Austin Tango Teachers
Meet our local tango teachers in Austin, Texas. Check out their websites and Facebook pages for details on the latest classes and events.
Teacher Bios
Learn more about our Austin tango teachers, where they teach and the influences on their dance.
EsquinaTango
Private instruction
Facebook
Co-founder of Esquina Tango, Monica is the operational director and events co-director. She began teaching tango in 1997, in Austin, Texas. Her career in tango began as a teenager in her hometown of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her family moved to the United States taking her along when she was 17. In Austin, her love for the arts did not leave but rather intensified. Parallel to working in college, where she studied theatre, Monica found herself in search of other tango lovers in town. Slowly she found some other enthusiasts and they started practicing in a living room; with time, curious eyes began joining them and slowly but surely the living room became too small and they had to move to a bigger spot. This was the birth of the Austin Argentine tango community.
Monica has trained with masters like Nito & Elba, Carolina & Diego, Lorena Ermocida, as well as many other renowned teachers. By the time the idea of Esquina Tango materialized, Monica had already been teaching tango to the Austin community for 10 years. Her motivation for teaching was and continues to be to share her love for the dance, the music, and the culture. Her incentive is to get people “out in the street” dancing. Her charisma and warm personality engages students.
Monica’s tango teaching style helps dancers build on their technical abilities while placing relevance on the connection of leading/following and on dancing to the music. Furthermore, Monica works towards creating dancers that have great social skills and etiquette in the “Milongas”.
Esquina Tango has been an amazing dream come true for the continuation of building social dancers along with a community of wonderful friends. At Esquina Tango teaching goes beyond the mere act of conveying information, it’s creating links and crossroads between people, sharing, and making the love for dance and music contagious.
Lindsey and Ricardo embody a fresh yet experienced approach to Argentine tango. Combined they bring decades of experience in teaching, performing and choreographing Argentine tango along with other dances. They have taught and performed throughout the US and internationally in Taiwan and Argentina.
Their style emphasizes connection, creativity, improvisation, fun, friendliness, kindness, and care for ourselves and our partners. Their teaching style utilizes adult learning methods and focuses on refining foundational technique and improvisational skills to enable dancers to deeply connect with their partners, express their musicality, and embrace their unique style. In their classes and private lessons you will experience exercises and tools to help you understand concepts, improve your execution of movement and nurture your creativity in a fun supportive and safe environment.
Lindsey & Ricardo teach weekly group classes and are available for private lessons and performances. For more information on Lindsey and Ricardo visit ConnectionTango.com or their Facebook page.
Mickey Jacobs has studied Argentine tango for 20 years, and became an instructor for Esquina Tango in 2014. She teaches all levels and leads a variety of Esquina community partnerships and collaborations. Mickey teaches weekly tango classes at Castle Hill Fitness, conducts weekly Senior Tango classes, and creates and conducts annual workshops for People with Parkinsons and First Responders. Her priorities as an instructor include 1) integrating tango musicality and historical context into the learning experience 2) building a simple, useful framework from which students can study the pillars of tango and 3) creating community by ensuring students feel welcomed and encouraged as they build their tango skills.
The Architecture of the Dance: A 25-Year Journey
My path in Argentine Tango began in 1998, during a transformative era in Buenos Aires where the soul of the traditional milonga began to meet the precision of modern analysis. Over the last quarter-century, my dance has been a constant evolution—a journey that led me through the professional stages of Piazzolla Tango and the Escuela Carlos Copello, and onto the historic floors of Salón Canning, Confitería Ideal, and Club Sin Rumbo.
The Foundation of a Legacy
I was fortunate to forge my technique under the mentorship of the masters who redefined the dance: Gustavo Naveira, Julio Balmaceda, and Chicho Frúmboli. Their influence, combined with the discipline of placing as a Top 8 Finalist in the early editions of the Campeonato Metropolitano, taught me that a great dance is built on an unwavering respect for structure, musicality, and tradition.
Movement from the Inside Out
However, my approach truly deepened when I began to integrate my background in Gyrotonic and Pilates. I realized that technical brilliance is hollow without physical sensibility. By focusing on biomechanics, I help dancers build a foundation that is organic and effortless. We work to find the “spiral,” the axis, and the sensitivity that allows the embrace to become a living, breathing conversation rather than a series of fixed steps.
The Master Student: A Matter of Mindset
Beyond the physical, I believe the most significant breakthroughs happen in the mind. To achieve exceptional results, a student must cultivate a specific mindset: one that balances the ambition to improve with the patience to truly feel.
In my coaching, I focus on helping students move past the ego and the common “plateaus” of learning. By fostering a mindset of curiosity, presence, and intentionality, the body becomes more receptive to the subtle cues of the music and the partner. When you align a focused mind with a balanced body, the result is a dance that is not only solid in technique but profound in connection.
A Life in the Embrace
Today, my goal is to help you find your own authentic voice within the tango. I invite you to join me in exploring this dance—not just as a movement, but as a practice of presence and a celebration of connection.
David teaches private and small group lessons (up to four couples) at his home studio in west Oak Hill (southwest Austin). We can also use your home or some nearby studio, which may involve travel time or floor fee.
Our non-traditional approach sees tango as a game where dancers play cooperatively and everyone can win. The rules use things we already know: using our body in coordinated, well-structured ways; interacting with others in comfortable ways; and expressing our feelings for music. Guided activities help us discover our “sweet spot” in each of these areas — to become Clear, Comfortable, Creative dancers.
Diverse training in dance and mind-body systems (Alexander Technique, Feldenkrais, NLP), and best practices for teaching, learning, and coaching has informed his guided self-discovery approach. His studies of Argentine tango, both nationally and internationally, have included:
* El Corte Tango in Nijmegen, Netherlands, Tango Teacher Training 2023
* ProDVIDA Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum with High Honors 2016-2017
* Caminar Abrazados International Tango Teacher Training in Saarbrücken, Germany 2016-2017
* DanceAbility International Teacher Certification 2015
* Tomás Howlin, Tango-Learning 1 and 2, 2014, 2015
* Minnesota Tango Teacher Camp, 2014, 2016
* Tango Salón Extremo, Buenos Aires, 2014
With pro-partner and dance professional, Liz Diana, they created a one-year course — but you can dip in anywhere you like — called the Game of Argentine Tango. And! They gift it to the tango community for free.
Tango Tribe ideas about tango and teaching, learning, and practicing:
* Weekly video tips on YouTube
* The (Free!) Game of Argentine Tango
* Our teaching and ruminating blog
* Facebook
Email David@TangoTribe.com
Text 512-917-6488
VaniaTango.com
Facebook @VaniaRey.Tango
Vania started teaching tango in 2002 in Berlin, Germany. A full time tango teacher since 2004 she moved to New York, where she started DJ-ing in 2008. Vania is equally respected and accomplished as both leader and follower. Her greatest strengths as a teacher and dancer are her versatility and range, gained through years of experience dancing and teaching a wide variety of styles – from Nuevo to Milonguero. By pairing an analytical mind with exceptional kinesthetic sense and strong observation skills, Vania emphasizes fine-tuning the fundamentals, and encourages the sharing of more nuanced communication as a path for deeper connection. Vania has traveled to teach and DJ tango in Buenos Aires, and all-over North America and Europe.
As a DJ, over the years Vania has witnessed a constant evolution both in her musical preferences and in her DJ style. She stays conscious of that development, because it permits her to relate to and play for dancers with wide spread of experience and skill levels. Currently Vania hosts and DJs a monthly milonga in Austin, TX, while continuing her regular travels.
Learn more about Vania at Vania Tango.
EsquinaTango
Private instruction
Facebook
Co-founder of Esquina Tango, Gustavo is the facility director and events co-director. He found his passion for teaching tango in 2005, having danced for several years prior and learned from renowned masters in Argentina, including Daniel “El Flaco” Garcia, Juan Carlos Copes, and Lorena Ermocida. Being from Argentina, the music had always been part of his life. His dance style expresses passionate feelings and connection, as well as a sense of humor with his partner, the audience and the music.
He performs and choreographs for theaters around Texas, including the Long Center, Austin Shakespeare Company, the Scottish Rite Theater, the Camp Mabry, and more. He has taught the UT Informal Classes of Argentine Tango since 2015. He has taught for Power for Parkinson’s and various elementary schools around Austin. He also brings free introduction to tango classes & social dances to bars and restaurants around town as a community service each Monday for the last 8 years at places including Batch, Opa Wine & Coffee, and Halcyon Mueller.
Gustavo studied tourism in Argentina and spent years traveling around Central & South America, learning about new cultures and developing experiences for the formation of his ultimate dream of opening a cultural center, where people can go to learn about and be immersed in Latin American cultural experiences.
When he first laid eyes on the Esquina Tango building, he saw the potential and spirit of the place that would lend itself perfectly to the mission and energy of Esquina, and so he worked hard to obtain & renovate the building, turning it into what it is today. He developed the cultural programs and the aspects of Esquina that allow people to immerse themselves into new, integrative experiences of different cultures, while building community.
His mission was to build a place where people would not just come to take a dance class and leave, but also see live music, take a quick dance class before the live music to learn enough to dance that style all night, learn languages, and more, all in one place, making friends and feeling at home in the process. You can learn not only the dance, but also the language, history, and culture, and have a complete experience. The multi-faceted aspect of Esquina is what has made it the community hub it is today thanks to this integrative focus.
Gustavo understands that a dance is not just the dance, but the spirit of culture and history behind it, and he has been bringing those authentic experiences to people in Austin for the last 15 years. You will know Gustavo upon entering Esquina, as the friendly man that comes to shake everyone’s hand and greet all who enter Esquina.