Vira Baranovska-Andrigo

Argentine tango dancer, artist and teacher

Hello! My name is Vira. Since 2023, I have been living in Buenos Aires. I moved from Ukraine to Argentina because of the war, and tango is what gave shelter to my soul.

What attracts me most to tango is the endless opportunity to share: from emotions during the dance to knowledge during tango classes. For me, tango is communication, freedom of self-expression, and authenticity.

And also, as it turned out, tango is a den in which I heal.

But this is my path. And I am ready to help you find yours.

My projects

Thematic Workshops

I offer workshops focused on the tango embrace, body preparation for harmonious dancing, and understanding the essence of tango movements and partner connection, among others. Details of the workshops can be found here.I am open to developing new courses and classes, and I am gladly ready to adapt to the requests of the tango community.

All workshops are beneficial for both leaders and followers. I conduct workshops in Ukrainian, English, and Spanish.

The "Dancing Feet" Course

Tango is physical. No matter where we draw our energy and inspiration from, we dance tango with our body. The body must be loved, respected, understood, and appreciated—and that is precisely what we learn in this cycle. Total duration of the cycle: 8 hours (4 classes of 2 hours each). Each class consists of two parts: physical body preparation for specific dance aspects, and an exploratory-executive part where we break down the topic in detail and integrate this knowledge into tango.

Cycle Sections:

Weight. Articulated movement and interconnected movement
Steps. Dynamic body alignment. Dropping and holding weight
Pivots. Weight transfer relative to the feet.
Embrace. Partner contact. Proposing movement and responding to it

Required for each class:

yoga mat
yoga block
resistance band (Pilates style)
3 small coins or flat buttons for each participant
clothing that does not limit movement (NO jeans, NO skirt), socks
tango shoes

These classes are well-suited for tango camps and tango weekends, where dancers are ready to immerse themselves in the world of their own body within the context of tango and give themselves time and focus to absorb the information and "dance it in."

The "Dancing Feet" Course

"Dancing Feet" is a unique course dedicated to promoting healthy and active feet. It is unique because it invites you to look at your feet from various perspectives. It is based on my medical knowledge, dance experience, and diverse sports background.

The course is suitable for anyone who DANCES, plays sports (of any kind), sits constantly at a computer, leads a sedentary lifestyle, wears uncomfortable shoes, has flat feet, hallux valgus (bunion), or other conditions.

The course includes 5 workouts aimed at developing foot strength, flexibility, and coordination, and there is a dedicated workout that focuses on the aesthetics of movement.

It is available in Ukrainian, English, and Spanish.

The Online School

This is the first Ukrainian online school of Argentine Tango.

Settling in Argentina, I intensely miss my homeland and everyone who remains there. The idea for the school emerged as a form of protest against the distancing from the Ukrainian tango community — and it took hold.

We hold regular synchronous lessons focusing on tango biomechanics and technique, host tango discussions, and collectively choose topics for future sessions.

Within this school, I’ve created online courses such as "7 Days of Embellishments", "Musicality and Self-Expression," "Milonga," and more. "Musicality and Self-Expression" is powered by the first tango-bot, which allows users to explore tango musicality through an interactive format, at their convenience.

All these courses are in Ukrainian.

My profile: tango, medicine, pedagogy, and inclusion

My professional journey began in medicine: I earned an advanced medical degree and worked as a pathologist. For five years, I also taught pathological anatomy, which sparked a deep interest in education. This led me to expand my pedagogical skills through additional training in pedagogy, project management, and interpersonal communication.

In 2024, after relocating to Argentina, I completed a didactic program with Corina de la Rosa, solidifying the foundations of my tango teaching practice. Since then, I have taught tango internationally — in Poland, Italy, Czechia, and Austria — and founded my own online tango school. This work allows me to integrate my love for tango with my background in pedagogy.

I am fluent in Ukrainian, English, Spanish, Polish, and russian, and I teach in the first four. My multilingualism allows me to connect with students across cultures and adapt my teaching to a wide range of learners.

My physical training also informs my teaching. Years of practice in saber fencing, Krav Maga, MMA, and other martial arts have given me strong body and spatial awareness, as well as refined coordination and partner sensitivity. Today, I complement these skills with Gyrotonic, pilates, and ballet, which help me approach movement from diverse perspectives and support students in developing their own physical intelligence.

As an autistic person and autism self-advocate, I am committed to fostering inclusivity in its broadest sense. I work to make tango accessible to all — regardless of gender, body type, health status, experience level, or neurotype. I recognize that neurotype plays a crucial role in both learning and dancing. This awareness shapes my flexible, personalized approach to teaching.

Taken together, my academic and pedagogical training, multilingualism, body knowledge, and neurodivergent perspective give me a unique lens as a teacher — one that bridges science and art, rigor and empathy, movement and mind.

Tango as the language of life

For me, tango is not just technique. It is an emotional language, a way to dance stories that are too deep for words. I do not separate movement from feeling; I dance through my emotions, whether they are shaped by joy or by grief.

After a russian missile destroyed my home, I transformed that loss into a performance set to a Ukrainian song. Later, at the World Tango Championship, I danced for a friend who had just been released from russian captivity. I received the news only an hour before stepping on stage. In moments like these, I do not plan what I will express. The need to dance it through is intuitive and immediate.

This emotional connection is at the heart of how I dance and how I teach. I guide students not just to master technique, but to use it as a way to express themselves honestly. My goal is to help each person find their own emotional truth in the dance and give it movement.