Los Tangringos

About Los Tangringos

Walter and MariLynne first met each other on the dance floor as teenagers, and danced together throughout their lives together. When they crossed paths with Argentine Tango in 1997, it was love at first step. From that time on, they concentrated on that form, studying with Argentine masters here and in Buenos Aires, Argentina and practicing daily for their own pleasure and to hone their techniques.

In 1999 they were instrumental in forming Hudson Valley Tango, dedicated to fostering the growth and expansion of tango in a multi-county region of New York State, holding regular dance events, sponsoring workshops and performing demonstrations throughout the area to present tango to a public that had never experienced it before.

In January 2000, they opened their studio, El Rincón de Los Tangringos, in Harriman, NY, where they conducted group and private classes on a continuing, weekly schedule, and ran milongas regularly at multiple locations to provide social dance venues for their students to populate. As the community has matured, some of their former students have gone on to become teachers themselves and other organizers have taken on the task of sponsoring social dances and other tango events, augmenting the choices open to the growing number of tangueros.

Walter & MariLynne later expanded their range, teaching at community colleges and commercial dance studios in Westchester and Orange counties, New York. They engaged periodically as ship-board dance instructors for Norwegian Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean International.

In addition to having studied extensively with master teachers, Danel & Maria Bastone, Facundo & Kely Posadas, Alberto Paz & Valorie Hart, Gustavo Naveira & Giselle Anne, they acquired much of their primary education in the dance and in the culture during their annual stays in Buenos Aires, living and dancing among the Porteños, learning from their example and earning their friendship and respect. Their dancing was extemporaneous, classical and subtle, that of the traditional milongas of Buenos Aires. Walter & MariLynne were known for their elegance and clean execution.

These “lessons of the milongas” have helped define their instructional qualities as well. They taught the tango of the Buenos Aires milongas; the tango that is danced socially across North America and Europe as well as in Argentina; the tango that carries the sentimiento, the emotional connection between the partners and with the music.

Their teaching abilities, grounded on an understanding of the dynamics of natural movement of the body, brought new dancers into the world of tango, and of helped experienced tangueros expand and refine their techniques.

Walter passed away on September 24, 2012, but his legacy lives in the tango of Hudson valley and beyond.