What is the Tango Challenge? 

The Tango Challenge® is a tested, proven, documented 12-week program with killer retention that will strengthen your tango community. It is evolutionary and programmable, open to be tailored to the talents and philosophy of our diverse tango community organizers. 

Creative, dedicated organizers use it to take learning quality to the next level, and build the next generation of awesome, inspiring dancers. It has been offered over 30 times across communities since 2011 with almost 200 graduates, many of whom go on to be deeply involved in Tango as social dancers, DJs, hosts, volunteers.

What is the Tango Challenge experience?

The vision of the Tango Challenge is that beginners experience harmony with themselves, with others, and with the larger community in their first 2 years as Tango dancers.

Our mission is create a generative social field in which we cultivate the relationships that enable each cohort to become fully absorbed in the tango learning.

What has emerged is a proven, systematic, delightful, customizable way for brand new beginners to learn Argentine Tango from scratch - a learning adventure that gives absolute beginners the opportunity to become skilled, confident Argentine Tango dancers. 

The course is a holistic, intentional, facilitated community learning adventure that is conceived and designed to foster authentic connectedness all over the world.

It draws on cutting edge pedagogy, applying simple, active learning methods that reflect how humans best learn and grow, including: 

  • 1:1 contact and facilitated dialogue with an expert coach

  • Peer-to-peer learning: learn, reflect, and teach to solidify mastery of concepts

  • Mission-based micro-learning: fit it into small units of time

  • Self-directed learning - go at your own pace

  • Cohort-based, social learning with a supportive, committed team

  • Lightly facilitated informal learning opportunities

  • Supportive, experienced buddies

  • Documented customizable curriculum library

  • Access to a rich set of curated resources to explore at your leisure

  • Multi-modal learning drawing on the power of a variety of formats that are suited to the interdisciplinary nature of the material

  • A fun, immersive experience

“It takes a village to create a tango dancer”

Here are all the people who are involved in supporting a new cohort of Tango Challengers. What’s exciting is how helping beginners get over the hump and past the awkward phase gets everyone inspired and engaged, feeling care and ownership for the community as a whole.

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What makes the Tango Challenge work?

Everyone who has learned to tango knows that so much learning happens outside of group classes — in one-on-one conversations, practice, and at milongas. The Tango Challenge offers a system that facilitates all that connecting with tango and with each other!

Where did the Tango Challenge come from? 

Mitra Martin & Stefan Fabry

When Mitra settled down in Los Angeles, she wanted to bring some of the joy, depth, and quality of connection that she loved about the Tango festival scene to her new home. At the time, Stefan was getting into tango and frustrated by what he felt was a very confusing and inefficient learning experience compared to the tightly organized modern dance training he experienced in Germany.

Together started exploring new approaches to learning and community building. They experimented with many programs, playing with frequency, duration, group size, curriculum, and formats. Finally, they finally found a formula that clicked. That became the Tango Challenge. The program has grown and evolved with many contributions from facilitators, tango teachers, learners, buddies, and graduates and other members of the larger tango community. It continues to evolve to bring together the most effective approaches to tango learning available. 

Currently Mitra Martin is the steward of the Tango Challenge program. Learn about her at https://www.mitramartin.com/

Hall of Fame - Tango Facilitators

The Tango Challenge has been facilitated by Mitra Martin, Fabienne Bongard, Stefan Fabry, Sabine Ibes, and David Lampson & Magan Wiles. It has been adapted and offered in collaboration with Oxygen Tango, Caltech Tango Club in Pasadena, CA and Tango & I in Minneapolis. 

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"After 10 years of teaching tango in Minneapolis, and failing to see real growth in our community I reached out to Mitra Martin. With her help and use of extensive curriculum I was able to introduce The Tango Challenge to the Twin Cities. 2 challenges later, we see many new bright smiles on the dance floors, classes, practicas and milongas. The Challenge students simply stick to it! Together with their team mates they have crossed tango thresholds, and found a deep appreciation for the Argentine Tango and their newfound friends and dance partners. Mitra was generous with her ideas, to the point with comments, bountiful with resources.  Her efficient use of our online time together has benefited me and our community in a tremendous way forward." - Sabine Ibes

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