American Tango Institute is the leading center for Argentine tango instruction in Chicago, founded by master teacher Netza Roldán. We offer social tango classes, monthly milongas, cultural events, and a unique methodology that connects body, mind, and soul through the art of the embrace. With over 20 years of history, ATI has been a reference point in the tango scene, blending tradition, technique, and artistic expression. Learn tango in Palatine, Wheeling, and Des Plaines, with classes for all levels. Discover how tango can transform your life and join a vibrant and passionate community.

Class Tips & Guidelines

A Message to Our Current and Future Students

As we relaunch our class sessions at the American Tango Institute, we’d like to share an important update regarding our teaching structure: At this time, we are not following our former structured curriculum that classified students by defined levels (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced). However, we continue to reference these levels to help you understand your progress and development as a tango dancer.

This curriculum was carefully designed by a dedicated group of professional instructors and dancers who collaborated with ATI over several years. It was built with the clear intention of offering a well-structured, progressive path for learning tango — combining solid technique, musical interpretation, partner connection, and personal expression. We hope to return to this format in the future, as we believe it provides an ideal foundation for long-term growth. In the meantime, our teaching remains rooted in the principles that have always guided ATI:

We teach you how to dance, not just repeat steps. Tango is a profound experience that helps you connect with the music, align your mind and body, and communicate deeply with your partner.

Our focus is on helping you develop balance, projection, body awareness, and psychomotor skills, so that you can interpret the music and express yourself freely on the dance floor. Once you’ve mastered the fundamentals — the embrace, walking, weight shifts, direction changes, and intention — your dance becomes uniquely your own.

You learn to move. You learn to connect. You learn to Tango.
We’re excited to welcome you on this journey, and we thank you for being part of the ATI community.

Aforementioned Curriculum

At ATI we believe that teaching tango is a very serious activity that can impact the learner life in a positive or negative way, depending on the teaching experience, principles and pedagogy of the institution and instructors.

We strongly believe that as any activity that has to do with body-mind development, we must follow a systematic way and an orderly process that shows our students the pathway to follow in their learning process.

Our principles and methodology is based on the idea that we teach our students to dance, rather than to imitate steps and sequences. We consider tango a vehicle through which you can learn to connect with the music, connect your mind with your body to move with grace and clarity and connect with your dance partner. In this way you will be able to interpret the music and express yourself, both inwardly and to the person with whom you’re dancing, leading to joy and the freedom to move with confidence and emotion on the dance floor.

We do not teach our students mechanical repetition of steps or patterns, but rather, teach them how to control their body movements, command balance and convey their movement’s projection in order to connect with their partnering dancer.

We help our students to re-develop their psychomotor skills and to understand better their body bio-architecture and the dynamics towards the dance and movement principles.

We emphasize on the importance to interpret the music and share a body conversation. Once you have mastered the basics of tango embrace, walking, switching weight and changing direction and communicating your projection, you will be able to go wherever your dancing spirit takes you.

ATI teaches you how to move and dance, lead and follow, propose and accept. You tango!

Class Tips & Guidelines

💑 No Partner? No Problem!
You do not need to bring a partner to class. Many students come solo. During class, we rotate partners frequently, giving you the chance to dance with a variety of people and improve your connection and adaptability.

👟 What to Wear
No special attire is required, but we recommend dressing casual and comfortable — especially for Intro to Tango and weekday classes like our Tuesday sessions.

Footwear:

  • Wear hard-soled shoes for better movement and pivoting.
  • Avoid sneakers, flip-flops, clogs, and boots.
  • You don’t need tango shoes to begin, but as you progress, you may want to invest in a pair of well-fitted dance or tango shoes for better support and performance.

🧱 Fundamentals & Basic Technique (F&B)
Fundamentals are not just for beginners!
Even experienced dancers revisit F&B to sharpen their skills, improve their movement quality, and deepen their connection. Whether you’re new or advanced, F&B is essential to long-term growth in tango.

🗘️ Registration & Payment

  • Cash and checks are preferred.
  • We also accept:
    • PayPal (credit card option available)
    • Zelle (direct payment)
  • ➡️ Please pre-register for your session in advance to secure your spot.

REGISTER NOW