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Learning Tango

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Learning Tango

There are many ways you can learn to dance tango. You can have regular group or private lessons with a local teacher and/or attend specific workshops by local or visiting teachers. Also, the Club provides regular Practica sessions where you can practice what you are learning with other tango dancers.

Local Teachers

There are several local teachers that provide group and private Argentine tango lessons.

For a list of local teachers...

Workshops

The Club regularly hosts visiting teachers to conduct tango workshops in Canberra.

Workshops for 2010

Fabrizio Forti with Celi Arias 28-30 May - Complete

Joaquin Amenabar 17-18 July Musicality for dancers

Joaquin Amenabar will be teaching a series of musicality workshops for dancers on the weekend of Saturday 17 - Sunday 18 July. Joaquin’s method allows dancers to learn and incorporate all the different rhythmic units of tango music into their dance, without using technical musical language. The workshops aim to improve dancers’ musicality on the dance floor. Joaquin believes that dancers should learn musicality even before learning steps and figures.

No steps are taught in these musicality classes. The workshops are practical rather than theoretical, and dancers will actively work on different exercises throughout all the classes. Participants will work as individuals in workshops 1-4, while partners are needed for Workshop 5.

For more information, check out the Events Calendar under Workshops.

Tips for Newcomers

Starting to learn tango can be daunting. Learning to move with someone else in your arms - perhaps even cheek-to-cheek, getting familiar with the music and even just getting control of your own body takes time. So be patient with yourself and come along to a Club Practica to practice what you are learning.

Things to know and remember:

1. the ronda (line of dance) moves in an anti-clockwise direction. Keep moving forward.

2. when it's crowded, keep it simple and take small steps.

3. tango is usually danced in a tanda; that is a set of 3 to 4 dances. When you get onto the dance floor expect to dance at least that many in a row. Then a strange, unrelated piece of music (the cortina or curtain music) will strike up, and that is your cue to move off and change partners.

Like all good things, tango doesn't come quickly or easily, but it is worth working for. Perhaps you too can find a moment of tango nirvana... haven't heard of that, ask a tanguero (tango dancer) and they'll tell you.

In the meantime have a read of our Surviving Tango Guide for some inside information on how the tango world works.