About - Encuentro Elegante Seattle!

Encuentro Elegante Seattle was born of a dream. My dream that evolved from years of being part of the Winter Team that ran La Garúa of Seattle. I often imagined how I would run my own Milonga. My vision was shaped over the years by places all over the world that I traveled to dance tango, always imagining what it was like back in the Golden Era of tango in Buenos Aires.




After inheriting La Garúa of Seattle, I took over stewardship of this oldest running Milonga with pride and I started to implement my vision of what this Milonga would be like. First and foremost, all tango dancers would be welcome. The only requirement for entrance was to treat others with “Kindness and Respect”, both on and off the dance floor, pay their Entrada fee and, of course, bring their dance shoes. Over the course of the years, I have asked a number of ill behaved dancers to leave. I reach into my pocket, refund their Entrada fee and tell them they are no longer welcome at La Garúa of Seattle until you can behave with kindness and respect. I tell attendees, if you have a problem, come find me and I will take care if it.


It may seem silly to some but something I always wanted for this elegant space was a black fabric tablecloth. I remember the first night I put them out, my heart burst with pride. It had been a long journey to this point. Funny how something so simple can transform a room.


Running my own Milonga allowed me to continue onto my next dream of organizing an Encuentro. The end result was AMAZING! Inviting tango dancers who truly love this dance the way I do was the key. The rest was easy. Well, relatively easy…. I had a lot of help from an INCREDIBLE team that made it all happen and look effortless. I could not have done this without each and every one of you that attended our first Encuentro.


During the years we have strived to inspire people to practice, take lessons, and to have a goal on their tango journey. Learning from our past, we have developed new and insightful ways to bring the best experience to Encuentro Elegante Seattle.