A woman of many talents
Melina Sedó was born in London to a German mother and a Spanish father. She is – like tango – international.
Melina has been dancing since her early childhood. After exploring ballet, modern and ballroom dance as well as flamenco she finally discovered tango and fell under its spell.
Apart from dancing, Melina’s loves are history and literature. Although she decided against university studies in these fields, she kept pursuing her interest over the years, particularly by engaging in historical role-playing games. Read more about these activities here.
Melina has a university degree in psychology. Her master thesis Sex Roles in Argentine Tango was written in 2003. Some of its content is now outdated, but there is still interesting material for research. As a psychologist, Melina worked with young people, their families and the local institutions for many years before finally deciding to pursue tango exclusively.
Coming from a family of travel agents, Melina has made experiences, which prepared her to set up tango holidays as well as conventions in several fields.
Melina started dancing tango in 1995, teaching in 2001 and travelling internationally in 2006. Together with her teaching partner Detlef Engel she has developed a very personal approach to tango that focusses on the wellbeing in a close embrace, on improvisation and on musicality. They have built a reputation for outstanding pedagogical skills as well as for their special dedication to promote social tango beyond clichés or acrobatics. They are also conducting tango-teacher-trainings (TTT) and have produced a comprehensive Book+Film. Melina‘s skills as an organiser and manager have contributed immensely to the success of their philosophy and the extent of their international network.
Despite their minimalistic style, Melina and Detlef have performed at countless occasions in Europe, the USA and at some of the most renowned Milongas in Buenos Aires. They capture the audience through their puristic elegance, a harmonic authenticity and a highly developed musicality.
Melina and her friends of the Tangokombinat have been organising Milongas, Festivalitos and Encuentros since 2001. They have defined standards in their home region as well as all over Europe. The goal of these events is to create a unique and friendly ambiance that allows for a harmonic encounter of the couples with each other and the music.
In 2020, Melina co-organised and hosted the first international Tango Queens Congress with female participants and artists from all over the world. For this event, Melina acted as the local co-ordinator and logistics manager as well as teacher, dj and speaker in panels.
Melina is an enthusiastic student and researcher of tango music and has made a name for herself as a DJ at local and international events.
Melina‘s blog is read by a widespread audience and is on a regular basis updated with posts about tango culture, learning and much more.
As a tango organiser she has become skilled in setting up and maintaining websites, developing publicity material and editing videos. For more elaborate projects she nevertheless chooses to work with trained specialists, like the designer and photographer Thorsten Janes.
In 2011, Melina took up Yoga and completed the first two modules of a 4-part teacher-training. This venture has helped her to develop an even deeper understanding for body-mechanics, relaxation and pedagogy which she integrates in her work as a tango teacher.
In 2020, Melina re-discovered her old love roleplaying and started writing a campaign for D&D. She is planning on developing this occupation in the future.
In early 2022, Melina decided to upgrade her professional qualification. She has recently completed a training as „Dance and movement pedagogue“ and will – from November on – start a training as „Supervisor of therapeutical dance“. She plans on combining tango, health care and personal development in the future.
Melina communicates in English, German, French, Italian and (after a bit of re-activation) in Spanish.