Join us for TWO GREAT EVENTS celebrating Andres Amarilla’s 50th birthday!

The fun starts on Wednesday, March 25 with a special live music Palermo Fishtown Milonga, featuring Bandoneonist Rodrigo Avalos and Pianist Emiliano Messiez. Our DJ will be Karen Johnson. Then, we CONTINUE on Saturday, March 28 with a special Milonga Qilombo featuring DJ Adam Hoopengardner. Adam will also teach the pre-Milonga Qilombo class. Andres will perform with both Olesya Kershaw and Meredith Klein during the milonga!

Here are all the details…

Wednesday, March 25
7-8 pm: Intermediate Tango - Meredith & Jennine
8-9 pm: Beginner Tango - Andres & Jennine
9 pm-midnight: Palermo Fishtown Milonga with DJ Karen Johnson and LIVE MUSIC by Bandoneonist Rodrigo Avalos & Pianist Emiliano Messiez

Class pricing is as usual. On live music nights, we ask even class attendees to pay for the milonga, please.

Milonga Pricing: Sliding Scale $20-40+

REGISTER NOW

Please continue reading just below for the details for Celebration #2…

Don’t miss Part 2 of Andres’s 50th Birthday Celebration at Milonga Qilombo on Saturday, March 28! The event features the return of one of our favorite visiting teachers, Adam Hoopengardner. Adam will teach the pre-milonga class (all-levels) and DJ the milonga. Andres will give performances with both Olesya Kershaw and Meredith Klein.

Saturday, March 28
8:30-9:30 pm: All-Levels Pre-Milonga Class - Adam Hoopengardner
9:30 pm- 2 am: Milonga Qilombo with DJ Adam and performances by Andres with Olesya and Meredith

Pricing with Pre-registration by 3/27 at midnight:
Class + Milonga: $30
Milonga only: $20

REGISTER NOW

At the Door Pricing:
Class + Milonga: $40
Milonga only: $25

May 22-25, 2026

Registration is open!

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
Amelia Foss

LECTURER
Matias Mauricio

MUSICIANS
Tipica Messiez
Juan Villarreal & Patricio Crom
Mariano Castro
Emiliano Messiez
Javier Sanchez
Sergio Reyes

DJs
Maria Valentina
Gabriel Gaumond
Octavio Fernandez
Ignacio Ondartz

Learn more on the festival website…

The Philadelphia Argentine Tango School (PATS) strives to create spaces and events that are safe, welcoming, and inclusive for everyone, regardless of age, race, gender, sexuality, ability, experience, or background.

We’re very happy to launch a Safer Spaces Program to support this effort. Please check it out!

Huge thanks to our Safer Spaces Coordinators, Kate Donohue, Gustavo Rueda, and Amy Yang, who have been working tirelessly on this effort. They can be reached at [email protected]. You can report a an incident or concern here.