TangoChelsea.com
TangoChelsea.com
Tango Argentino
Tango Argentino
Chelsea Eng
Chelsea Eng, an Argentine Tango professional with over 25 years of experience, has been featured in La Milonga magazine, listed among the “Stars” of CosmoTango.com, and served on the Board of Jurors of Premios Tango, all based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has made 25 trips to Argentina since 1994, performing eight times (five with CITA, the Congreso Internacional de Tango Argentino, and three with Tanghetto) on the stage of the ND Teatro/Buenos Aires, and multiple times in famous Buenos Aires milongas. She has performed and taught at the São Paulo Tango Festival 2019 and 2018 in the only female pair, and the only pair representing the United States. She has taught and performed in cities across the U.S. and performed in major hometown San Francisco theaters. She participated in the 2019 and 2018 International Tango Summits/Los Angeles as a performer, teacher, judge and monitor of the US National Argentine Tango Association (USNATA) competitions. Since the late 1990s, Chelsea has been a pioneer in the portrayal of women in tango performance while evolving the language of tango with “all-genders-welcome” Lead-Follow Exchange. For 20 years she has sought to open minds around gender equity and LGBTQ rights. She has used the language of tango to tell fresh stories, to showcase women partnering women in duets and groups, to share tango within the LGBTQ community worldwide. Since 2013, Chelsea has collaborated with diverse-ability dancer Rodney Bell, director Philip Kan Gotanda, director Max Masri, and transgender actor Ashley Hou on Telly and Anthem award-winning dance films that continue to screen in the international film festival circuit.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
FILM & TV: DIRECTION, CHOREOGRAPHY & PERFORMANCE
Principal dancer-choreographer and actor with Rodney Bell in same
2022 - 9th Annual Destiny City Film Festival/Tacoma, WA - OFFICIAL SELECTION
Final Cut 2021 - (42nd Annual) Telly Awards/New York, NY
SILVER AWARD: Non-Broadcast - Diversity & Inclusion category
BRONZE AWARD: Non-Broadcast - Editing category
------ Work-in-Progress screenings
2021 - 10th Annual Bay Area Short Film Festival (BASH)/San Francisco - OFFICIAL SELECTION
2020 - Seattle True Independent Film Festival (STIFF)/Seattle - OFFICIAL SELECTION
2020 - 19th Annual Tiburon International Film Festival/Tiburon, CA - OFFICIAL SELECTION
2019 - Top Shorts Film Festival - WINNER - Best Inspirational Film
2019 - Best Shorts Competition - Award of Merit/Disability Issues Category
2019 - 10th Annual Awareness Film Festival/Los Angeles - OFFICIAL SELECTION
2019 - Accolade Global Film Competition - Award of Merit/Disability Issues Category
2019 - Love International Film Festival/Los Angeles - OFFICIAL SELECTION + LIFF Finalist for Best U.S. Short Film
2019 - ReelAbilities Film Festival/New York City - SEMI-FINALIST
Co-Directed with Max Masri the short film A Non Binary Story: Reencuentro
2021 - qFLIX: The LGBTQ+ Film Festival/Philadelphia, PA - OFFICIAL SELECTION
2020 - Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival/Brooklyn, NY - OFFICIAL SELECTION
2020 - 2nd Annual Kanab Film Fest/Kanab, UT - OFFICIAL SELECTION
2020 - 7th Annual Destiny City Film Festival/Tacoma, WA - OFFICIAL SELECTION (Filmmaker Chelsea Eng's photo and quote published in July 22, 2020 Tacoma News Tribune article about Destiny City Film Festival)
2019 - 15th Annual The Outlet Dance Project/Hamilton, New Jersey - Finalist (Honorable Mention)
2019 - Best Shorts Competition - Award of Merit/LGBT Category
2019 - 10th Annual Awareness Film Festival/Los Angeles - OFFICIAL SELECTION
2019 - Accolade Global Film Competition - Award of Merit/LGBT Category
Co-Directed with Max Masri the music video Walk of Contrasts
2022 - Anthem Awards - BRONZE AWARD: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion category (Awareness/Not-for-Profit)
2021 - 10th Annual Asians on Film Festival of Shorts/Los Angeles - OFFICIAL SELECTION
2020 - Seattle True Independent Film Festival (STIFF)/Seattle - OFFICIAL SELECTION
2020 - Global Nonviolent Film Festival/Online - OFFICIAL SELECTION
2020 - Rainbow Cinema Awards/New York City - FINALIST
2020 - The Valley Film Festival/North Hollywood - OFFICIAL SELECTION
2020 - Philadelphia Independent Film Festival/Philadelphia - OFFICIAL SELECTION
2019 (the Rough Cut) - Directed by Women: Shorts of All Sorts/New York City - SEMI-FINALIST
2019 (the Rough Cut) - jellyFEST Film Festival/Los Angeles - SEMI-FINALIST
- Dancer in 2010 feature film Playground of Dreams (Director Shireen Daryadel, Golden Gate Artists Films). Screened at Balboa Theater/San Francisco. Official Selection, New Filmmakers New York 2012.
- Dancer in 2009 feature film California Tango (La Honda Films). Screened at Roxie Theatre/San Francisco
- Featured Dancer & Interviewee on Latin Eyes/national television
STAGE: IMPROVISATION, CHOREOGRAPHY & PERFORMANCE
- Congreso Internacional de Tango Argentino (CITA), Theater Shows 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 & 2015 at ND Teatro; Opening Night (2016) & Closing Night (2015) at Confitería Ideal; inaugural Pride Night (2023) and Opening Night (2019, 2018, 2017) at Abasto Hotel/Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA
- with electrotango band Tanghetto in 2015, 2014 & 2012 Tanghetto shows (Artistic Director: Max Masri) at ND Teatro; 2016 at Salón Canning; 2018 & 2017 at La Viruta/Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA; 2018 at Astoria Tango Club/New York City
- São Paulo Tango Festival 2019 Theater Show at Sergio Cardoso Theater; Saturday Night milonga - performed to live music by Orquesta La Juan D'Arienzo/São Paulo, BRAZIL
- São Paulo Tango Festival 2018 Theater Show at Teatro Gazeta; Friday Night & Closing Night milongas/São Paulo, BRAZIL
- with Orquesta Victoria at Marines' Memorial Theater/San Francisco
- Tango Addiction (Donna Sotiropoulos, Producer) mainstage show at Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts
- 2018 International Tango Summit/Los Angeles
- with Joe Powers, Trio Garufa (Sascha Jacobsen, Adrian Jost, Guillermo Garcia), Seth Asarnow, Marcelo Puig, Tangonero & Claudio Ortega, Hugo Wainzinger, MonTango, and Tango No. 9
- featured performer in Fashion Show by Buenos Aires-based fashion designer Viviana Laguzzi/Mimi Pinzon at USA Tango Championships 2015
- Diálogos on theatre row/Hollywood, California
- Co-founded (in January 2004) the all-woman collaborative dance company Tango Con*Fusión. Choreographer-dancer with TCF for almost 11 years
Highlights with Tango Con*Fusión:
- with electrotango band Tanghetto in 2011 at
- theater Sala Zitarrosa/Montevideo, URUGUAY
- Salón Canning/Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA
- Congreso Internacional de Tango Argentino (CITA) 2010 & 2014 at Niño Bien/Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA *as the first all-female company to perform at this long-running event
- Lady's Tango Festival at theater La Usina Del Arte/Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA
-Confitería Ideal/Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA
- International Dance Festival/New York City
- GlamourTango (Artistic Director: Polly Ferman) at Logan Square Auditorium/Chicago
- Leading Ladies of Tango at Herbst Theatre/San Francisco
- WestWave Dance Festival at YBCA Novellus Theater/San Francisco
CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT & TEACHING
- was one half of the first all-female pair and the first American pair, to teach (and to present Lead-Follow Exchange as a topic - in 2010, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2023 - and to teach 2 levels of same in 2016 & 2017) at the Congreso Internacional de Tango Argentino (CITA)/Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA
- was one half of the first all-female pair and the first pair representing the United States, to teach 2 levels of Lead-Follow Exchange (and to present Lead-Follow Exchange as a topic) in 2018 at the 1st São Paulo Tango Festival; 3 classes of Lead-Follow Exchange in 2019 at the 2nd São Paulo Tango Festival/São Paulo, BRAZIL
- the only solo female teacher to serve on the faculty of the 2018 International Tango Summit/Los Angeles; one half of the first all-female pair to teach Lead-Follow Exchange at same; teacher of signature lecture "Tango's Shifting Image" at ITS 2019
- founder/creator (in 2000) of the popular Argentine Tango Program at City College of San Francisco; regularly taught semester-length credit courses in Argentine Tango through CCSF's Izzy award-winning Dance Department (2000-2021)
- has substitute-taught Intermediate Ballet (full semester), Dance Conditioning and Yoga at City College of SF
- delegate from City College of SF to the 2017 California Federation of Teachers statewide conference in Sacramento
- since the mid-1990s - has taught at workshops & festivals in many U.S. cities {Portland (7 TangoFests), Las Vegas, Seattle, Philadelphia, Honolulu, San Diego, Los Angeles}, and at multiple international festivals in Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA
PRINT, RADIO, WRITING & VOICEOVER
- featured in cover photo & as a filmmaker interviewee in article on the Destiny City Film Festival in the Arts & Culture section of the Tacoma News Tribune/Tacoma, WA
- interviewed on radio station La 2 x 4 - program Tangos en la Madrugada/Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA
- wrote and voiced the voiceovers for Trading Places, a DVD on lead-follow exchange released by Tango Con*Fusión in celebration of the company's 10-year anniversary
- dance writing has been published in The Queer Tango Book: Ideas, Images and Inspiration in the 21st Century; and in IN DANCE, San Francisco's long-running dance newsletter
- animal advocacy writing has been published internationally in print & online in Best Friends Animal Society's Sanctuary Stories, House Rabbit Journal, Best4Bunny magazine, and Small Pet Select
- personal narrative writing has been published online & performed live by Los Angeles-based theatre company The Braid
- training in voiceover & on-camera at Voice One/San Francisco
GRANTS RECEIVED
Recipient of a Quick Grant from the Center for Cultural Innovation
Recipient of a CA$H Grant in Dance (a grants program of Theatre Bay Area, in partnership with Dancers' Group) for a collaborative project with writers Leslie Simon & Lisa Gale Garrigues
Recipient of a CA$H Grant in Dance (a grants program of Theatre Bay Area, in partnership with Dancers' Group) for a collaborative project with dancer-choreographer Rodney Bell
3-time recipient of a City College of SF Faculty Travel Grant to attend ATUSA (Argentine Tango USA Festival)
ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE
University of Puget Sound/Tacoma, WA - 2-Day Mini Residency: tango workshop, screening of short films, tango performance with live music featuring dancer Count Glover & musician Joe Powers
DANCE AWARDS
FM La Tribu radio station - 2nd place in tango competition/Buenos Aires
California Winter Festival - Supreme Dance Award, Theater Arts category
EDUCATION
Master of Arts Curriculum Studies & Teacher Education - Dance Specialization
Stanford Graduate School of Education Stanford, CA, USA
Bachelor of Arts French, Dance Minor
Stanford University Stanford, CA, USA
Dance Scholarships awarded by audition/application as a student:
Friends of Dance Summer Study Award/Stanford University
Stephens College Summer Dance/Columbia, MO
Reiki practitioner (Certified at Level 1, Practitioner at Level 2) with the Center of Living Light/New York City; Also trained through Reiki Center for Healing Arts/San Francisco