About Jantango

I’m a life-long dancer with musical training who left Chicago for Buenos Aires in 1999.  I was fortunate to meet Miguel Angel Balbi who introduced me to his friends and taught me about the music, lyrics, orchestras and los codigos de los milongueros.  I listened to him and other milongueros talk about their love for tango and their lives in the milongas.  Tango is my favorite topic of conversation.  I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I love sharing my experiences and photos I have taken during visits to and the years living in Buenos Aires.  I tried to begin writing a book about the milongueros several years ago, but it didn’t happen.  Now this blog seems to be the best way to share my personal experiences with the men who are married to the milonga so the world can know them.

1993 – Attended Stanford University Tango week and began teaching  tango in addition to other social dances in the Chicago area
1995 – Co-sponsored International Argentine Tango Congress at Northwestern University
1996 – Co-sponsored Tangofest at City Center, Columbus, Ohio
1998 – compiled The Tango Dancer’s Survival Guide to Buenos Aires and The Single Woman’s Guide to the Milongas
1999 – began offering services as a personal guide for women to the milongas in Buenos Aires
2000 – began interviewing and recording milongueros
2001 – began assisting milongueros with private classes for the School of  Milongueros Buenos Aires
2001 – held a weekly Tango Chamuyo for foreign visitors at Academia Bar in Buenos Aires
2001 – announced plans for the first Congreso Milonguero in Buenos Aires which had to be cancelled after 9/11/01

2016 – began giving free tango lessons in my home studio to anyone who wants to learn the secrets of the milongueros viejos

We had a baby grand piano in our Chicago home when my sister and I started piano lessons in 1956 and played duets for our first recital in April 1957.  I was 11 years old in this photo.

I went to Chicago Symphony Youth concerts in third grade and wanted to learn to play flute. There were too many flute players already in the high school band, so the director asked if I wanted to learn oboe. I just wanted to make beautiful music! The concert band (1963-1966) was the best part of high school.