The people behind the embrace
Our Team
Tango Mercurio is an arts education organization presenting Argentine tango as an agent of community development — promoting cultural understanding and social cohesion through ongoing public opportunities for dance, music, learning, and community engagement.
Guided by dancers, carried by volunteers
Directors, program managers, and teaching artists — the people who keep the floor open, the music playing, and the embrace within reach of everyone in DC.
Jonathan Fernandes
President and Chair of the Board
Jonathan grew up in Goa, India, and holds a doctorate in mathematics from the University of Maryland, where he teaches mathematics and statistics. Part of the DC tango community for over a decade, he played guitar in the Tango Mercurio Community Orchestra and joined the board in 2022, often volunteering as an event host, instructor, and DJ.
Celine Allard
Director and Treasurer
A French native trained as an engineer and economist, Celine worked at the French Ministry of Finances and the International Monetary Fund for 25 years. First exposed to tango in Paris in 1999, she loves the connection, musicality, and unique non-verbal communication of the close embrace. She joined the board in October 2023 to help expand interest in Argentine tango across the DMV.
Natalie Donahue
Director and Secretary
By day, Natalie is Chief of Evaluation at the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs; by night she heads to her basement tango studio to blast Pugliese, her favorite orchestra. She joined the board in May 2024 to give back to the community she loves and to meet more DC tangueros. A proud Columbus, Ohio native, she has visited nearly 60 countries.
Marni Silverman
Director
Marni holds a PhD in neuroscience from Emory University, spent years as a research scientist after an NIH fellowship, and now volunteers as a scientific consultant and patient advocate. Dancing Argentine tango since 2000, she met her husband at a DC tango workshop and joined the board in October 2024. In its essence, she says, tango is a music-inspired traveling hug.
Shanetta Martin
Director
Ms. Martin began her tango journey in Washington, DC two decades ago and spent a defining eight years as an organizer, DJ, and milonga hostess in the Santa Fe, NM tango community. A community builder, researcher, and strategist, she holds deep respect for the traditions and codigos of tango culture. She joined the board in January 2025.
Doron Levy
Director
Doron is a math professor at the University of Maryland, where he chairs the Mathematics Department and directs the Brin Mathematics Research Center, specializing in mathematical oncology. A dancer since his ballroom days in Tel Aviv, he advocates for tango as social engagement in non-traditional environments. He is also a Guggenheim Fellow and an award-winning magician.
Ramu Pyreddy
Executive Director, Artistic Director, and Program Manager
Ramu took his first tango lesson in Buenos Aires in 2000 and was hooked instantly, founding the Michigan Argentine Tango Club and dancing, DJing, and teaching across the US and Canada. Host and resident teacher at Milonga Zandunga, he joined the Tango Mercurio faculty in 2013. He teaches tango for the social dance floor with an emphasis on connection, musicality, and improvisation.
Alexandra Russell
Youth and Older Adult Outreach Program Manager
A writer, editor, and translator, Alex has spearheaded Tango Mercurio's Older Adult Outreach Program since 2018, bringing the music, dance, and poetry of tango to hundreds of older adults, mainly in partnership with Arts for the Aging. In 2024 she was certified in Adapted Tango group classes for older individuals and those with movement disorders by Dr. Madeleine Hackney of Emory University. She believes that dance is for everyone.
Sarah Schlatterer
Dance Instructor
Sarah has danced since childhood, from ballet and pilates to competitive international ballroom, before falling in love with Argentine tango in Washington, DC in 2013. She joined Tango Mercurio as a tango instructor in 2015, bringing elegance and grace to the dance. As a medical professional, she enthusiastically shares tango's potential for mental and physical well-being.
Joerg Schlatterer
Dance Instructor
Joerg has danced since his teenage years in Germany, founded a ballroom dance club in New York City with his wife Sarah, and placed second in the 2009 National Championships in waltz and international-style tango. After discovering Argentine tango in 2013, he devoted himself to musicality and connection. A professional educator, he began teaching with Tango Mercurio in 2015.
Wonseon Choi
Dance Instructor
Wonseon started dancing Argentine tango in 2007 and instantly fell in love with the music and the improvisational nature of the dance. She co-founded the Seoul National University Alumni Argentine Tango Club and joined the Tango Mercurio faculty in 2023. Drawing on decades of piano and ballet training, her teaching focuses on proper technique, quality of movement, and musical interpretation.
Nick Thompson
Dance Instructor
Born and raised in Washington, DC, Nick has danced Argentine tango since 2009, studying in Portland, Buenos Aires, and Xi'an, China, where he built the city's first tango community while teaching abroad. He returned to the US in 2016 and has been dancing, teaching, organizing, and hosting milongas in the DMV ever since.
Catrinel Iftode
Dance Instructor
Catrinel sees tango as an excellent tool for personal growth and as an embodiment practice that can release the physical, mental, and emotional blocks standing in the way of full freedom of expression. Through her teaching and dancing she hopes to help others feel confident, empowered, and comfortable in their own skin.
Want to join the work?
We are always looking for volunteers, teachers, musicians, and organizers who believe tango belongs to everyone.
Write to us