Brief History of Tango Dance

Knowing, at the very least, a brief history of tango dance can help both enrich your appreciation of the dance and your performance of it as well.

Tango has been called “the dance of the immigrants” because even though its roots are from the South American countries of Argentina and Uruguay, it developed in the seaport towns. Many different forms of dance came to the port from the sailors and passengers, including:

• The ‘’habanera’’ from Cuba
• The ‘’milonga’’ from Uruguay (gatherings of tango dancers are stilled called “‘’milongas’’” today)
• The ‘’candombe’’ (also from Uruguay)
• The ‘’flamenco’’ in Spain (which has a dance called ‘’tangos’’ that shares a common dance vocabulary)
• Various forms of dance from western Africa

Between the many choreographic styles and the mish mash of musical styles and instruments from Europe, the definite origin of tango is hard to pin down. The word was first recorded being used in the 1890s, and the ‘’Teatro Opera’’ of Argentina offered it as one of many social dances at their balls in 1902. The dance became incredibly popular, spreading through the working class to the point where street barrel organs would inspire impromptu dances in the slums of the Argentinian melting pot.

From 1903 to1910, as gramophone records were beginning to be released, over a third of them were “tango” music. It wasn’t until 1910 that the German bandoneon (a squeezebox instrument) began to be associated with the dance, but today the sound of the bandoneon chords are inextricably linked to the dramatic dance. In the decade following the bandoneon's association with tango, recordings by artists who included the bandoneon in their tango music made up almost half of all the releases by the gramophone companies.

It was also between 1910 and 1920 that tango dancers and musicians traveled from South America to Europe, setting a tango craze off in Paris first, then spreading to London and Berlin. By 1913 it had crossed the Atlantic again, hitting New York, but the U.S. had less tolerance for the sensuality and close body contact that typified the Argentinian style of tango. The dance was modified into a more rigid and separated dance frame, which would eventually become the “ballroom” or “international” style of tango as it’s performed in competitions today.

Unfortunately, changing the dance also made it less attractive to many and it began to decline in popularity worldwide as dances such as the foxtrot and the samba came to the forefront. When cinema began competing with all forms of dance, the international appeal of tango declined even more.

However, tango remained a vibrant part of the arts in Buenos Aires and other cities in Argentina. Ask an Argentinian tango dancer for a brief history of tango dance and you're liable to be listening for hours. Despite this long history, the story of tango in Argentina was not always a smooth one. As the country went through many changes in government, at times the dance had to go underground, as regimes would ban public gatherings, try to moderate cultural expression, or come up with other modes of repression. Through it all, tango remained alive, and when Juan Perón took power he embraced the dance as an integral part of Argentina’s cultural heritage. While it had to compete with rock and roll in later years, it has been steadily growing since then.

Today’s renaissance of tango dance comes partly from movies such as Carlos Saura’s ‘’Tango’’ and ‘’Take the Lead‘’ starring Antonio Banderas. It is also featured in competitions such as ‘’Dancing with the Stars’’ and ‘’So You Think You Can Dance’’. Dance studios and community groups that celebrate the Argentinian tango exist even far from New York and Los Angeles, such as in Madison, Wisconsin.

Using the wealth of videos on sites such as YouTube can show you not only the dancers of today but also the performers and musicians from yesterday, making tango a richer experience for everyone.

• Photos of Ballet Dancers
• Dance Studio Equipment
• Pictures of Limbo Dancing

• Dance Steps to Thriller
• Popular Line Dances
• Famous Choreographers
• Country Line Dance Steps
• Famous Ballet Dancers