meet the instructors
Jeni Breen
Jeni Breen is one of the most experienced professional teachers of Argentine Tango in New York. Twenty five years ago Jeni and Sandra Cameron set to work to develop what became New York City’s first program dedicated to teaching classes in Argentine Tango, and she has continued to train in, and to investigate the dance, with some of the world’s leading Tango professionals.
Jeni originally trained as a modern dancer and received a degree in Performance/Choreography from California Institute of the Arts before moving to New York City to dance in the contemporary dance company Donald Byrd/The Group. She eventually left the company to work as a choreographer for plays, musicals, operas, and films throughout the country. Researching one such project lead her to a life changing visit to the Sandra Cameron Dance Center – one of New York’s leading Ballroom Dance studios – where she discovered her passion for partner dancing and particularly Argentine Tango. Jeni joined the teaching staff at SCDC and also served as the director of both the Argentine Tango and Salsa programs.
She has taught extensively in the NYU Undergraduate Drama Program at Playwrights Horizons Theater School and the Lee Strasberg Professional Theater Program in NY; the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Mass; and the Theater Program at Washington University in Washington, DC among others.
In addition to founding the Jeni Breen Tango Academy , Jeni is currently a “Renowned Mohonk Star Instructor” at Mohonk Mountain House, Conde Nast Traveler’s #1Resort Spa in North America.
Matthew Liam O'Toole
Matthew Liam O’Toole is admired throughout the NYC Tango community for his classic social Tango. His dancing is distinguished by an elegant, comfortable embrace supported by clean and musical footwork.
Matthew began social dancing in Europe and discovered Argentine Tango while living in San Francisco. With a background as a classical, country, blues, and rock musician as well as a trained athleticism Matthew found in Tango a way to combine his artistic passions into a style that is unique and yet deeply embedded in the classic tradition of Argentine Tango.
Matthew is well into his second decade of teaching Argentine Tango. He has taught in some of the country’s finest dance studios, including the Sandra Cameron Dance Center and Dancesport in Manhattan, and Metronome Dance Center in San Francisco.