"...through, just, love and committing to your own journey within a culture and within a craft and within a practice, you can embody whatever you want to. And there's nobody to tell you that it's not authentic or real or enough."

Co-founder of Oxygen Tango School and Awaken Tango Mitra Martin talks about her Persian heritage and the value of research, innovation, acceptance, and attention in tango.

Producer/Host: Liz Sabatiuk | Music: “Zorzal”, arranged and recorded by Orquesta Típica Misteriosa Buenos Aires with music and lyrics by Dorita Zárate | Image Credit: Glenn Campbell

Show Notes

• Learn more about Mitra's perspectives and work on her website. (Bonus points if you learn more about “The Romance of the Rose” and gardens in Persian poetry or even read Mitra's thesis!)


• Read some background about Iran’s history and government, then read Mitra’s reflections on Iran's 2022 protests.


• TriANGulO changed locations but is still going strong as a studio and community under the leadership of its founder, Carina Moeller.


• Listen to “Instinct Tango, with Aníbal Dominguez” for another perspective on how contact improv relates to tango.


• Read why Mitra recommends learning tango one-on-one rather than in conventional group classes.


• Listen to different versions of the same song, “El Choclo,” to get a sense of the different styles of Carlos Di Sarli and Juan D’Arienzo.


• Learn more about Marshall Rosenberg’s framework of nonviolent communication and read a post by the student Mitra mentioned, Andrei Andreev, applying Rosenberg's framework to tango.


• Listen to “Flowing together, with Avik Basu” and visit Awaken Tango to read the Inner Experience of Tango report.


• Mitra shouted out the following folks as key sources of inspiration and support in her tango journey: Avik Basu, Stefan Fabry, Jaimes Friedgen, Korey Ireland, Dave Lampson, Carina Moeller, Rebecca Shulman, Daniel Trenner, and Brigitta Winkler.

Read a transcript of Mitra's episode here.