We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cynthia Giannini. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cynthia below.

Cynthia , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?

Like I tell my children and my former students, follow your heart, believe in your dreams, try your best and trust the process.

I would like to be remembered for shining love, gratitude, authenticity and integrity into all that I do and to those I hold dear.

Cynthia , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am driven to share, support and create awareness and awakenings through the medium of art. Music and dance are my main influences. I currently work with a team of creatives that are helping each other make their dreams a reality.

My young adulthood was spent dancing with the Joffrey Ballet where I learned to stretch the limits of my physical body and mind by reaching for the goals I could envision for myself and working hard to achieve them.

Years after my career in ballet, I returned to dance in the form of teaching, choreography and Argentine Tango. I found myself entering a new phase of experience and the ability to see what I could bring to tango from my unique perspective in performance.

It wasn’t long before my inspiration synced with my past stage experiences and I began creating my storytelling through my choreographies in Tango.

At the time I was working on tango I also met many creatives in the music and art world and began supporting intimate house salons to share our talents with small audiences.

I began creating and founding my non profit Artists Amongst Us and tango company, Intimo Tango in 2022.

Artists Amongst Us is an organization that aims at supporting emerging artists in a performative space to share “up close to excellence” experiences with an emphasis on empowering all artists and multicultural experiences in an intimate setting.

Like my kids have joked, “All roads lead to tango”, I began Intimo Tango as a means to create my story telling through the language of dance and music performances.
Intimo : inner most feelings
Tango : to dance

We are now a couple of years in the making and have been creating performances and supporting the growing tango community and our local artists.

Please visit our websites and subscribe for our monthly updates.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Resilience has been a primary strength in my life’s journey and helped me recover from many losses past and present.

Last year was a huge test of endurance and perseverance. I was managing my businesses and working with the city and county of Denver to aquire a re zoning on the property I was renting. I was hoping to make it a home for arts and wellness.

The rezoning didn’t happen as the property was put on the market before I could guarantee a collective agreement with the city and potential investors. I had to give up that dream and return to my work elsewhere.

This happened recently and was not only disappointing but also incredibly frustrating and challenging to not only manage another move but to have to let go of a tango school in the making and a beautiful restored “sanctuary” to support our events, classes and rehearsals.

The experience taught me so many valuable lessons about proper planning and preparation, taking time to find the right people, and not taking on more than I can handle.

As I am currently focusing on my upcoming show, I have the experiences learned and amazing people I’ve met, better boundaries and heightened discernment in the choices I make. A strong team of like minded individuals who have a positive outlook, shared interest and work ethic, are coming together with combined efforts to make our Holiday show and tango festival
a success. It is in my best wishes to continue our work together in the future.

I am now able to focus more on my upcoming projects and continue to grow my businesses and infrastructure from the inside out instead of the other way around.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

Funding? Good question!
We are in the early stages of development and funding is challenging. I am looking for grant writers and have chosen to begin without proper funding because the projects keep coming to me and I must begin.
Any and all monies that have come in from donations or classes/events go directly to the artists or venue.

My current project will be my final go this year. Partially funded from the ARPA grant for use at the Ellie Caulkins Studio Loft at the end of December, I am producing a dream project, Sol y Luna, a modern day tango love story.

This is a coming out project with a sample and concept show. The ARPA funding covers the hard costs of the theatre and management. The rest is on my shoulders as we are such a young company and have not received any grants or sponsorships, to this date, to pay the artists.

The ARPA grant does not cover any of the expenses related to paying the artists, musicians, costumes, lighting designers, choreography, or rehearsal time etc.

I am funding this project because I believe in it and will see it through this second phase. Thanks to the generous time commitment from the dancers, lighting designer, stage manager, company manager and co director, together, we will bring this story to stage.

The first phase happened this summer at the Denver Fringe Festival with “Tango through Time”. A beautiful story of an Argentine immigrant telling his story of love, loss and letting go through the language of tango.

I am most grateful for the handful of inspired dancers and artists coming together to support this shared vision! It’s exciting to see how it is coming along with devotion and passion. We have some incredible talent to share and are excited to bring it to the stage.

Tickets and details are on AXS ticketing through Arts and Venues, Ellie Caulkins Studio Loft Dec 29th, 30th and 31st!
https://www.intimotango.com/event-details/sol-y-luna-show

artistsamongstus.org
and
Intimotango.com

Join us for our preview & concept show and stay for the Q&A to learn more about us 🙏🏼.

If you cannot make it to the show please consider a donation to our organization so we can continue to create our community based performances.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://artistsamongstus.org
• Instagram: Intimoargentinetango
• Facebook: Intimo Tango, Artists Amongst Us, Sol y Luna tango show

Image Credits

Carolina M Joyce
Byron Swezy