"It all began 10 years ago, with a dream of dancing the Tango. In this dream I experienced an ecstatic feeling of absolute surrender while at the same time touching into the centre of my own power. I was intrigued to find out if Tango really causes these feelings, so I went to a workshop.
I instantly and totally fell in love with Tango, the music and the dance.

My journey of learning and then also teaching Tango started.
I have always been fascinated by teaching, in the sense that it gives me an opportunity to create a space for people to make contact with themselves and with where they want to grow. Teaching Tango has intensified this by adding the dimensions of movement, of authentic intimate relationship and of community. For me, meeting Tango was like discovering the perfect treasure for my working life!

Tango is a strong form that has improvisation at its core. This poses a creative challenge which has kept me busy over the last years and still continues to tease me. The first challenge was to teach a dance form without teaching set steps. (Most Tango teachers teach figures, but this is not necessary, in fact I feel it obstructs the dancer's mind. )
Another challenge is to have a form to the lesson without a set shape. To teach the way I want to dance. While teaching the form, the way I teach is a spontaneous composition, which makes every encounter fresh and totally for/with the people in front of me.
More recently, I have focussed on bringing in my knowledge as a trained musician, to teach the dancers to listen more closely to the music and give tools and structures to respond to the music.

Aside from regular lessons in Totnes, Exeter and Chagford, about five times a year I organise week-long events called Tango Mangos, a space where 160 people spend a week dancing tango and going through a journey with themselves - and often with their relationship to Tango too, if they come from another tango scene where the emphasis was maybe more on the outer shape of Tango.
I don't advertise my classes or events as being therapeutic, and I don't enter the realm of Therapy in this sense but I know that a lot of things shift in people when they come dancing, and I hold a compassionate space for that to happen. It is the creative spark for where the lesson will turn towards.

I am always looking for cross-fertilisations from other disciplines to enrich the tango experience. Likewise, I think that Tango can deepen the experience of another discipline, such as Tai Chi, Pilates or Tantra for example.
My latest endeavour in this direction is the organisation of The Hub, which is a space to celebrate movement, dance and martial arts. This year the Hub will happen twice - once on July 10-13 2008, and again as part of the Totnes Festival in September 11-14 2008.

Totnes has by now gained a reputation in the world of Tango. It has grown from one lonely, tango obsessed woman to a thriving community of dancers, provided for and taught by several teachers and organisers. And the dancers themselves have also created a club that offers regular dances twice a month.
When I started, our nearest Tango neighbours were in Bristol. Now, there is tango in Totnes, Exeter, Plymouth, Chagford, Taunton, Penzance, Barnstaple, Dorset, and more....
When I'm looking at the Tango scene here, I am proud and full of admiration for the community of dancers.
Feelings not dissimilar to the ones I have when I see my own two children grow up, be independent and beautifully walk their own ways.

It's a story of transformation...."