Andrea’s story

Born in Toronto and raised in Montreal, Andrea Shepherd is the author of 25 Tango Lessons, a collection of essays on life and dance, and the novel The Curtain Lady, a coming-of-age story with a haunting twist.

Andrea has written and danced all her life. She took her first ballet class at age 4, dabbled in everything from tap dancing to theatre to salsa, and finally fell head-over-stiletto-heels in love with Argentine tango in her late 20s.

In school, English was always Andrea’s best and favourite subject, though she was never much of a student. She started keeping a diary at age 10 and wrote just about every day for 20 years. She started writing her first novel at age 13 and finally completed one almost four decades later. Titled The Curtain Lady, it was released in August 2023.

Andrea worked at the Montreal Gazette for 19 years, starting as a clerk in the newsroom, working her way up to a copy-editing position and writing the occasional feature article. Andrea also taught a desktop publishing course at Concordia University for a decade. In 2008, she left her journalism career to pursue dance full time. Against all odds and sensible advice, she and her partner opened a tango studio, MonTango, which became one of the top Argentine tango schools in Montreal.

In 2014, Andrea partnered up her love of dance and writing when she created the blog Life Is a Tango. It gained more of a following than she ever expected and eventually became her first book, 25 Tango Lessons (published in June 2021).

Andrea lives in Montreal with her family.