Tango Lessons

Tango Classes LA
Learn the dance of romance! Argentine Tango is a romantic, sensuous dance that is fun and easy to learn.
No partner is needed!

Beginner Argentine Tango – Marina Del Rey

Intermediate Argentine Tango – Culver City

Level 2 & 3 Argentine Tango – Marina Del Rey


Discover The Best Tango Lessons in Los Angeles

Want to take a great Tango dance lesson? Well, you have come to the right place! By Your Side Dance Studio provides fun and enjoyable Tango lessons and Tango classes in Los Angeles that improve your dance skills and make you look great on the dance floor!

Learn To Dance From The Best Tango Teachers

By Your Side Dance Studio can provide you with professional tango dance instruction in a private setting so that you receive one-on-one personal tango dance instruction custom-tailored to your level and ability. We also provide group Tango classes throughout the week.

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Get 50% Off a Private Lesson

Private dance lessons are the fastest, most efficient way to learn to dance. (New students only.)

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Try a Group Class

Meet people and have fun dancing. No partner or dance experience is necessary.

DANCE CLASSES

Learn how to dance the Tango today!

Our Argentine Tango dance lesson series helps develop a more comprehensive understanding of how to “connect the dots” when dancing the Tango. A strong focus will be placed on Argentine tango improvisation, navigation, and timing as well as an introduction to the two main systems: Parallel and Cross systems. In addition, students will learn how to combine the core elements and implement new figures essential to Argentine Tango. Lastly, students will be introduced to the social dance etiquette preparing them for the tango socials (Milongas/Practicas).

Here are a couple of videos of our fantastic tango instructor Jordi Caballero. In 2007, Jordi was an associate producer and co-star of Valentina’s Tango, opposite celebrated tango master Guillermina Quiroga.

The History of the Tango Dance

The Birth of Tango: during the later part of the 1800s and early 1900s, Argentina was undergoing massive immigration. The intermixing of European, African, and native-born Argentines resulted in a melting pot of cultures, and each borrowed dance and music from the other. The evolution of tango reflects their profound sense of loss and longing for the people and places they left behind.

Tango was developed in Argentine venues frequented by compadritos, young men, mostly native-born, poor, and of mixed ancestry, who took the dance and introduced it in bars, dance halls, and brothels in Buenos Aires. Tango was considered a dance from the poor barrios.

Although high society looked down upon it, eventually everyone found out about the tango, and by the beginning of the twentieth century, the tango as both a dance and a form of popular music had established a firm foothold in the fast-expanding city of its birth.

The worldwide spread of the tango came in the early 1900s when wealthy sons of Argentine families made their way to Paris and introduced it to a society eager for innovation and not entirely averse to the risqué nature of the dance. By 1913, the tango had become an international phenomenon, and the Argentine elite who had shunned it were now forced into accepting it with national pride. By the 1930s, the Golden Age of Argentina was beginning, and tango came to be a fundamental expression of Argentine culture.

In the 1950s as political repression developed, the dance and its music went underground, and combined with the eventual popularity of rock & roll sent the tango into decline until the mid-1980s and 1990s when the stage shows Tango Argentino and Forever Tango toured the world including Broadway and stimulated a revival. Over the years there have been many films and cinematic scenes featuring this beautiful dance. In 2009 the United Nations declared Argentine Tango music and dance as part of the world’s cultural heritage safeguarded for humanity.

There are different tango dance styles:

  • Argentine tango
  • French
  • Gaucho
  • American tango
  • International tango

American Tango: Unlike the Argentine Tango, in which the dancer interprets the music spontaneously without any predetermined slows or quicks, the American Tango features a structure that is correlated to the musical phrasing. The dance is executed both in closed position and in various types of extravagant dance relationships which incorporate a particular freedom of expression that is not present in the International style. The American tango is a combination of the best parts of each of the other tango dances.

International Tango: This is a highly disciplined and distinctively structured form of the Tango which is accepted worldwide as the format for Dancesport events. In International tango, the dancers remain in traditional closed position throughout the dance.

Phrasing is an important part of dancing the Tango. Most Tango music is phrased to 16 or 32 beats of music. Tango music is like a story. It contains paragraphs (Major phrases); sentences (Minor phrases); and the period at the end of the sentence is the Tango close.

Our Students Love Us!

LOVE this studio!!!! The instructors love to dance and are vested in your becoming a better dancer. No matter what your dance goals are, this is the place to go.

Dawn B.

By Your Side is the best dance studio. The teachers are fantastic dancers and excellent instructors. They strive for excellence, precision, and elegance, and do so with great encouragement and motivation. I always leave dance class feeling wonderful!

Silvia

We worked with Laura to choreograph our wedding dance. We started out with zero moves and no confidence but after four sessions we were tearing up the floor and having the time of our lives.

Zara A.

Yelp 5 Star Best Dance Studio in LA

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WE'RE IN THE NEWS

Ballroom Dancing Champions

Our Salsa Team Won 1st Place at the Desert Classic Dance Competition

We're so proud of our Salsa team which took 1st place at the Desert Classic DanceSport Dance Competition which is held every year in July in Palm Desert, California. Performing in a Salsa dance team is an excellent way to build confidence and improve your Salsa dancing skills quickly. Put on your dancing shoes and join our Salsa team today!

Ballroom Dancers at Emerald Ball

Our Ballroom Dancers Placed at the Emerald Ball Dance Competition

I want to congratulate our amazing students and ballroom dance teachers Shay and Guillermo for achieving 1st and/or 2nd place in all of their ballroom dance events at the Emerald Ball! It takes a lot of effort and determination to place in a ballroom competition and we are all very proud of your efforts.

Best Dance Studio Los Angeles Award

By Your Side Dance Studio Wins Best Dance School in Los Angeles Award

By Your Side Dance Studio is rated among the best Dance Schools in Los Angeles for the second time in a row by ThreeBestRated.com. Today, By Your Side Dance Studio, a dance school specializing in Salsa dancing, adult dance classes, private dance lessons...

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