Sydney Tango House

Who are we?

Refik and Emily-Rose met in 2013, dancing tango at a local Sydney milonga and have since become life partners. Their shared passion for Tango led them to dream of a place where Tango dance and music could eventually exist in their own space in Sydney – thus Sydney Tango House was born. Sydney Tango House currently offers group & private classes in social Argentine tango dance, special weekend workshops about tango dance and music, private classes in tango piano, accordion and bandoneon, wedding tango, host international guest artists and are the principal organisers of the Australian Tango Festival. They also stock a range of tango shoes and clothes. Their main studio is located conveniently at 507 Elizabeth St. Surry Hills, just 5 minutes walk from Central Train Station.

Emily-Rose Sarkova

Emily-Rose is an unusual mix of both tango dancer and musician, carving her own individual tango path in Australia and internationally. Using her knowledge from study of a wide variety of dance forms (contemporary, ballet, tap, jazz) and music forms (classical, jazz, folk), she has made the study of Argentine Tango her main artistic focus now for the last 6 years.

Emily-Rose has been studying tango dance since 2007 and has been involved in a number of tango projects since 2009, including the creation of MADTango at the Sydney University Movement and Dance Society (MADSOC) and teaching her students there from 2010 – 2013 and choreographing for MADSOC’s major dance production Magnetic in 2013.

In 2014 she was a recipient of the JUMP mentorship grant from the Australian arts council alongside her tango band ‘Tángalo’, which allowed her to study with some of the great maestros of Tango in Buenos Aires including Moira Castellano & Gaston Torelli, Pablo Inza & Sofia Saborido, Sebastian Achaval & Roxana Suarez (tango dance) and Pablo Estigarribia, Hugo Satorre, Ramiro Boero, Noelia Moncano (tango music).

Refik Unluer

Refik’s fascination with social dance began with performances in his home country of Turkey at the tender age of 12. In 2009 his encounter with Tango changed his life and from 2010 he began performing around Turkey and working in many dance studios. Since then he has worked with many tango dance maestros including Sabrina & Ruben Veliz, Chico Frumboli & Juana Sepulveda, Christian Marquez & Virginia Gomez and Ariadna Naveira & Fernando Sanchez.

In 2012 he undertook Argentine Tango teaching training, which certified him as a Tango teacher by the Turkish Dance Federation. In 2013 he traveled to Australia, where he met Emily-Rose and worked with her at Sydney University’s MADTango.

To immerse himself in the art of tango dance, he made his tango pilgrimage in 2014 to Buenos Aires, Argentina, living there and studying tango dance intensively for three months and then again in 2016. He co-founded Sydney Tango House and is found at the studio most days teaching and sharing his huge passion for tango.