Maria Lelia Ivanovich

Message from Maria Lelia:

I am a “porteña” (a natural citizen of Buenos Aires) who loves Buenos Aires and Tango. Though I am a psychotherapist, I spent many years of my life cultivating these two passions.

I’ve investigated and discovered places, secrets, habits, history, culture, shadows and brightness of this wonderful city full of diverse people and ways of life.

In 1991 I started dancing Tango, when a new wave of local identity ran over Argentina after the last terrifying dictatorship we had until 1983. I also studied and investigated its roots, symbols, history, dance, music, new concepts, etc.

For more than 15 years, I have organized events and guided tours related to Tango, including visits to milongas, as well as personalized city tours, which are made suitable to the needs and specific interests of each individual visitor.

So here I am, today. I spend most of my time and energy on these two passions: Buenos Aires – its people, its identity, its special places and its mysteries - and Tango. I love not only dipping into them but also making them known and I like to share them because human relations, dialogue, personal and shared experiences are the reason of my existence!

With love and joy!

Maria Lelia 

Maria Lelia is our professional tour guide by day and a milonguera at night! She is a close friend whom I cherish for her beautiful heart. She brings her soulful intellect to every kind of city visit - cultural, historical, artistic, political, and of course, tango. I can sit with Maria Lelia in a cafe and ask her questions for hours about any aspect of Argentine history and politics, including tango history and sociology. She has actually felt embarrassed after talking a long time with me because she is so humble, but I didn’t want her to stop! I can never get enough of her insights about her city, her country, and tango. And yet she’s as happy to take people to a folklore festival, on a river boat trip, or even shopping as she is in discussing the important political stories that shaped the culture of the city. Maria Lelia’s gift as a tour guide is zeroing in on her guests’ genuine interests and curiosity. She has prepared for us an impressive list of options and is open to any requests by our participants. We won’t have time for many hours of tourism but since we have a small group, we can decide together how to spend our non-tango hours. And we’re sure to spend one Thursday night with Maria Lelia at her favorite tango hangout, Gricel.

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