About Us
Mission & Goals
Tango Mercurio is an arts education organization presenting Argentine tango as an agent of community development. Because tango is a community-based art form with a global following, it embraces dancers, musicians, and the public at large. Our mission is to promote cultural understanding and social cohesion through Argentine tango by providing ongoing public opportunities for dance, music, learning, and community engagement.
Board of Directors
Dan Scheuch
President and Chair of the Board
Ketil Hviding
Member and Treasurer
Mona Moussa
Director
Jonathan Fernandes
Director
Joerg Schlatterer
Director
Celine Allard
Director
S. Alexandra Russell
Deputy Secretary
Program Managers
Ramu Pyreddy
Executive Director, and Events Program Manager
Amanda Garley
Artistic Director, and Dance Education Program Manager
Liz Sabatiuk
Queer Tango Program Manager
Alexandra Russell
Deputy Secretary, and Youth and Older Adults Outreach Program Manager
Dance Instructors
Tango found Amanda when she was studying to be an engineer in 2010. It was the perfect moment to wake her up to the real joys of life: connecting with people, grabbing life by the horns, and being open to unexpected discoveries. Because of tango she has traveled the world to attend marathons and festivals around the United States, Canada, and Europe, bonded with people of all ages and backgrounds, and learned new skills such as teaching, DJing, and event organizing. Amanda joined the faculty in 2020. She uses her deep understanding of the tango to help students reach a level of satisfaction with their dancing.
Ramu took his first tango lesson in 2000 in Buenos Aires and was hooked instantly. He started the Michigan Argentine Tango Club at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and has danced, DJ’d, and taught all over the US and Canada. The host, DJ, and resident teacher at Milonga Zandunga, a regular DC area dance party, Ramu joined the Tango Mercurio faculty in 2013. His teaching and dancing are characterized by a keen musical interpretation, infectious enthusiasm, and a deep love of both the music and dance. He teaches tango for the social dance floor with an emphasis on connection, musicality, and improvisation.
Sarah has been dancing since her childhood. Her dance and body education experience ranges from ballet, yoga and pilates, to international ballroom dancing. After enjoying competitive ballroom dancing in the U.S. for many years, she fell in love with Argentine tango in Washington, DC in 2013.
She joined Tango Mercurio as tango instructor in 2015. Inspired by the music and her dance partner, she brings elegance and grace to the dance. As a medical professional, Sarah enthusiastically communicates the potential of Argentine tango for maintaining mental and physical well-being with the DC community.
Joerg has been dancing since his teenage years in Germany. With his wife Sarah, he founded and managed a ballroom dance club in New York City and participated in numerous ballroom competitions in the U.S. He placed 2nd in the National Championships in waltz and international style tango in 2009.
After discovering Argentine tango in 2013, Joerg focused on developing his passion for tango through musicality and connection. He started teaching tango with Tango Mercurio in 2015. As a professional educator, he enjoys inspiring new dancers to appreciate Argentine tango.
Nick Thompson is an Argentine Tango dancer who was born and raised in Washington DC. Nick has been dancing Argentine Tango since the beginning of 2009 when he was attending college in Portland, Oregon as an Art major. During that first year, Nick was exposed to, the tango club at his university, the local practicas and milongas, as well as his first festival. Nick was so inspired, the next year he did a summer abroad in Argentina to get the chance to study with local teacher there. After finishing university, he went on to become a teacher abroad in Xi’an, China, where he taught English, Art, and eventually Argentine tango in classrooms. The next year he started teaching in the local coffee shops and soon built the first tango community in Xi’an, China. Nick finally returned to the US in 2016 and has been dancing, teaching, organizing, and hosting milongas in the DMV ever since.
Simone has been dancing for as long as she can remember, in genres as varied as ballet and the dances of her native Brazil, and has also practiced capoeira and yoga. She started learning, dancing, and falling in love with Argentine tango in 2007 in Boston. Inspired by the music, she believes in the co-creation of its expression by both partners within the embrace. She joined the Tango Mercurio faculty in 2015.
A native of Mexico with over two decades of dance experience in salsa, merengue, and other Latin rhythms, Enrique began dancing tango in Washington, DC in 2008. He enjoys the close partnership between dancers that takes place in this unique genre and believes that tango is a splendid way to connect and communicate with people. Enrique has danced across the US and in Central and South America, Europe, and North Africa, and has studied both traditional and contemporary styles in Argentina. He has been a Tango Mercurio instructor since 2013. In his teaching, Enrique emphasizes the importance of establishing a solid foundation to build upon, but most importantly, enjoying dancing and having fun with a partner.
Outreach Program Instructors
A writer, editor, and translator, Alexandra has a Master’s Degree in Translation from the University of Paris, France. The diplomat’s daughter grew up in the Congo, Gabon, and France before settling in Washington, DC. She worked for decades in international organizations, including over 20 years at the InterAmerican Development Bank, where as a translator and reporter she covered Latin American and Caribbean development projects and cultural events, and produced annual reports. She previously served on the board of the American Translators Association and as president of the IDB Photographic Society and of Footnotes, the International Monetary Fund dance club. A lifelong love of folk music and dance led her to the tango: she started dancing it in 2006, publishing articles about it in 2007, teaching it in 2010, and studying its history in 2013. Alexandra joined the Board in 2018. She was trained as a Teaching Artist by Arts for the Aging in 2019.