Beyond the Camera Roll

Reflections from a Seminars Weekend with Lorena Tarantino & Gianpiero Galdi

There are weekends after which you come home with your camera roll full of videos of new figures. For a few days, you watch them back, thinking you’ll definitely remember them. Then life happens, the next milonga comes, another class follows, and somehow those videos stay exactly where they are.

And then there are weekends after which you come home with new questions.

For me, this was definitely the second kind.

Over three days, we explored individual technique, dynamic transitions, musicality, and even how traditional and modern tango can enrich one another. While each seminar had its own focus, they all pointed in the same direction: understanding why movement works instead of simply remembering what to do.

Reading through the survey responses afterwards, I realised many participants experienced exactly that.

When asked to describe learning with Lorena & Gianpiero in just three words, people wrote insightful, engaging, well-structured, musical, creative, didactic, and challenging. One participant summed it up in just two words: “Masterclass teachers.”

The answers about people’s biggest takeaways were even more interesting. Some left inspired by the creativity hidden in transitions, others discovered new ways of improving their ochos, adding more flow to their tango or expressing music through the body. Some appreciated having practical exercises they could continue working on at home.

And then there was one response that stopped me for a moment:

“The intention is not to confront students with complexity so they can immediately use it at the next milonga, but to create an understanding of how movements work and feel.”

I don’t think I could summarise Lorena & Gianpiero’s teaching philosophy any better.

Yes, the material can be challenging at times. But the goal has never been to leave a seminar with a new sequence to show off on the dance floor. The goal is to understand your own movement a little better, so that weeks or months later your dancing feels more natural, more connected and more musical.

I’ve known Lorena & Gianpiero for almost ten years now. I’ve learnt from them as a tango dancer, as a performer, and today I continue learning from them as a tango teacher. Every time we work together, I’m reminded that teaching is not about having all the answers. It’s about inspiring students to ask the right questions, giving them the tools to explore, and creating an environment where curiosity becomes the driving force behind learning. That is something I deeply admire in them, and something I hope to keep bringing into my own classes at Tango Flow.

A seminar doesn’t really end on Sunday afternoon. It continues in practicas, in regular classes, and in those moments weeks later when something suddenly clicks.

Thank you to everyone who shared this weekend with us. Thank you for your curiosity, your openness, and for making this such a thoughtful group to teach and learn alongside. And thank you, Lorena & Gianpiero, for another weekend that reminded me why, after almost ten years, I still keep coming back to learn from you.

Continue Exploring

If you joined us during the weekend—or if you’re simply curious about the topics we explored—you can revisit the seminar recaps below.