TANGO LESSONS

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Teaching Philosophy

At the American Tango Institute, we believe in teaching you to dance, rather than to imitate steps and sequences.  Our philosophy is that tango is a vehicle through which you can learn to connect with the music, connect your mind with your body in order to move with grace and clarity and connect with your dance partner.  Only in this way will you be able to interpret the music and express yourself, both inwardly and to the person with whom you’re dancing, thereby finding joy and the freedom to do whatever you want and whatever you feel on the dance floor.

We do not teach our students mechanical repetition of steps or patterns, but teach them how to be in control of their body, balance and projection in order to connect with another, interpreting the music and sharing a conversation. Once you have mastered the basics of walking, changing direction, tango embrace and projection you will be able to go where ever your spirit takes you.

We teach you how to move and dance, lead and follow, propose and accept. You tango!

Levels of Instruction

  • Beginners
  • Intermediate
  • Advanced

ATI offers a 6 class pass for $85. The Seis Pass can be used for one class a week for 6 weeks, 3 classes in one week for 2 weeks or 6 classes spread over a 10 week period.

Class – essential information

 

Levels of Instruction

Beginners

  • Basics & Fundamentals I
  • Basics & Fundamentals II
  • Intermediate
  • Advanced

Determining your level of dance

Determining your level of dance can be subjective.  Some dancers consider themselves intermediate after one month of classes; others will venture into an intermediate class only when they consider they’ve mastered the basic techniques of tango, and this could take many, many months.  Also, each individual is different and may learn faster or slower, depending upon his or her coordination, experience dancing other dances, number of hours of classes and practice per week, etc.  So, the number of years dancing tango may not necessarily determine your level of dance.  Since we would like to have people of similar dance skills and experience in each of the levels of dance for our classes, the following is a description of what we suggest you consider when determining what level of class to take:

Fundamentals & Basic Techniques I is designed for people who have never danced tango or have had very limited experience dancing tango and for those who would like to reinforce their basic tango dance technique. These classes emphasize musicality, mastering balance and change of direction and achieving connection with your partner.  You will explore the fundamental aspects of posture, walking, the tango embrace, floor navigation and changes of direction and will learn the “Basic 8” pattern of tango, while familiarizing yourself with the music and rhythm of tango, vals and milonga.s

Fundamentals & Basic Techniques II is for people who feel they’ve mastered the basic techniques of musicality, balance and change of direction and connection, while performing simple movements to the rhythm of tango, vals and milonga.  These classes will take dancers to a higher level of technique, perfecting posture, walking and embrace and introducing different movements that can be performed coming out of the “cross”, such as ochos and turns.

Intermediate classes are for dancers who have mastered Fundamentals & Basic Techniques I and II.  We will study ochos and turns in greater depth, in combination with other movements, including simple bloques, barridas, sacadas, ganchos, boleos, planeos and more dynamic changes of direction within tango, vals and milonga (including traspie) rhythms.

Advanced classes are for dancers who are prepared to explore techniques for more complex combinations with front and back sacadas for leaders and follows, ganchos boleos enrosques, volcadas, colgadas, etc., and in general, more advanced moves in tango, vals and milonga.

 

Class Tips

Students do not have to bring a partner. You can come alone because, during class, we rotate partners, so you will dance with several different dancers.

Tango requires hard-soled shoes, so you can slide and pivot. Please do not wear shoes with rubber soles. Especially, do not wear flip-flops, clogs, mules or gym shoes.

Dress casually and comfortably. Class is not the time to dress in your tango finery. Save that for the milongas.

Fundamentals and Basic Technique is not just for beginners. F&B are things all dancers should work to improve.