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Anna Leon and Cristian Bravo of Virginia Tango (Photo by Parker Michels-Boyce)
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Leon and Bravo perform a dance routine at a Richmond Ballet gala. (Photo by Kimmie James)
The newlyweds’ first dance is a popular tradition at many American wedding receptions. It can take a variety of forms — many couples opt for a basic ballroom-style dance, while others choreograph a routine that approaches a Broadway production. Lately, though, some couples have opted for something even more sensual and more dramatic: the Argentine tango.
“The tango is a little spicier than your usual ballroom dance flavors,” says Cristian Bravo, who, with his wife, Anna Leon, opened Virginia Tango at 10049 Midlothian Turnpike in spring 2024. “It’s the dance of love. The first thing that you feel as a brand-new person is your mother’s embrace. Tango is the dance of the embrace.” Bravo also compares the tango to salsa dancing, saying that if salsa were a game of checkers, tango is more like a game of chess.
Bravo was born in Patagonia, Argentina, where his father, a former tango dancer who was sidelined by a knee injury, encouraged him to carry on the family tradition. After moving from his small town to Buenos Aires to study, Bravo was accepted into a professional company at age 17 and danced with tanguero Miguel Angel Zotto and his company, Tango x 2 (pronounced Tango por dos). Leon grew up in Los Angeles listening to tango music at her grandparents’ asados, the Argentinian equivalent of a cookout. After college, she deferred her intended interior design career to pursue her love of tango, splitting her time between the U.S. and Buenos Aires. Along the way, she met Bravo; the two married six weeks later and have been dancing together ever since. After traveling the world, they settled in Richmond in 2017.
To Leon and Bravo, learning the tango is more than just a one-and-done experience. After the big day, newlyweds can dance on their honeymoon at tango clubs around the world that welcome visitors, then continue to dance for a lifetime. Serious enthusiasts hone their skills for decades.
Virginia Tango offers several options for couples looking to learn the tango. The studio has a free boot camp one Sunday per month where participants can sample the dance style.
To learn to move to a tango song and look like they’ve put a bit of effort into it, couples can join the basic program, which requires no prior experience. It consists of 12 weeks of classes plus a monthly social dance that is open to the public and includes home-cooked Argentinian food. Students may attend an hourlong class up to four times per week. The next semester begins in March 2025, and the fee is $600.
Couples who want to learn a dance specifically to impress their wedding guests should consider private lessons. A package of five classes, including choreography and music you can use for the big day, costs $725. A series of 10 private lessons costs $1,400, and 15 sessions cost $2,000. Leon and Bravo recommend booking a package at least one month prior to the wedding.
Leon and Bravo, the 2023 U.S. Argentine Tango Vals champions, are also available to hire for performances. The most common booking is a series of one to three tango songs performed for private functions. To see them perform in public, head out to one of the monthly classes at Studio Two Three in Manchester. The public socials offer time to dance as well as to connect with Argentinian culture.
