Greetings Tango Dancers.
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Having studied a combined 20 years with the world’s preeminent teachers of Argentine tango, Gustavo Naveira and Giselle Anne, we have learned to inculcate in our students a desire for dancing their best tangos without apology, that is, dancing really well with freedom, even when surrounded by others who can't or don't want to (and whose teachers also can't or don't want to either).
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To set the example for our students, we also do our work without lowering our standards and without apologizing for that: In our pedagogic approach to bringing out the best tango dancer in each and every student, we offer a clarity of communication, depth of insight, breadth of coverage, and the rare skill of on-the-spot teaching improvisation tailored to the student's strengths, that not a single teacher west of Boulder, Colorado can match.
That best tango dancing, unique to each dancer or partner couple, has nothing to do with how many step combinations they learn and how fast; it is intensely musical, rooted in a structural approach that also underlies technique. Not a single teachers in Southern California can match our understanding of the structure and the attendant technique, and more importantly, our desire to share it, that enables unmatched freedom of expression in musicality in our students. If there were other teachers who could do it, you would see the evidence in their student's dancing; and that evidence is absent.
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There are two groups of people taking tango lessons: Tango tourists, and discriminant tango dancers. Tango tourists are non-discriminant about their tango teachers. They learn to duplicate some steps and enjoy doing that. That's as far as they go with tango. They also are unapologetic about their approach to learning and dancing tango. We have learned to identify them and while respecting their approach and choice, we try to keep them away from our classes because in the long run, we know they will drop out of tango, and in the short run, they waste the resources we prefer to invest in the other group.
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For the other group, the discriminant tango dancers, from beginner to the most advanced, we offer a Quarterly Discount program that gives the dancers the most advanced, the most in-depth, and the most highly personalized approach to teaching, guided in-part by the methods and insights of the world's preeminent tango teachers, Gustavo Naveira and Giselle Anne.
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Our four Quarterly Discount programs of tango events in Los Angeles and Ventura, open to singles and partner couples at all levels including beginners, run 13 weeks. Start dates are January 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1.
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For new customers who join late, the Quarterly Discount package is in few cases pro-rated for part of a quarter.
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Dancers who join our first-hour (7pm) Quarterly (3-month) Discount group pay a one-time fee, $100, to attend any and all our first-hour classes during a quarter (3 months), for a minimum of 10 weekends (typically 11-13 weekends) in the quarter in Tarzana or in Ventura. They can also swap a first-hour class in Tarzana for a first-hour class in Ventura or vice-versa the same week (or another week) when it is convenient for them. Samples of events (and their locations) are on our Events Calendar page.
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Quarterly registered students continuously studying with us are among the best-tango-educated dancers, not only in all of Southern California, but also in all of the US. Their tango education far surpasses limited sub-sections of tango such as salon-tango and nuevo-tango and milonguero-tango. Their knowledge and skill as tango dancers surpasses that of most people who teach tango in Southern California, including in Los Angeles and San Diego areas.
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Today, even in large metropolitan areas, the Argentine tango scene in the US is rife with a celebration of mediocrity, where you can rarely see anything beyond cheap caricatures of tango dancing regurgitated ad nauseam.
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This scene suppresses individuality, creativity, and diversity of expression in tango dancing that would naturally follow informed, passionate, and deliberate teaching by competent teachers who are intent on giving each and every student the power to dance their best tangos!
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This scene is sustained mostly in the name of respecting tradition, and mostly by teachers and organizers whose income from tango events is tied to perpetuating that mediocrity. In this atmosphere then, anyone and everyone who wants to, can be (and does become) a "tango teacher"; the standards of teaching are low, and so naturally is the quality of dancing in most places, nearly all the time.
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There are now in Southern California almost as many "teachers" of group and private tango lessons as there are tango dancers.
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We do not pigeonhole our students into hyphenated tango bins; we teach them so they can enjoy dancing with any and all well-trained tango dancers everywhere. We do this by teaching them to dance tango, and by teaching them TO LEARN HOW TO LEARN. If you believe other teachers are able to do the same, you will be surprised when you join our program. West of Boulder, CO, nobody can match the strength of our pedagogic methods, or the outcome: some of the best social tango dancers in the US who have learned much faster than their peers taking tango lessons elsewhere.
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We do not waste beginner's time nor money and energy by teaching them how to push the partner like a shopping cart, supposedly to learn to "walk"; utterly useless for social dancing unless you have a clear path ahead on the dance floor with no other dancers in the way. The tango is not a walking dance; no matter who says it, and how often this is mindlessly regurgitated. The tango is a turning dance (including the real tango walk), and the only dancers who can dance well given any floor condition at a milonga are those who UNDERSTAND the significance of the structure, timing, and technique for turns and for changing turn directions, free from the shackles on the feet that come with salon-tango, milonguero-tango, nuevo-tango, and other hyphenations of tango.
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But make no mistake; while we take the dance seriously, we don’t take ourselves as seriously: classes always offer ample moments of levity and laughter and intelligent humor without having to compromise standards of excellence in teaching and learning. We learn from our students in every single class!
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You can register with an online payment (below, on this page), or in person (cash or check only) by each quarter's deadline.
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If you like to see for yourself the difference between ours and your current or past methods of learning tango dancing, we invite you to our classes, detailed on our Events Calendar.
