About Us
Sophia de Lautour (Alvarez)
Go here for Sophia's full Bio
Sophia is a national tango champion. She has been teaching Tango and hosting Tango events since 2001.
Sophia's dance style of Tango evolved from many hours of dancing at tango clubs in Buenos Aires and across Europe and extensive training with her favourite tango maestros. Whether dancing simple or complex moves she always infuses her dance with the accent and cadencia evoked by the music, dancing with deep connection, elegance and subtlety.
Through her classes and events Sophia has reached and taught literally thousands of people to tango. Sophia has been described as the 'teacher of teachers' as a number of her former students are now themselves tango instructors.
Past students include the actor Sam Neil, second place winners of the 2006 Dancing With the Stars – Arianne Caoili and Carmelo Pizzino, and winners of the ABC Channel’s Strictly Dancing competition 2004, Linda de Nicola and Adrian Seib, the internationally renowned dance choreographer Meryl Tankard, dancer and choreographer Dale Pope, former dancer with the Australian Ballet Liz Rogers, Lydia Sanchez, former dancer Cirque de Soleil, former Australian Ambassador and MP John Spender.
Sophia has initiated and hosted tours in Australia and NZ of many internationally renowned tango teachers including Roberto Herrera, Sebastian Achaval, Roxana Suarez, Fabian Peralta, Virginia Pandolfi, Tamara Bisceglia, Diego Alvaro, Ney Melo and Jennifer Bratt.
Sophia is passionate about dance and movement and, in addition to Tango, has trained in classical ballet and street salsa.
Prior to becoming a Tango teacher, Sophia worked as an adult educator and rehabilitation counsellor in the corporate, government and community sectors.
Paul (Pablito) Warren
"You know the drill … Once upon a time, I walk into some bar and there she is! I walk over and introduce myself, “Hi, … I’m Pablito.” She says, “Hi, … I’m a tango dancer and I want to make a movie.” I say, “Here’s my card, I’m a cameraman.” … the rest is history! She wrapped her arms around me, we moved across the floor past the drinkers trying to find their own moves at the bottom of their glass. That was sixteen years ago, she’s in some other’s arms … but the dance still remains. "
Pablito brings to SoTango his own unique blend of magic - an extremely heart-centred approach to dancing and teaching tango, sensational musicality, the meltiest of embraces, and creativity off the richter scale!
Whenever Pablito is not dancing tango you'll find him applying his artistry to the film industry as a camera-man, film-maker and photographer, playing the guitar and writing songs, getting physical with Tai Chi, yoga and other eclectic pursuits, or manifesting the next Pablito milonga (the most fun and popular tango parties in Sydney!).