May 22-25, 2026

The 14th edition of the Philadelphia Tango Festival will take place May 22-25, 2026 (Memorial Weekend). Each year, we choose a theme to unite the various activities of the festival: the workshops, seminars, practicas, milongas, concerts and more.

This year’s theme is CONSCIOUS IMPROVISATION. At the heart of this theme is a paradox: through deep study of tango’s structure and components, we can achieve greater freedom, fluidity and musicality in improvisation. This is conscious improvisation, rooted in tango structure, but exploring the infinite possibilities that this structure affords. Our festival activities develop this sense of conscious improvisation by honing our understanding of musicality, technique, movement combinations and the subtleties of lead-and-follow communication.

We have assembled an extraordinary team to guide us on this exploration…

TEACHERS / PERFORMERS
Octavio Fernandez & Carolina Giannini
Rino Fraina & Graziella Pulvirenti
Andres Amarilla & Olesya Kershaw
Pablo Garcia Gomez & Iwona Ionescu
Ignacio Ondartz & Meredith Klein

LECTURER
Matias Mauricio

MUSICIANS
Típica Messiez
Mariano Castro
Duo Villarreal Crom
Emiliano Messiez

DJs
Maria Valentina
Gabriel Gaumond
Octavio Fernandez
Ignacio Ondartz

Festival Offerings include:

• A total of 40 different activities, including workshops (complete beginner through advanced), in-depth seminars, live music milongas, practicas, concerts, and a lecture.
• Two intensive seminars on the festival theme, taught respectively by Rino & Graziella, and Octavio & Carolina
• Three workshops on Argentine folkloric dances & music, culminating in a Gran Peña Folklorica, a participatory folkloric celebration
• Live music every night, including seated concerts and live music milongas
• A four-workshop Beginner Track, taught by Pablo & Iwona, open to everyone. No experience or partner required.
• Presentation of multiple hot-off-the-press new tango albums, produced by our Bochinche Records.
• An on-site cafe run by extraordinary Chef / Poet / Performance artist, Luli.
• Three afternoon practicas
• Great vendors selling a variety of tango shoes & clothing, from Argentina, Italy and beyond.
• And so much more!