May 8, 2017

Meet Ilona Glinarsky of Living Tango and Wedding Dance by Design in South Bay

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ilona Glinarsky.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Ilona. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I grew up in the former Soviet Union (Kiev, Ukraine), surrounded by great music and exposed to all forms of performing arts. From the age of 5, I was trained to be a classical pianist, and hoped to become a music teacher when I grew up. I also loved to dance, and at the age of 16 I was handed a unique opportunity to observe a #1 professional dance group, called the Virsky Folk Ensemble, during their practice sessions, which was a very educational and inspiring experience for me. This was also my chance to learn to accompany dancers on piano, a skill I was to take with me into my life in the USA after we emigrated, so I could help make money and build our new life.

When I came to the US as a refugee in 1979, life was pretty hard, and I had to put aside my aspiration of becoming a musician and a dancer. Instead, I had to focus on assimilating into a new culture, completing my education and helping my parents start a new life.

It took 15 years to find my way back to what I loved when I was a little girl, music and dance. And it was not until I got married, had two kids and went through a divorce that I finally was able to take my first dance class through a local recreation department in Manhattan Beach. It was DANCE that brought me back to myself and back to feeling alive!

My first infatuation was with Salsa. I got so hooked, that I was dancing 3-5 times a week for almost 6 years. Then…Tango found me. I fell in love with music of Argentine Tango, which echoed the music I grew up with back in the old country. I missed my home and longed for connection, for community. Tango gave me a sense of home and taught me so much about myself and about life. It gradually transformed my life.

I took many classes with different acclaimed instructors, and while I was learning I occasionally assisted my first teacher, Peri Rogovin at Third Street Dance studio in Los Angeles. This hobby grew into a consistent job, and I became a tango instructor, teaching beginner Argentine Tango a couple of times a week for 15 years with my dear friend Vladimir Estrin.

After the dance studio changed ownership, I decided to start teaching my own classes, this time closer to home in the South Bay (Manhattan Beach, El Segundo, Hermosa). Living Tango ® was born!

I discovered a passion and a gift for teaching complete beginners and for sharing this love for Argentine Tango, while utilizing this amazing dance also as a tool for personal growth and transformation by drawing from my Spiritual Psychology training at the University of Santa Monica.

My student base quickly grew, and I had to keep adding more classes as well as expanding into working with wedding couples by launching another company called Wedding Dance by Design.

At that time, there were no tango socials anywhere near the South Bay, so in 2013 I decided to start my first milonga – a social tango dance event for tangueros to enjoy.

My monthly Milonga LAX just celebrated its 8-year anniversary and is considered one of the most popular Argentine Tango events in LA.

Six years ago, I also started a weekly tango event in El Segundo, The Tango Experience! My milongas are well attended and well liked because they are super friendly, all-inclusive yet professionally run events. This experience gave me the confidence to create a five-day annual tango event, The Endless Summer Tango or LA Tango Marathon, which takes place every May over the Memorial Day weekend and brings together hundreds of dancers from all over the US and abroad.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The road to building a successful business is never smooth… it has many bumps and sharp turns, as well as many wonderful surprises and highlights.

The hardest challenge was starting my business with absolutely nothing in my pocket, purely fueled by my passion for dance and my love for sharing and making people’s lives better. After all, I could never forget how social partner dance transformed my own life and brought so much joy and passion into it.

Having a very tight budget forced me to learn to run every aspect of my business on my own. I built my own websites, created my own promotional materials, distributed them, learned how to navigate the social media, did lots of free exhibitions and public events to educate the public about the benefits of social partner dance. Anything and everything I could do to promote and spread the word about the magic of tango, I did.

Fortunately, along the way, I came across and became friends with some amazing talented and capable people. Most of them came my way as my students and many ended up becoming my biggest supporters and friends. Without them, I would have given up a long time ago. Running this type of business requires a team, and I am blessed to have an amazing one! My husband, Bahram Niknia is also my biggest supporter, and works very hard alongside me at all my tango events. He too was once my tango students and fell in love with tango…well, and me.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Living Tango and Wedding Dance by Design – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
My company is multifaceted. One aspect of my business is simply teaching ordinary folks the most extraordinary social partner dance, Argentine Tango. I specialize in fundamentals, which are the foundation of tango. I love the process of opening the world of social partner dance to complete beginners and watching their lives change for the better.

Another branch of my business is geared towards wedding couples who want to learn a choreography for their first dance. I combine simple choreography with the improvisational aspect of tango. This approach also allows me to expose my students to real nature of tango, based on connection and lead-and-follow.

Life coaching and relationship coaching is yet another asset I bring to the table and integrate into my teaching. Having graduated from a wonderful coaching program at the University of Santa Monica, I am able to help my students break through their personal blocks and achieve their personal goals while having fun learning how to dance.

Organizing successful, fun and all-inclusive Argentine Tango social events has become a huge part of my business five years ago. Having grown up in Ukraine, where creating and hosting fun house parties is a part of everyday living, putting on these types of events is simply my second nature. I love seeing people enjoy themselves and enjoy life!

Last, but not least, I love educating the general public about the value and beauty of social partner dance. Hence, I often organize public demonstrations and free community classes to expose people to authentic Argentine Tango, making it accessible to anyone and everyone. Among these are my countless flashmob-style public tango events that everyone loves. Some of these types of dance events have taken place at LAX, inside Whole Foods market, at LACMA and the Getty museums as well as all over LA’s iconic locations. I love this part of my work and hope to continue leaving our dance footprint all over the City of Angels.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
No one knows what the future holds, and my daily classes, private coaching and ongoing events keep me very busy. So I try to stay focused on what is in front of me and on how to give each day my very best.

My intention is to continue bringing lots of joy to lots of people through tango and to continue being a source of inspiration and creativity. I am also starting to utilize tango as a team-building and leadership development tool in a corporate environment, which is very exciting and has been a long-time goal of mine.

I plan to keep finding and creating new opportunities to promote Argentine Tango as well as finding new ways for growing our Los Angeles Tango community.

Pricing:

Group Classes (Hermosa Beach & El Segundo) – $15 each / $75 for 6-week course
75-minute Private lesson – $95 (studio rental included) / package of 5 – 5% off / package of 10 – 10% off

Contact Info: