Ellen Chrystal

Ellen Chrystal and Nina Jirka founded Tango New Paltz in 2005. Together they taught classes designed to build a strong foundation in Argentine Tango, held practicas and brought in occasional guest teachers.
Now Ellen lives further north and teaches in Hudson and Rhinebeck.

For information about Ellen's ongoing classes and workshops in Rhinebeck and in Hudson for all levels of dancers, contact her via email at echrystal@gmail.com

Please find Tango Hudson on Facebook!

Ellen studied ballet, jazz, and modern dance in Toronto and San Francisco from 1970 through the 80's. In the early 70's she travelled and performed improvisational dance with Tisziji Munoz's Jazz Troupe. This experience was instrumental in awakening that freedom to let the music move the dancer.

In the 1980s Ellen taught and choreographed dances for women and children in San Rafael, California. In 1997, she began to study and dance Argentine Tango in New York City and felt she had discovered the perfect dance for improvisation and social dancing.

Ellen studied tango in New York and Buenos Aires with many of the greatest teachers of Argentine Tango. She performed for the TangoFest 2000 at the Town Hall on Broadway in New York City. She has enjoyed traveling and dancing in many cities around the United States and Europe.

Ellen feels very fortunate to have a partnership with Nina Jirka, Carina Moeller and Maggie Griffin at Tango New Paltz and she has the goal, along with all the local tango organizers in the Hudson Valley, to share this amazing dance and develop a vibrant and joyous tango community in the Hudson Valley.

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