About us
Let’s face it, learning Argentine Tango can be a scary ordeal. And sadly in our experience, the more experienced dancers tend to stick together. So the advice that does get passed on to people who are learning tango unfortunately tends to be from people who don’t know what we're talking about, but are quite happy to tell you anyway...
So what do you do?
There’s a scene in the film Assassination Tango where
Robert Duval informally asks a couple of guys for help just outside a
milonga and they show him a few tips. They’re not teachers, they're just
guys who’ve been doing tango for a while. Imagine this website (and the sister site, www.jivetango.co.uk) as a couple of tables near the doorway, with a somewhat motley-but-approachable collection of people chatting to each other at these tables (the Teachers’ table is waaaaaaaaaaaaay over there if you’re wondering).
So grab a drink, sit down and listen to some advice on dancing tango socially in London. How to get dances, what the etiquette is, how floorcraft works (or doesn’t!) etc. They might even step just outside the door and show you a few basic ideas.
What's here?
The articles on these sites fall under the headings of Beginners and Improvers . The advice given is about making your life easier while you’re learning - not about how to become a World Famous Tango Dancer. If you actually know us, then you’ve got a good idea of what we can do and where we’re coming from. If you don’t, then take what we say with a pinch of salt, just as if you’d got advice from any friendly strangers at a milonga.
We're not just guessing, but we might be just wrong.
Who are we?
Some of the regular contributors to LearningTango.com:David Bailey (The Godfather)
 | David will keep this brief, unlike others... David has been dancing Argentine Tango for 5 years now, and currently runs both Learningtango.com and Jivetango.co.uk. David also runs tango courses - the next being the Tango Foundations course. |
Christopher O' Shea (The Thinker)
"No-one ever listens to Zathras. Quite mad, they say. It is good that Zathras does not mind. He's even grown to like it. Oh yes."
 | Christopher carefully avoids answering questions about how long he’s been dancing, because he feels it’s not a good indication of anything other than he’s always liked dancing. He has a great fondness for dancing rather than “just moving about while music is played” and asks “Why?” rather a lot. While it’s a good thing to learn from your own mistakes, it’s much less painful to learn from others’ and so he feels that this website is a Very Good Idea. |
Ken Royden (Tango Poet Laureate)
| When Ken started doing MJ back in 1997 he went through all the beginners and Intermediate moves there were. Having bought the T-shirt and video, he then moved on to more advanced dance courses such as Jango, which then led to Tango. He has also dabbled in that slotty world of West Coast Swing, but is now directing himself at the AT world, albeit with a bit of Jango, MJ & WCS thrown in as well. Ken has written two humourous books on Modern Jive: Reflections & Observations on Ceroc - Books 1 & 2, and he is currently working on Book 3. |
Diana Shore
 | Diana is totally in love with tango, and has been since she discovered its existence. Giving up all other forms to focus on this art, she has learnt more about life, friendship and the nature of connection, than she knew existed. She practices more than she dances, and has a certain path she explores. Like one with a nose for a good wine, she selects her music, her muses, and her moment to dance. The rest as they say is history.. |
La Dulce
 | La Dulce cannot reveal her true identity or dancers will stop saying the extraordinary things they do, to her. (See previous blog entries under: Mackerel; Ferrari, Duracell Bunny and Bitch -- OK, I made that last one up, but I bet some have thought it after reading my blogs.) If you'd like to spot her on a dance floor near you, look for the follower with the 'onanistic legs' (Tango Anarchist, 2009) I sought clarification and this is what he said: Anyway... Strictly Speaking: |