Meet Guillermo De Fazio and Giovanna Dan of GD Tango in Sherman Oaks

Today we’d like to introduce you to Guillermo De Fazio and Giovanna Dan.

Guillermo and Giovanna, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
We both come from artistic families. We grew up playing backstage at shows and in different dance and music studios. Guillermo, son of a classical pianist, started dancing in his grandmother’s dance studio at the age of 8 in Argentina. As he grew older, he discovered Argentine tango, and at the age of 12 created the first tango male duo with his brother, known as Los Hermanos Macana. They went on to tour the world for 15 years with this duo appearing in movies such as Assassination Tango directed by Robert Duval, being invited personally to perform alongside Mikhail Baryshnikov and touring his own show “Tango Macho” all around Italy. In 2015, Guillermo decided to settle down in Los Angeles where he met me (Giovanna), his current partner.

I (Giovanna) was born and raised in Los Angeles, as a first-generation American. My mom was a professional tango dancer, and my dad was a musician. I started dancing Aregntine Tango and Folkore at the age of 4 to stay close to my roots, and before I knew it it was my entire life. I went on to major in dance at UCLA, followed by touring with world to perform with different companies including Tango Buenos Aires by Columbia Artists.

We met in a moment where we both needed tango partners (It really does two to tango) and we knew from the start that we were destined to dance together. In the last five years, we have built a strong partnership and are working hard to pursue our artistic goals here in Los Angeles. So far we have had the privilege to perform with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, we have choreographed for commercials such as Geico, and have made television appearances on Telemundo, Univision, and Fox. Our greatest accomplishment has been to start the first local Argentine tango company in Los Angles (after years of training dancers), and to produce and perform our show “Once Upon a Tango” all around California. We also teach private tango lessons on a daily basis.

Has it been a smooth road?
Producing a show was very risky for us. We invested money and we didn’t always break even. At the end of the day, we were still responsible for paying our cast and the theatre/PR expenses. We had to learn along the way how to manage expenses and prepare for all scenarios.

Please tell us about GD Tango.
Our business is our Tango company “GD Tango Dance Company”. We perform full length shows with our local dance company that we direct, choreograph, and produce from scratch. What we are most proud of is to be representing Authentic Argentine tango in Los Angeles with a group of dancers who share our love for the arts. Our most recent production “Once Upon a Tango” has now been seen in theaters across California including San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles. I think what sets us apart from others is that we truly find motivation in our love for sharing this art that has been ingrained in our hearts, by putting it on stage and telling a story. We are willing to put in our free time and invest our savings if it means we can grow and keep this art form alive. Also, when we dance, it’s not about prioritizing the aesthetic. It’s about making the emotion and the love for what we are representing contagious to the audience.

We also teach tango lessons on a daily basis. We teach the social dance aspect of tango that is completely improvised based on techniques of leading and following. There is somewhere to social dance in Los Angeles every night of the week! We pride ourselves on contributing to the growth of the community of tango dancers in Los Angeles.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
LA is a tough place to start off in our industry because it is definitely full of talent and artists alike chasing a dream. It took us years of auditioning, and submitting to agencies, and trying to make the right connections to realize that we had to work on ourselves and our own projects to be able to do what we love. While working towards creating our brand, we came across amazing opportunities along the way! But we definitely learned that it is absolutely crucial to work on your own art regardless of what jobs are available at the time to be ready for the opportunity when it presents itself and to always continue growing.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.gdtango.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: gdtango
• Facebook: GD Tango

Image Credit:
Federico Paleo, Nadya Balitskaya, Sol Recatume

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