About Us
We are an affiliation of teachers, facilitators, dancers, friends and supporters of the tango community. Our goal is to create an environment for tango learners and newcomers, that is helpful, respectful, friendly, and fun.
Tango is a dance not of steps, but rather of sensations and subtleties, of connection and communication. Learning tango requires dedication, practice, counsel, time and space for exploration, and beyond. Together we provide a network of classes, training, practices, socials, and workshops that will give tango learners the community and support they need for the ongoing growth and enjoyment that tango offers. Below are the bios of some of our teachers, organizers, and facilitators and affiliates!
Dancers learn to lead ochos. (2015)
Adrian Reda is the founder of the community Las Estrellas Tango. He began to dance tango 7 years ago in Italy for passion. Right now the passion becomes overwhelming love, and for years specialized and studied with several masters of national and international fame, as Geraldine Rojas y Ezequiel Paludi, Alejandra Mantinan y Aoniken Quiroga, Juampy Ramirez, Cynthia Fattori, Oriel Toledo and others. In Italy he managed a Tango school and a milonga with Oriel Toledo and Luciana Semprini. He has participated in theatrical performances choreographed by master choreographer and director Leonardo Cuello. Among other theatrical performances of note are those with masters Emma Salerno and Gianni Giberti Gibo. In 2016 he stayed in Buenos Aires to refine his studies and his research on the tango. Since 2017 he moved to Vancouver, Canada when he started his new tango adventures.
In his classes, he emphasizes the embrace, the walk and the connection as the foundation of tango. He approaches teaching tango the same way as a new language or a martial art. Instead of teaching you to memorize, he provides you with the tools needed to learn the Tango language: musicality, interpretation, and improvisation. With his teaching method, you will learn how to dance, right from the very beginning. He encourages everyone to find their own "style" which should come naturally. While learning how to dance tango, you will find yourself entering a new dimension of life. Through the analysis of the movement of the body, you will learn about yourself and how you relate to others; you gain body awareness and confidence, learn about empathy, being present and aware of your environment. Tango is substantially communication and dialogue between the two bodies.
Raquel has been dancing tango for 5 years in Italy and Argentina. She moved to Vancouver in 2017 and assists Adrian in his classes. She is inspired by Geraldine Rojas and Javier Rodrigues.
Lisa has been learning tango since 2013 in Buenos Aires and Seoul. Her teachers include Damian Garcia, Emiliano Alcaraz, Julio Montoya, Alain Francois Celestine, Hyungjoon Ahn, to name a few. She founded The Secret Fancy Tango Organization in Seoul, South Korea, in 2014 to help non-Korean speakers access tango lesson and info in Seoul. In 2017 she arrived in Vancouver and hopes to provide a soft landing in the tango world for all those who wish to learn and enjoy tango! She runs The Secret Fancy Tango Org, Downtown Tango, and Pilates Plus - Pilates and Conditioning for Dancers on Meetup. Lisa is a fountain of info on tango classes, workshops, and events. Ask her anything!
Ali has learned tango from Vancouver's renowned Nadia Tavakoli and is the city's rising star. Though tango dancers can get wrapped up in technique and figures, Ali's tango philosophy is to enjoy the dance and enjoy the connection to the music. He believes that though beauty in tango can be seen from the outside, but more beauty lies within the embrace and in the connection between leader and follower. Only the dancers can know this beauty of tango. He says the best way to learn tango is to practice a lot and pay attention to technique. While Ali loves beauty and connection, his engineering background and teaching experience make him the right person to ask for help at practica! Ali is also single ladies! He likes romantic walks in the rain and puppies.
Jerome has been dancing tango since 2011, learning from Vancouver's finest teachers such as Nina Perez, and the legendary pillars of our tango community, Santiago and Deborah, and Gabriel and Monica. He is inspired by Cecilia Garcia and Serkan Gokcesu, Sebastien Achaval and Roxana Suarez, Chicho Framboli and Juana Sepulveda, and Sara Grdan and Ivan Terrazas. Being a musician and engineer, Jerome is the appropriate person to ask for advice on musicality and the technical aspects of figures. He knows all of them and can put them beautifully to any music. Hit him up today!