Do you remember Jakub Grzybek and Patricia Cisowska? They won the UK Stage Tango Championship Preliminaries in London at the UK Tango Festival 2014. They danced to a most beautiful tango piece orchestrated with their personal interpretation of Argentine Tango.

We caught up with Jakub and Patricia to find out what happened next!

 
HOW DID IT FEEL TO COMPETE IN LONDON LAST YEAR?
We’re in love with London so basically the competition was an excuse to come here again. The Championship was really fantastic. Extraordinary! We were surprised that the dancing level of the competing couples was so high, especially in ‘Tango de Salon’ category. All the places with beautiful dance halls for the milongas was also great. The organisers took really good care of us.

 
WHAT DID YOU LEARN?
We’ve learned a lot. First of all that the competition is not an ordinary performance. Of course, we still ‘aim to entertain’ but the emotions are completely different. After all, you are judged by the panel and they use their own criteria to decide. It’s not about whether someone likes it or not. You are the only couple on the dancefloor and the feeling is very specific. Maybe just that element alone gives you the incentive to prepare well. You have to let your muscles remember all the movements and technique. With this amount of adrenaline you can’t count on your mind. It just has to be there – with the music and with your dance partner. We’ve also learned that the London audience is one of the best 🙂

 
AFTER IT WAS ALL OVER, WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?
For us it was just a beginning. We started working even harder and winning opened many doors. We were already known in Poland, but after our success we were invited to some main TV programs. We performed on TV and they interviewed us. We also did Tango Argentino choreographies for “Dancing with the Stars” in our country and hopefully now we will also work for “So You Think You Can Dance”. We work on some stage projects and our tango studio is one of the most popular schools in Warsaw. We found sponsors who support us too. So basically, a lot of things are still happening in our professional life.

 
HAS YOUR DANCING CHANGED?
Yes it’s changing all the time because we still aim to be better and better. This year we spent almost 2 months in Buenos Aires. We had a lot of lessons and danced many hours in the milongas. We’ve met so many fantastic people who believe in us. Our dance improved but we’re also changed as human beings – we’re more confident and more open. That’s for sure.

 
WHAT WAS THE BEST THING ABOUT WINNING THE COMPETITION?
That we won 🙂 For us, winning was something we didn’t expect, but also there was a clear message “You are on the right track. Keep doing it”. This was very important for us. It always gets you the kick to develop.

 
IF YOU COULD GO BACK WOULD YOU DO IT AGAIN?
Undoubtedly! It was a fantastic adventure. We hope to take part in London tango life more often. We’re also sure the UK Festival and BA Tango Preliminaries in London will be as wonderful as last year and even more popular.