Ana Lía Carrizo and Aldo Romero

The Belfast Argentine Tango Society (BATS) was formed in June 2007 as a "not for personal profit" organisation to promote Argentine Tango. Classes and workshops had taken place in Belfast prior to this - through the efforts of individuals or independent teachers. However, it was felt that a structured society was necessary to facilitate a more consistent promotion of Argentine tango.

Membership is open to all and a committee is elected each year to run the society. We are all just tango enthusiasts who volunteer our time and effort to organise classes, milongas, and other events. Our constitution is available here.

Our main activities are to organise classes and workshops and to hold milongas (social evenings of tango dancing).
Classes: We aim to use authentic teachers from Argentina or teachers who have proven experience in teaching Argentine tango. There is a more mature community of tango teachers in Dublin and we bring many of our teachers up from there.
Workshops: In addition to the regular weekly classes we organise occasional (monthly) workshops with special visiting teachers to cover specific aspects of the dance.
Milongas: Classes are only a means to an end so we organise regular milongas where we hire a local venue for the night and just tango. Milongas are an opportunity to dress up and socialise.

Other special festivals and promotions are all part of our activities to promote Argentine tango. And we aim to keep our members informed of all things tango through a regular email bulletin. To be added to our email circulation list just send your details to belfast.tango@yahoo.co.uk.