Originally developed to help patients with neurological dysfunctions, Tangolates is a mixbetween tango and Pilates. Invented by Argentine Tamara Di Tella, it includes a proper cardio training workout and is taught in 50 schools around the world.
Standing face to face with a partner on a one metre square wooden platform limited by.bendabie sticks on each corner, you are shown how to perform tango movements, such as 'boleos' and 'eights' to the beat of neo-tango, strengthening your muscles,, stretching your body and keeping up a rapid pace. Even if you practise tango as wed as Pilates separately on a weekly basis, the method gets you to use your body in an entirely different way.
Di Tella, Pilates instructor in Buenos Aires and founder of the method, has developed a way of including the aerobic element in her body-mind exercises, often considered essential to any fitness activity. As a result, her method, called Tangolates, also offers a proper cardio training workout.
The price of the courses and its scientific base help attract clients that don't just want to have a laugh whilst working out. "Despite the trendy name, Tangolates is taken seriously after the first lesson," Di Teila points out.
SCIENTIFIC BASE
Tangolates, also called the Tamara Di Tella method, originated in a hospital for patients with neurological dysfunctions. "It all started when (.wanted to donate some Pilates equipment to the medical school hospital here in Buenos Aires," says Di Tella, daughter of a well-known neuro-surgeon. "But the specialist told me his patients with illnesses like Parkinson could only copy gestures, nothing else." Di Tella then started to conceive face-to-face exercises performed in couples, which get the patient to copy the instructor like in a mirror.
Because patients only respond to music with clear beats, as tango therapy theorists have also shown, Tamara Di Tella first started developing her movements to the sound of La Cumparsita. "It worked so well, I then decided to use tango only, starting what I registered as Tangolates in 2004."
Rapidly gaining recognition in the medical field and after writing books and giving speeches in medical conferences, the instructor realised she could go further. With the help of an engineer, she conceived the wooden device.
Since Tamara Di Tella obtained the licence for it last year, she has been promoting her method outside hospitals gaining more and more interest and fame thanks to celebrities like Sting and ballet dancer Julio Bocca who have adopted it.
Tangolates is now taught in 50 schools around the world, 18 of which are in Argentina. "I realise it attracts people with different interests and from all age groups," she concludes. "Clients corne to improve their tango postures, others realise it helps them with horse-riding and others come just
to keep fit, including many young girls who are looking for an efficient way to obtain a nice figure."
For more information or to try out the method, write to tamara@tamaraditella.com. And to watch online videos of the method, check • www.tangolates.com
BY SOPHIE BALBO
Trend Hunter Magazine
United States, May, 2007
Created by Tamara Di Tella, Pilates exercises combined with Tango lessons is a new wave to exercise. It started in Buenos Aires (the birthplace of Tango), and is now growing in the United States and Europe. The system is called Tangolates.
Tangolates and Pilates have common roots in human movement and expression. One, Tango, older and established, the other, Pilates, more recently acquired by the general public. They share certain basic concepts. Yet, they are two very different manifestations of human movement.
Both are systems of excises but the differences are obvious: one is performed with music, the other one is silent. One is performed by two people (it takes two to Tango), while the other is performed singly or individually. One, Tangolates, is concentrated plus aerobic workout; the other, Pilates, isconcentrated but not very aerobic. One saw its origins at the port of Buenos Aires; the other, Pilates, had its origins almost a century later, with wounded soldiers during the first world war. More about Tangolates: It is performed on a special apparatus called the T-DiTella, while the other, Pilates, is performed on an entirely different machine called The Reformer.
Tangolates develops core abdominal strength, keeps the skeleton supported and the spine protected, lets the movement flow and focuses on the energy that comes first from the core (and then flows outward).
Another way to keep the body in a good shape.
Innovation and strategic advantage hinge on the ability to anticipate trends and identify the next big thing, like this trend, Tangolates, which is pilates with Tango spirit.
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TAMARA DI TELLA Pilates & Tangolates --the world's largest and chain of Pilates Studios- has arrived to the McAllen/Misison area brought by Laura, Gloria and Jacobo Garza, and through the initiative of Ricardo Martínez, the Director of Tamara Di Tella Pilates & Tangolates, of Buenos Aires.
This international chain of Pilates & Tangolates Studios has been very successful throughout Latin America and Europe, in countries such as Argentina, Paraguay, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, El Salvador, Perú, México, the United States, France, Spain and Greece. "Our method is amazing and our clients just love doing the same core-control movements Richard Gere, Jennifer López and Antonio Banderas do!!" says Martínez.
What are the next steps? The School of Training with International Certification and travel scholarships; the Tamara Di Tella Training Program for Golfers, and "Tango Kids & Teens", the best way to get the younger ones exercising their swing and have fun at the same time!", says Ricardo Martínez.
Originally developed to help patients with neurological dysfunctions, Tangolates is a mixbetween tango and Pilates. Invented by Argentine Tamara Di Tella, it includes a proper cardio training workout and is taught in 50 schools around the world.
ng else." Di Tella then started to conceive face-to-face exercises performed in couples, which get the patient to copy the instructor like in a mirror. 
had its origins almost a century later, with wounded soldiers during the first world war. More about Tangolates: It is performed on a special apparatus called the T-DiTella, while the other, Pilates, is performed on an entirely different machine called The Reformer.
