Colette Hebert sweeps through her studio at The Dance Place on Truxtun Road with a grace that reveals decades of dance experience. She is lithe and lively as she points out the floor-to-ceiling mirrors on one side of the space and the bank of windows on the other side overlooking Liberty Station. Her enthusiasm for teaching is evident, but it is when she begins talking about her tango career that her passion truly bubbles over. Originally from Canada, Hebert started out as a painter and created a following that lead her all over Europe and Latin America. It was through her travels that she was introduced to her Spanish husband and, subsequently, to the dance of Argentinian folklore. She made her living by painting during the day, but at night she turned to tango — her favorite hobby. As she became more immersed in the dance, she sought out the world’s top maestros to help her improve, counting legendary tango maestro Juan Carlos Copez, as well as renowned dancers Mingo Pugliese, Oswaldo Soto and his brother, Miguel Angel Soto, among her early mentors. Then she met Richard Council, a young dancer from the United States, and with him came the opportunity to turn her hobby into a career. Together, they won the 2003 IDO USA Tango Championship and, afterward, they received requests from around the world to teach workshops, put on performances and compete against other top dancers. “Now tango became really my life,” she said of winning the championship. “[My painting career], forget about it. But it was OK because tango is art — for me it is [like] having a white, blank canvas and I’m composing, I’m creating.” Although Hebert and Council parted ways a few years ago, both are still teaching dance, and Hebert moved to San Diego in January 2009 with a new mission: to make America’s Finest City the top destination for tango in the United States — a title she said is currently held by San Francisco. “San Diego is a big city, but the community of tango is small compared to the huge population. I said to myself, ‘If I’m here, that will be my contribution in trying to really enlarge the community and have new members that take advantage of this incredible and very, very healthy sport,’” Hebert said. Since she started teaching just over a year ago, she has had 400 students take her classes. She said many of her students come to her with a passion for the dance, and she helps guide them toward the proper form. “Let’s say tango has two legs,” Hebert explained. “One leg of tango would be to have the passion of tango … you cannot go to Vons and buy one pound of passion. You have it or you don’t have it. But, the other leg of tango is the technical aspect of it. Even if you have the passion, you have to learn it. It’s the art of precision. I have this ability to deconstruct or break down everything … for me it is easy, the technical aspect, and this is what I am teaching all of my students.” Hebert teaches classes six nights a week and spends her days leading private sessions. She said that for many of her students, the attraction to tango is about having a new outlet for expressing their emotions. “All of the emotion of a human being that we don’t put into words, you have [with tango],” she said. “It’s a dialogue between two human beings, and you know how life is today: we work, work, work and work, work, work and eat and work … The human quality aspect? People really find it in tango.” Hebert offers a free class for new students on Mondays and Wednesdays at 7 p.m. For more information or to view a class schedule, visit www.tangowithcolette.com.
