in St. John’s church is still open to the dancers from our region.
  • May 4-6 2012: Abrazos2 attracts dancers from all over Europe to Devon, UK. Teachers: Carole & Bernard, Detlef & Melina. Abrazos will be running for many years, from 2015 on as a pure Encuentro.
  • October 12-14 2012: The first private Festivalito con Amigos takes place in the U2Raum in Saarbrücken. In order to cope with the huge demand and maintain the good quality of the event, we have decided to turn the FCA into a closed event on invitation only. It is now a full-blown Encuentro Milonguero. The Tangokombinat is aware of the implications and problems of such an exclusivity and decides to help organizing new Milonguero events to cater to the demand of a wider audience. The guests of honour are Saso Zivanovic & Alja Ferme, Stefan Wimmer & Marian Breedveld.
  • Also in 2012: Our friend Michael Ealem from the USA organises a regular Practilonga and classes with Anne-Cecile in our studio, the first local Tangokombinat activity for some years. But unfortunately, when Michael’s visa runs out, so do the activities in Saarbrücken..
  • March 2013: The first edition of Viento Norte – Festivalito Milonguero is organised in co-operation with our new Tangokombinat members Jürgen Wyludda and Silvya Menzdorf. Viento Norte is a great success, that will attract dancers from all over Europe until the last edition (a pure Encuentro) in 2016.
  • July 2013: After some years in which the Tangokombinat did not offer any regular activities in Saarbrücken, the first new milonga is organised in the Theater Blauer Hirsch on occasion of the Teacher-Training by Detlef and Melina. From then on, there are usually 3-4 Tangokombinat milongas per year. DJs are either Uwe or Melina. In some cases, guest-DJs are invited.
  • October 2013 and 2014: These editions of the Festivalito con Amigos take place in the U2Raum until we decide to move it to another venue. Although everyone loved the place, the problems with neighbors prevent us from opening windows. Therefore these two FCAs are also known as the sauna-editions. Guests of honour in these two editions were: Ionut & Ramona Fiscu, Gustavo Benzecry Saba & Maria Olivera, Alan Spotti & Laura Galli, Lena Lamorelle & Marie Primat. The FCA has now become a very international Encuentro, with rarely any dancers from our home region – a fact for which we are a lot critisised.
  • October 2015: The first FCA takes places in the Congress Centre in Saarbrücken. Guests of honour are Lampis Zalavras & Ramona Steckermeier, Carlos Cabral & Ines Tabajara. A poll after the Encuentro shows that the change to the new venue was much appreciated and the transition successful, although some people miss the U2Raum.
  • June 2016: The first edition of Pequeña – Festivalito Milonguero takes place in the lovely Acting and Arts studio. With this event, the Tangokombinat goes back to the roots and bring together dancers from our home region with international visitors. The classes with Saso Zivanovic & Alja Ferme and Andreas Wichter & Céline Devèze were fully booked after one day. As was the new event. 
  • September 2016: A long and very successful cooperation comes to a tragic end. Sladjana Djakovic, the owner of the U2Raum dies and is very much mourned by every one who knew her – amongst them many tangueros who so much enjoyed the warm ambiance that she created in her U2Raum.
  • October 2016: The new venue of the FCA is now established and very much appreciated, but a few regulars do not return. Their ties had been to the U2Raum. This is sad, but the FCA population is renewed by many lovely dancers!
  • May 2017: The last edition of Abrazos in Devon takes places. 2018 will be cancelled because of issues with the venue and 2019 because of the Brexit.
  • June 2017: Pequeña 2 with Saso Zivanovic & Alja Ferme and Andreas Wichter & Céline Devèze as teachers. 
  • October 2017: 10th edition of the FCA with guests of honour Anne-Sophie Petitprez & Jerôme Tangha and Christina Hegel &  Thomas Hildebrand. This is the last edition that includes a short demo on Saturday evening. Approximately 1/10th of the dancers come from overseas, the rest is European.
  • June 2018: Pequeña 3 with teachers Saso & Alja (our regulars) and Ramona Steckermeier & Imme Oldenburg. All of them have graduated from Melina’s and Detlef’s teacher training.
  • October 2018: The 11th FCA takes place with only female DJs: Juliana Thutlwa, Lynn Collins, Melina Sedó and Tina Ferrari.
  • December 2018: The Tangokombinat UK section (Andreas + Lynn) move to France because of the political situation in the UK.
  • Early 2019: Detlef & Melina decide to take up regular classes in their hometown. The Tangokombinat grows by some friends, all based in Saarbrücken, all eager to make tango in the region a better place for close-embrace dancers! From now on, there are (once more) monthly Tangokombinat milongas. Most of them take place in the studio (Minilongas), but some in special locations like the Acting and Arts studio or the Saar 05 dance venue.
  • June 2019: Pequeña 4 is a great success and believed to be the friendliest edition so far. As teachers, we invited exclusively Saso & Alja but the introduction game on Friday was hosted by Varvara Kountouzi from the USA – another TTT graduate.
  • Summer 2019: Gitana – one of our new members – hosts the first practilonga in our studio. Because of it’s imminent success, we decide to continue this format.
  • October 2019: The 12th FCA takes place. DJs are Uwe Willié, Andrei Mihaescu, Emma Murros, Tina Ferrari, Melina Sedó
  • December 2019: X-Mas-Milonga in the Acting-and-Arts school. 
  • January 2020: The Tangokombinat hosts the first Tango Queens Congress in Saarbrücken. Melina as the local organiser and one of the main teachers/speakers of the event brings in the female Tangokombinat members as helpers as well as Thorsten Janes, who has in the meanwhile become indispensable when it comes to organising the Tangokombinat activities. The TQC takes place in the Acting-and-Arts and Tangokombinat studio.
  • October 2020: The FCA micro-edition with only 35 participants takes place under corona-conditions @ Tangokombinat studio. It is screened via Zoom to many friends who are separated from us.
  • 2020/21: The Tangokombinat studio undergoes some serious renovations.
  • September 21: Uwe Willié retires as a Tangokombinat member.
  • October 2021: The first post-pandemic FCA takes place @ Acting-and-Arts. DJs are: Andreas Gierstorfer, Tiziano Franzoi, Patrycja Kaminska, Céline Dévèze, Melina Sedó and Sam Joachim. Although the size of this event was reduced to 100 + staff, it was one of our finest encuentros ever and certainly the most emotional one. Also thanks to the wedding dance of our friends Nikki and Matthew. 
  • June 2022: Twice suspended Pequeña 5 can finally take place. Everyone is immensely happy to meet long-missed friends and make new ones. The all-female dj staff are Patrycja Kaminska, Alja Ferme, Melina Sedó and Lynn Collins. Two Tangokombinat djs again! Teachers are Saso Zivanovic & Alja Ferme (Slovenia) and Marco Rossi & Beatrice Zernitz from Italy.
  • October 2022: Once more, the Acting and Arts is our venue for the FCA. As the Congress Centre has raised its prices and there are no alternative venues in Saarbrücken, we will have to make do with a small edition of our longest-running event. DJ in 2022 are Christine & Torsten, Alejandro Sascha, Lynn, Melina, Patrycja and Gregor. 
  • 2022-2023: Our monthly minilongas as well as Ina’s and Detlef’s practica are becoming a quite the success after the corona break. Visitors from our home region and from far away are joining us for serious hugging and working. 
  • June 2023: Pequeña 6 is another great success. The dj staff are Patrycja Kaminska, Marcello Rosenblatt, Melina Sedó and Lynn Collins. Teachers are Saso Zivanovic & Alja Ferme (Slovenia). This Pequeña edition was also our fullest one – actually a bit too full. But we’ve learned our lesson!
  • October 2023: The FCA still takes places in the Acting and Arts due to the lack of alternatives. DJs are Tina Ferrari, Lynn Collins, Lampis Zalavras and Melina Sedó. 
  • December 2023: Our first festivalito milonguero for double-rolers takes place! Dos Corazones is from the start a very international events with dancers – mostly women – from 18 countries. DJs are Patrycja Kaminska (Poland), Tara Thurau (USA) , Andreas Gierstorfer (Berlin), Melina Sedó and Uwe Willié. We consider it a full success!