The 2018 Linda Shohatee Memorial Costume Ball and Fundraising Gala

Art McFarland’s career spanned 31 years in the high-pressure New York City television market. When Art retired, he was the longest tenured reporter at WABC-TV. He was the station’s Lead Education Reporter, covering stories that ranged from the latest innovations in educational technology, to successful teaching techniques, to unfortunate acts of misconduct by a small minority of misguided educators, and was first in reporting the story of an overzealous city teacher who used packaging tape to discipline and restrain grade-school students. He had unlimited access at a Brooklyn school, where the principal was forced to suspend outside recess due to gunfire in the neighborhood. 

He had unlimited access at a Brooklyn school, where the principal was forced to suspend outside recess due to gunfire in the neighborhood. As an investigative reporter, Art’s series of exclusive reports helped expose corruption and child prostitution among residents of New York City’s welfare hotel system. Another series exposed a lack of fencing around Amtrak rail lines in upper Manhattan, which posed a danger to children who used the tracks as their playground.

Art has received many awards for excellence in reporting from professional societies that include the New York State Broadcasters Association, as well as various groups, including the New York City Police and Fire Departments, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, the New York area chapter of the National Tuskegee Airmen, and the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Ana Padron was born in Miami to Cuban parents and took her first ballet lesson at the age of 4. As the daughter of a professional musician, she is well- versed in the training required by classical studios as she studied Cuban- influenced classical dance. Diego Blanco was born in Colombia and came to the United States as a 9-year-old who quickly embraced dance because of his father’s passion for tango. For him, dance was not only a way of expression, but a means of integration into the new culture. They came from immigrant families and were immersed in the multicultural environment of America’s melting pot. Today, Ana and Diego are without question one of the most exciting couples in the world of Argentine tango.

Their paths first crossed at the University of Florida, where they studied classical ballet, modern dance, jazz and African dance, as well as choreography and the science of movement. After graduating with honors and receiving their Bachelor’s degrees in the Performing Arts under the direction of Daniel Lewis, Ana and Diego continued to learn and evolve together, quickly becoming world-class performers and winning many accolades for their tango presentations. In 2008, they received the Soka Gakkai Malaysia award, a prize bestowed in recognition of their “dedication to Argentine Tango as a form of expression through dance.”

As stage performers, choreographers and teachers, Ana and Diego have performed in many festivals in the U.S. and abroad, including appearances in off-Broadway and Broadway productions in NY. They have toured and taught at tango festivals throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas. They have performed at Jacob’s Pillow with the New Generation Dance Company and have also danced in Mariela Franganillo’s ensemble piece, “Recuerdo Tango” at New York’s Pace University in 2013. They also appeared recently with the Broadway Tango Dance Company at the DUMBO Dance Festival with John Ryan Theater and presented an original production of BLIND: Strength in Vulnerability, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in January 2017.

In 2006, Ana and Diego co-founded Tango for All, an organization that provided free Argentine Tango classes to teens in Miami-Dade county having visual and/or other “exceptionalities...” and is based on the premise that Argentine Tango calls upon the ability of two dancers to move as one, an intricate, albeit momentary relationship which relies less on one’s ability to see than to feel. Working to eradicate the stigma for persons with disabilities, this program was dedicated to the cause of inclusion, heightening artistic awareness, self-confidence, teamwork and healthy social skills among participants. In 2015, Ana and Diego restructured their company and Tango for All became a 501c(3), a non-profit organization, expanding far beyond what they had already accomplished. Their dream is to make tango accessible to all via education and outreach programs to youth, seniors, persons with Parkinson’s, the visually impaired, and those suffering from other ailments.

During the summer of 2016, Ana and Diego spearheaded the Tango Cares Initiative, an outreach program aimed at underprivileged youth that utilized Argentine Tango as a vehicle to instill essential life skills to excel as a positive force in society. Most recently, Ana and Diego held a fundraiser to support the ongoing renovations at the children’s oncology unit at Mount Sinai. Ana Padron and Diego Blanco have successfully melded their passion for the art of dance, Argentine Tango in particular, with their passion for serving others. Their energy, elegance, dedication, tenacity and passion, both on the dance floor and off, is contagious. For Ana and Diego, “Tango is more than just a dance. It is a way of life.” So too is their passion for helping humanity.