Along with the sheer fun of learning to improvise, tango is also an amazing opportunity to shed some of our usual caution and hesitation around others. Instead, by showing up with generosity and openness, we sometimes get to experience the kind of trust, intimacy, and belonging that is otherwise scarce in the competitive, hyper-capitalist culture we are living in.

Tango is indeed beautiful, both because of its elegant footwork and also as an invitation to personal growth, creative expression, and community building. Many of the incredible people I met through tango are now my closest friends and colleagues, and my life has been greatly enriched by those connections, both on and off the dance floor.

Sharna has been involved with tango since 1997, when she received her first lesson in the corner of a dance hall from a fellow beginner. Her early and most influential teachers include Brigitta Winkler, Daniel Trenner, and Rebecca Shulman. She was also fortunate to study with such tango legends as Mingo, Esther, and Pablo Pugliese, Nito & Elba Garcia, Juan Bruno, Pedro “Tete” Rusconi, Mariano “Chicho” Frumboli, Gustavo Naveira, Omar Vega, Aurora & Jorge Firpo, and Pablo Veron. In addition to tango, Sharna has also trained in an abundance of other modalities including contact improvisation, yoga, Pilates, and Laban/Bartenieff Fundamentals.

Sharna performed as a member of the all-woman dance company TangoMujer between 2003-2006, and then directed her own performing company until 2011. She founded and directed the nonprofit organization Tango Mercurio in Washington, D.C. from 2008-2011, spearheading the DC community tango orchestra and outreach programs to youth and senior groups, as well as establishing an adult tango school serving over 100 students. Throughout her career, Sharna has been an outspoken advocate for learning both leading and following roles independent of gender, a practice that cultivates empathy, inclusion, and creativity. Between 2011-2018, she produced workshops and extended retreats for women to study the leading role.

Over the past twenty years, she has taught guest workshops and master classes for dozens of community organizations across North America and Europe, and by special arrangement in Havana, Cuba and Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Between 2014-2017, she designed tango and partnering courses for undergraduates in the Dance and Theater departments at UCLA. Sharna is praised for her ability to both articulate and demonstrate the subtle details of tango movement and improvisation. Her approach is holistic and exploratory, informed by both the anatomy and the poetry of the body.