Mrs BamaVol declared after watching "Dancing with the Stars" last night that we needed tango lessons. We live in a small town and there is no Fred Astaire studio type place to learn. So I ordered a DVD "Argentine Tango - Tango Milonguero / Marie Claude Martin" from Amazon.com. Anyone have any experience learning a dance from watching it on tv? Wasted money?

First, Dancing with the stars tango has little or no relationship to argentine tango.. second I thought i knew something about every tango dvd/teacher.
There are too many claiming to be teachers. I looked at the amazon site for the dvd you mentioned and never heard of the teacher. Doesnt mean she isnt good just that I doubt that his is true argentine tango..
Arthur Murray type studios should be avoided at all cost. As well as any studio that has contracts. Their goal is to prolong the teaching to collect money.
Learning from DVD's is real difficult.

Now, good news... Don't be discouraged. I looked up Anniston.. Difficult but not impossible .... Just so happens that there is a true Argentine Tango festival taking place fairly close to you in Atlanta this April 3-6
http://www.atlantatangofestival.com/ good place to start..
Brigitta Winkler is one of the teachers ( she is a good friend and great, very patient with beginners)

If you can't check this festival out, pm and I will make some other suggestions including some youtube videos..

p.s I doubt that you wasted your money.... Watch the video and get what you can out of it.. just don't expect to "learn argentine tango from any video or quickly"
added:
Since this Argentina forum,,, do the right thing... get on a plane plenty of places to learn in BsAs and more fun than watching a dvd.

Thanks, nytango. We will be in BsAs mid-June. I just don't want to embarrass myself. Mrs BV is a former professional ballerina and can learn anything by watching. My feet don't seem to have a direct connection to my brain. Hopefully, no one will notice that she's actually leading me on the dancefloor.

I did not know about the tango festival in ATL. If we can steal away for a couple hours, I'd love to attend.

We do have an offer from a local couple to teach us. They're not professional nor are they Argentinian, but I'll take any help I can get. My real goal is simply not to attract any attention to myself through bad dancing (ala Elaine Benes if you remember that episode of Seinfeld). We'll watch the video. Mrs BV will pick up the basics. We'll take a couple lessons from this couple. We'll practice. We'll get to Buenos Aires and find a milonga. Then in the middle of the first dance, some porteno will take pity on my wife, tap me on the shoulder and I can watch for the rest of the evening.

Have fun in BA... While porteno will not tap you on the shoulder he might however use eye contact with your wife from across the floor. You will not see it coming but she will.

Don't just sit there,,, there will be plenty of women looking for dance partners, enjoy...

My 17 year old son will be with us. I'm sure he'll he happy to hear this. He has at least some skills on the dance floor, although no tango experience yet.

^^