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Mazen Kiwan & Maria Filali

Mazen Kiwan

Mazen Kiwan comes from a background as a folk and contemporary dancer in his native Lebanon. In 1998, in Paris, he received a state diploma as a teacher in contemporary dance.

Since 1999 he has been teaching, performing and taking part in numerous international tango festivals around the world, including the United States, Europe, Russia, Northern Africa and the Middle East. He has developed a structured and precise approach to his teaching methods, concentrating on communication and harmony, interpretation of music, rhythm and dynamics. He works regularly with professional actors and dancers, and for the past three years has been training instructors to teach.


As a choreographer and dancer, Mazen has created and participed in numerous tango and contemporary dance shows, as well as several theatre pieces and films ; including La Demoiselle d'Honneur by Claude Chabrol (2004) and L'Homme de sa Vie by Zabou Breitmann (2006). In theatre, he has worked with Irina Brook on Resonances and Charles Berling on Caligula, as the choreographer for both pieces. He has a unique approach to tango, influenced by his multicultural and diverse experience, which has led to a highly stylised and new interpretation of tango movement and music, without de-naturalizing the dance. Inspired by Gustavo Navera, his innovative and ethereal style highlights sharpness, elegance and the importance of theatrics to the dance. Mise en scene is a priority and one feel's, when watching his choreographies, that this something more than just an ordinary tango.
He has worked with several prominent partners in the tango scene, including Sigrid Van Tilbeurgh, Victoria Vieyra, Lucia Mazer, Silvina Valse and is currently working with Maria Filali.

Mazen has been the main person to develop tango in Lebanon since 2003 and is in the process of organizing the first tango festival in the Middle East (Levant countries).


Maria Filali


Coming from a multicultural and varied background, Maria Filali was raised and studied ballet, contemporary and modern dance, in Rabat, Vienna, Stockholm, Bordeaux and Paris.
Receiving the gold medal and the medal of honour on completing her studies at the Bordeaux Conservatory in 1995, Maria went on to work with various well known choreographers and teachers.
In 1998 she discovered tango. Her profound body awareness and understanding of tango, added to years of ballet and contemporary dance practice have enabled her to improve her technique and become an experienced dancer and teacher. In 2000 she began training as an actor and studied different acting techniques, notably working with the actors studio and on improvisation. Since then she has performed and done the choreography for many different theatre, opera and film productions, including Bellamy a film by Claude Chabrol and the international tour of Gotan project in 2005. For the past 6 years she has been collaborating with Jorge Rodriguez, developing her skills and learning from great masters in Europe and Argentina. Tango has become the basis of Maria's artistic work and she retains an open approach to the dance Today she is a highly valued dancer and teacher. She is now dancing and teaching with Mazen Kiwan in Paris and around the world.		Mazen & Maria Tangocamp 2010 International Argentine Tango Festival