Adapted Tango Program

Tango Mercurio’s Adapted Tango Program provides the scientifically proven therapeutic benefits of partnered and improvised social dance to people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) through a safe, interesting, and fun adaptation of traditional Argentine tango.

Developed by dancer and neuroscientist Dr. Madeleine Hackney, and inspired by the Tango Therapy Project in Philadelphia, the Program offers free six-week series of classes for people with PD and their caregivers. See upcoming class Series below.

In our Adapted Tango classes, volunteer instructors trained in our Adapted Tango Program and safety protocols for working with people with PD provide one-on-one support. We use a “practice embrace” in which partners hold elbows and maintain more distance than in traditional tango. Each 1.5-hour class consists of a seated warm-up, standing exercises, learning a new move, dancing with different partners as both leader and follower, music education, and socializing, with breaks as needed.

As a therapeutic tool, tango is a moderate-intensity activity that offers motivation and practice in numerous real-life skills that can be challenging for people with Parkinson’s and other conditions: walking forward and backward, initiating movement and stopping it, varying speed and rhythm, placing the foot and coordinating the whole body, navigating among others, sustaining attention, working with a partner and synchronizing movement with them, leading and following, and more.

In addition, tango offers a safe space for touch, social connection, and community, along with exposure to the dance, music, and poetry of a unique art form. It enables dancers of all abilities to enjoy moderate physical activity that helps them build new neural pathways and experience social interaction, which research has demonstrated boosts happiness and well-being.

According to the Parkinson’s Foundation, PD is the second most-common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s, affecting 1.1 million people in the U.S., with nearly 90,000 diagnosed every year. The disease causes motor and non-motor symptoms that can be physically, emotionally, and cognitively debilitating. There is no known cure, but physical activity can maintain and improve mobility, flexibility, and balance, and also ease non-motor PD symptoms such as depression. 

For more information and to sign up for our newsletter, email us at info@tangomercurio.org.

Our Program is partially funded by a generous grant from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rotary Club, along with many generous donations from individuals. Please help us make up the difference by contributing to our GoFundMe campaign—the more resources we have, the more classes we can offer—thank you for your support!

2026 Winter/Spring - Adapted Tango Program Class Series

We are offering a six-week Series of classes for Beginners starting on Wednesday, February 4, 2026 from 10:30am to 12:00 noon, followed by a six-week Series for Advanced Beginners starting on March 25, 2026. All classes, which are free and open to caregivers, include one-on-one support from volunteer instructors trained in our Adapted Tango Program and safety protocols for working with people with PD.

Classes will be held in the upstairs room at La Cosecha Latin market at 1280 4th Street NE, close to the MoMa-Gallaudet U Metro station. There is free parking for three hours in the building, an elevator to the upstairs level, and food and drink for sale downstairs.

Series 1 for Beginners: Feb. 4 – March 11, 2026

Designed for participants new to dance and to Adapted Tango, this Series will introduce participants to the practice embrace, the basic tango walk forward and backward, side steps, rock steps, contrabody movement, walking outside your partner, embellishments, and variations in rhythm. Watch a video of a typical class here.

Each 1.5-hour class consists of a seated warm-up, standing exercises, learning a new move, rhythm exercises, dancing with different partners and switching roles, music education, and socializing, with breaks as needed. The seated music education segment includes the history of tango music and dance and one live music performance per Series.

People who have already taken one of our Pilot Series in 2025 may enroll in this Series as a refresher or take Series 2 for Advanced Beginners starting on March 26, also on Wednesdays from 10:30am to 12:00 noon at La Cosecha. To enroll, please complete the online form by January 14, 2026.

Series 2 for Advanced Beginners: March 25 – April 29, 2026

Pre-requisite : Beginners Adapted Tango

This Series will review the basics covered in the Beginners Series and introduce new steps, patterns, and embellishments, including promenade, walking to the cross, figure-eight turns, and walking around your partner.

Like the Beginners class, each Advanced Beginners class consists of a seated warm-up, standing exercises, learning a new move, dancing with different partners and switching roles, music education, and socializing, with breaks as needed. It will also include the history of tango music and dance and one live music performance per Series. To enroll, please complete the online form by March 11, 2026.