Thames Valley Tango teachers profiles

Thames Valley Tango was founded in 2005 by a group of local Tango enthusiasts who share a passion to develop Tango across the Thames Valley.

We have now introduced over 1000 people to Tango, and taught at over 750 group lessons. Our customers benefit from this combination of our experience and passion for Tango.

Our teachers are supported by many Tango enthusiasts in the local Tango dance community who enjoy sharing their love for Tango by helping with the running of our lessons and events.

Charles Long
I have been dancing Argentinian Tango since 1998. I'm profoundly grateful for being introduced to Tango (even if to start with I was a very reluctant learner!).

My work background is in the Motor and Insurance industries. In 2004 I left the corporate world and committed myself to Tango, and it is now a central part of my life. I have danced in Europe and the USA, and I study regularly with visiting maestros as well as enjoying milongas in London and elsewhere in the UK.

I'm passionate about sharing Tango with a wide audience, and I believe that Tango should be rewarding and enjoyable too. This is reflected in our dancing, our lessons, and our events; we have a lot of fun learning Tango!

Tango can be challenging, but I also find that it allows me to share a unique experience. What’s important for me is not how it looks from the outside, but rather how it feels inside; what both follower and leader are experiencing in a dance that is special and exclusive to them. It’s something that anyone can share, regardless of their level of dancing.

Telephone Charles on 07793 142743

Email Charles at: dance@thamesvalleytango.co.uk

Irina Zoueva

My affair with Tango started a long time ago. Born in Moscow in the Soviet times, I never cared too much about the enthusiastic and wholesome songs about "the builders of communism". By contrast, the Tango - dangerous, dark and moody - captured my imagination even when I was a child. If not openly forbidden, Tango was certainly frowned upon and was regarded as yet another sign of the decadence of the West - which, of course, made Tango even more seductive.

Come the teen age and Tango went into the background but was never forgotten. Salsa, Ceroc - they were just pastimes... the news that Tango was taught in a neighbouring town came as a shock. I started lessons immediately and there was no looking back after that. For the last few years, I have been dancing or taking lessons five or six days a week, initially as a follower then also as a leader. In early 2006 I started helping with Tango lessons and this re-awakened my passion for teaching (I was a maths and language teacher in Moscow before moving to the UK, where I work now as a journalist/translator for the BBC).

For me Tango is much more than just a beautiful dance to beautiful music. Most of all, Tango is about a brief (only 3 minutes!) but intense relationship: total trust on the follower's part and total care and responsibility of the part of the leader. It is this profound connection - passionate communication without words - that makes Tango stand out among all other dances for me. And this is what we are trying to teach: how to connect with your partner.

If I can share my love for this wonderful dance, if I can encourage and inspire our students... for a teacher, there can be no greater reward!

Telephone Irina on 07719 142181

Email Irina at: i_zet@yahoo.com