Crista Darie is tango DJ from Bucharest (Romania). Passionate for music and dancing, Crista has studied the piano for four years in a Moscow music school (Russia). Four years ago she discovered tango, as a dancer, and became fascinated by the Argentinian tango music. She became tDJ in 2012.
Here are three quotations of two tango teachers and two tango events organizers, from "Tango DJ-ing" article in "Gancho" february issue (http://gancho.info/tango-dj-ing/):
Corina Raduta, tango teacher at Escuela Principal de Tango:
"I choose to talk here about a special tDJ – my favorite one. I sometimes choose to go to a milonga only knowing that she’ll be in charge of the music desk. (...) Crista was our tDJ that evening. It was only at the end of the Practica that I realized how fast time has passed, how much I’ve danced and how high my energy level still was. It got me thinking… What has happened differently? Maybe I just had a better mood than other times… And then it hit me: it was the music! Memories started to come back to me: my childhood dreaming on tango music wings, my Universes that come to life while listening to or dancing tango… Those things have happened to me that night. So it must have been the music! The music played by Crista, actually. (...) She continued tDJ-ing at Saturday Practica and at other tango events in Romania and abroad. She’s appreciated by many dancers! I think what’s special about her is the passion she has for the music, for people and for tango. She plays just as she dances – always fresh, always energizing, almost all the time with a little taste of new, just enough to push us towards discoveries. She’s connected to the dancers, to the ronda and to the music, so she can really create THE atmosphere that carries us on all night."
"Why is Crista my favorite DJ? Because she’s fresh, energetic, dynamic. She plays the music in direct connection with the people on the floor, creating a great atmosphere in the milonga/practica.
She is constantly in search of music, of different versions of the same songs from different orchestras. She changes her tandas all the time, she introduces new songs in her tandas, she doesn’t have standard tandas to play, nor standard playlists; she changes the list all the time, sometimes creating it on the spot – there’s always something new in her tandas. This way she brings to the attention of the dancers beautiful songs, some even unknown, but always danceable, contributing in this way to the musical education and culturalization of the tango community that she’s a part of. You can’t say that you’ve listened to the same tanda twice. Maybe a similar one, but never the same.
She dedicates a lot of time to tango music, out of passion and you’ll often see her smiling enthusiastically and exclaiming “Aaaaah, how beautiful is this song!”
She refuses to play less interesting or less catchy songs, even if it’s in the beginning of a milonga, when people are just arriving. She considers that music should call you, invite you to dance from the very beginning. Not only once I’ve experienced a night in which had I felt like dancing each tanda, without resting a minute.
Not only once I heard the girls on arriving to the Practica, just putting on their tango shoes exclaiming “Oh, what a beautiful music!” while Crista was managing the music desk."
"I am a business man. I dance tango only out of passion. For a while now, I began to organize Milonga Tabiet in fiecare joi (Thursday’s Milonga Tabiet), the only regular milonga independent from the tango schools and with their support. Having a business background I tried to give a proper structure and a high quality to these events. So I looked into every detail that brings such an event closer to excellence: ambience, location, related services, sound, music.
When taking in consideration the aspect of the music I chose to work with tDJs in order to keep the quality, instead of a playlist that would run regardless of what happens in the room. This is how I discovered Crista. Passionate about people and communication, just like me otherwise (only she is a psychotherapist with various fields of expertise, including working with groups), she has music in the blood. Brought up with classical music, she discovered that playing tango music in milongas nourishes her.
You’ll say: ok, but what is special so far? Well, special is the fact that she spends at least 5 hours a day studying this music, the orchestras, the different versions and approaches of songs. She studies the metrics and tests with dancers every new tanda she makes before playing it in milongas. I discovered in her firstly a passionate of music who then became a professional and she amazes me every time I watch her.
So, at my event – Milonga Tabiet in fiecare joi – I am the host, it’s important that I socialize, make sure everyone is pleased and satisfied. But, well, when Crista is tDJ-ing I get invariably charmed and I find myself dancing, floating in a world that I thought was long gone, yet there it is so vivid. It’s incredible how a tDJ can transform a good milonga in one that people talk about for at least a week. Chapeau!"
