Argentine tango

Argentine tango is a musical genre of simple quadruple metre and binary musical form, and the social dance that accompanies it. Its lyrics and music are marked by nostalgia, expressed through melodic instruments including the bandoneon. Originating at the ending of the 19th century in the suburbs of Buenos Aires,^[1] and Montevideo, Uruguay, it quickly grew in popularity and spread internationally. Among its leading figures are the singer and songwriter Carlos Gardel and composers/performers Francisco Canaro, Juan D'Arienzo, Carlos Di Sarli, Osvaldo Pugliese, and Ástor Piazzolla.

History of tango

The origins of tango are unclear because historical documentation from that era hardly exists. However, in recent years a few tango aficionados have undertaken a thorough research of that history^[2] , so it is less mysterious today than before. It is generally thought that the dance developed in the late 19th century in working-class neighborhoods of Buenos Aires, Argentina and Montevideo, Uruguay as practiced by Uruguayan and Argentine dancers, musicians, and immigrant laborers.^[3][4]

Music

Argentine tango music is much more varied than ballroom tango music. A large amount of tango music has been composed by a variety of different orchestras over the last century. Not only is there a large volume of music, there is a breadth of stylistic differences between these orchestras as well, which makes it easier for Argentine tango dancers to spend the whole night dancing only Argentine tango. The four representative schools of the Argentine tango music are Di Sarli, d'Arienzo, Troilo and Pugliese, all four descendent from Italian immigrant families. They are dance orchestras, playing music for dancing. When the spirit of the music is characterized by counterpoint marking, clarity in the articulation is needed. It has a clear, repetitive pulse or beat, a strong tango-rhythm which is based on the 2x4,^[5] 2 strong beats on 4 (dos por cuatro). Ástor Piazzolla stretched the classical harmony and counterpoint and moved the tango from the dance floor to the concert stage. His compositions tell us something of our contemporary life and dancing it relates much to modern dance.^[6]

While Argentine tango dancing has historically been danced to tango music, such as that produced by such orchestra leaders as Osvaldo Pugliese, Carlos Di Sarli, Juan d'Arienzo, in the '90s a younger generation of tango dancers began dancing tango steps to alternatives to tango music; music from other genres like, "world music", "electro-tango", "experimental rock", "trip hop", and "blues", to name a few. Tango nuevo dance is often associated with alternative music, see nuevo tango, but it can be danced to tango as well.

List of tango bandleaders during the Golden Age of tango:

Dance

Argentine tango dancing consists of a variety of styles that developed in different regions and eras, and in response to the crowding of the venue and even the fashions in clothing. Even though the present forms developed in Argentina and Uruguay, they were also exposed to influences re-imported from Europe and North America. There are records of 18th and early 19th century tango styles in Cuba and Spain,^[7] while there is a flamenco tangos dance that may share a common ancestor in a minuet-style European dance.^[8] Consequently, there is a good deal of confusion and overlap between the styles as they are now danced - and fusions continue to evolve.

Argentine tango is danced in an embrace that can vary from very open, in which leader and follower connect at arms length, to very closed, in which the connection is chest-to-chest, or anywhere in between.

Tango dance is essentially walking with a partner and the music. Dancing appropriately to the emotion and speed of a tango is extremely important to dancing tango. A good dancer is one who transmits a feeling of the music to the partner, leading them effectively throughout the dance. Also, dancers generally keep their feet close to the floor as they walk, the ankles and knees brushing as one leg passes the other.

Argentine tango dancing relies heavily on improvisation; although certain patterns of movement have been codified by instructors over the years as a device to instruct dancers, there is a "basic step" called "basico". One of the few constants across all Argentine tango dance styles is that the follower will usually be led to alternate feet. Another is that the follower rarely has his or her weight on both feet at the same time. In many modern variations of Argentine Tango, particularly in Europe, teachers of Tango may establish a "basic step" in order to help students to learn and pick up the "feel" of the dance.

Argentine tango is danced counterclockwise around the outside of the dance floor (the "line of dance") and dance "traffic" often segregates into a number of "lanes"; cutting across the middle of the floor is frowned upon. In general, the middle of the floor is where one finds either beginners who lack floor navigation skills or people who are performing "showy" figures or patterns that take up more dance floor space. It is acceptable to stop briefly in the line of dance to perform stationary figures, as long as the other dancers are not unduly impeded. The school of thought about this is, if there is open space in front, there are likely people waiting behind. Dancers are expected to respect the other couples on the floor; colliding or even crowding another couple, or stepping on others' feet is to be avoided strenuously. It is considered rude; in addition to possible physical harm rendered, it can be disruptive to a couple's musicality.

Ballroom tango steps were standardized by dance studios. The steps have been relatively fixed in style for decades. However, Argentine tango has been an evolving dance and musical form, with continual changes occurring every day on the social dance floor in Argentina and in major tango centers elsewhere in the world. Argentine tango dance is, still based heavily on improvisation. While there are patterns or sequences of steps that are used by instructors to teach the dance, even in a sequence every movement is led not only in direction but also speed and quality (a step can be smooth, pulsing, sharp, ... etc.). Although Argentine tango evolves mostly on the dance floor, the government of Argentina does host an annual competition of Argentine tango dance in Buenos Aires, attracting competitors from around the world.

Elements

Embrace

A striking difference between Argentine tango and ballroom tango is in the shape and feel of the embrace. Ballroom technique dictates that partners arch their upper bodies away from each other, while maintaining contact at the hip, in an offset frame.

In Argentine tango, it is nearly the opposite: the dancers' chests are closer to each other than are their hips, and often there is contact at about the level of the chest (the contact point differing, depending on the height of the leader and the closeness of the embrace). In close embrace, the leader and the follower's chests are in contact and they are dancing with their heads touching or very near each other. In open embrace, there can be as much space as desired between the partners, but there should always be complete contact along the embracing arms to give optimum communication. Since Argentine tango is almost entirely improvisational, there needs to be clear communication between partners. Even when dancing in a very open embrace, Argentine tango dancers do not hold their upper bodies arched away from each other; yet, each partner is not always over their own axis, there are even styles that demand a constant leaning against each other. Whether open or closed, a tango embrace is not rigid, but relaxed, like a hug.

Walking

One characteristic of Argentine tango is the walk outside of the legs of the follower. The inside walk belongs originally to the American Tango. It is seen in Argentine Tango, but it does not belong to it originally . Another difference is that the leader may freely step with his left foot when the follower steps with her left foot. In English, this is sometimes referred to as a "crossed" (e.g. "walking in the crossed system") or "uneven" walk in contrast to the normal walk which is called "parallel" or "even." In ballroom tango, "crossed system" is considered incorrect unless the leader and follower are facing the same direction . Furthermore, the flexibility of the embrace allows the leader to change his weight from one foot to another while the follower's weight remains unchanged. This is another major difference with ballroom tango, where a weight change by one partner usually leads to a weight change by the other.

The nomenclature originated with the Naveira/Salas "Investigation Group." Early on, they used 'even/uneven' to describe the arrangement of legs in the walk (or turn). By the mid-1990s, they began using 'parallel/crossed' and later 'normal/crossed'. In dance the changing of feet is named contrapaso, or "contra-step". This change can be made off or on the normal beat.

Figures

Unlike the majority of social dances, Argentine tango does not have a basic step; instead is a completely improvised dance combining various elements in a spontaneous manner, as determined by the lead. To be able to improvise, the dancer needs to learn the lead and implementation of the different single elements of Tango, so they can be produced later by leading appropriately in space and music. The elements are just a few as caminar (walk), cruce (cross), ochos (figure-eight), ganchos (leg hooks), giros (turns), contragiros (turns in the other direction), sacadas (displacements), boleos (this expression comes from boleadoras, balls linked with cords, thrown to hunt animals), llevadas de pie (moving foot by foot), cortes (cuts), and quebradas (breaks).^[9][10] Well-known and simple combinations are called figura básica (basic figures), especially when they contain just one element. Some of the elements are named as a figure.

Códigos and yeta

Argentine tango developed set of codes and superstitions throughout its history.

1. The Invitation to Dance

 

An invitation to dance is traditionally done by “cabeceó,” a head nod by one dancer met with eye contact. It is done during a cortina or early in the tanda. The advantage of the cabaceo is that it allows for unwanted dances to be avoided, and prevents any embarrassment that comes with a rejected dance. 

2. How many songs do I dance with my partner?

 

Argentine tango is danced in sets of songs, known as a “tanda.” A tanda is a set of three to four songs of one type of music- either tango, vals or milonga. If you accept a dance, you are expected to finish all of the songs with that partner. “Breaking the tanda” is viewed as incredibly rude, and it should not be done. Dancing two or more tandas with the same person is usually not done. It implies interest in your partner, and is seen as a flirtatious act. ^[11]

3. When does the tanda end? 

After three to four songs, the tanda is flowed by a “cortina” (curtain). It is traditionally a non-tango song that lasts approximately a minute. During this time the dancers return to their seats.^[12] Traditionally, it is frowned upon to dance to the music of a cortina. ^[13]

4. Give Priority To Those Currently Dancing

Never walk across the dance floor while people are dancing. When you get up to meet your dance partner, move to the outside edge of the dance floor. It is important to be mindful of those already dancing. 

5. The Right Of Way On The Dance Floor

Entering the line of dance in a crowded dance floor can be tricky. It is important to establish eye contact with the dancer approaching at your left before you enter the line of dance to avoid collision.^[14]

6. Distance Between Couples

Always be mindful of the distance between you and your partner, and the couple ahead of you. Do not dance too closely to the couple ahead of you, or there could be a collision if they make a turn. Conversely, do not allow that distance to become too large. Never move backwards into the space of the couple behind you. 

7. When The Dance Floor Becomes Crowded

 

It is important to adapt your movements to the size of the crowd dancing. In a crowded social setting, the follower’s feet should largely remain on the floor in order to avoid hitting anyone. Minimize large sweeping steps to avoid possibly hit another couple. ^[14]

8. Small Talk

It is frown upon to talk whilst dancing. Small talk is appropriate it between songs, or if you are sitting and not dancing. 

9. Feedback/ teaching

It is not appropriate to give or receive feedback during Milongas. Correcting someone during this time takes away from the mutual enjoyment of the dance. ^[14] Prácticas and classes provide opportunities for this type of interaction.

10. Yetas

Somewhat related is "yeta"  - superstitions. For example, one doesn't dance to the well known tango "Adios Muchachos" as it is (falsely) ^[15] believed the last one sung by Carlos Gardel before his untimely accident leading to his death.

Argentine Tango Etiquette today:

 

While many of the códigos largely remain unchanged, the dance continues evolve alongside modernity. In the history of Argentine tango, dancing two or more tandas with the same person was usually not done as it was seen as a flirtatious act. This is one “rule” that is seen as more flexible in the modern era. This is especially true in smaller communities of tango dancers. ^[13] Furthermore, tango has adapted to ever-changing fashion styles, and more casual clothing for men and women are accepted, although many make an effort to dress up for Milongas. The music played for cortinas is distinct, and cannot be confused with tango music. In Buenos Aires it is traditionally not acceptable to dance to cortinas. In the United States it is merely awkward to dance to them. ^[13]

Vals and milonga

Argentine tango dancers usually enjoy two other related dances: vals (waltz) and milonga.

Music for the vals is in 3/4 time. Tango dancers dance the vals in a rather relaxed, smooth flowing dancing style in contrast to Viennese Waltz where the dancers often take 3 steps per measure and turn almost constantly. Experienced dancers alternate the smooth one-beat-per-measure walk with some double time steps (often incorrectly called syncopated walks), stepping on one- two- or (rarely) all three beats in a measure. Vals dancing is characterized by absence of pauses; continual turns (giros) in both directions are not done as in ballroom quick waltz, although turns are sometimes introduced for variety.

Milonga, in 2/4 time, has a strongly accented beat, and sometimes an underlying "habanera" rhythm. Dancers avoid pausing, and often introduce double time steps (incorrectly called syncopation and more appropriately called traspies) into their walks and turns. Milonga dancing uses the same basic elements as tango, with a strong emphasis on the rhythm, and figures that tend to be less complex than some danced in other varieties of tango. Some tango instructors say that tango steps should not be used in milonga and that milonga has its own special rhythm and steps, which are quite different from tango.

Milonga is also the name given to clubs and events specially for dancing tango. This double meaning of the word milonga can be confusing unless one knows the context in which the word "milonga" is used. People who attend milongas are known as milongueros.

Styles of Argentine tango dance

Tango canyengue

Tango canyengue is a rhythmic style of tango that originated in the early 1900s and is still popular today. It is one of the original roots styles of tango and contains all fundamental elements of traditional Argentine tango. In tango canyengue the dancers share one axis, dance in a closed embrace, and with the legs relaxed and slightly bent. Tango canyengue uses body dissociation for the leading, walking with firm ground contact, and a permanent combination of on- and off-beat rhythm.^[16] Its main characteristics are its musicality and playfulness. Its rhythm is described as "incisive, exciting, provocative".^[17]

The word canyengue is of African origin. It came into use to describe the tango rhythm at the time of the first so-called 'orquestas típicas' (including bandoneón, violin and piano).^[18]

Leading exponents of tango canyengue:

• Romolo Garcia (deceased)
• El Negro Celso (deceased)
• Rodolfo Cieri (deceased) and Maria Cieri
• Luis Grondona
• Marta Anton (deceased) and 'El Gallego' Manolo Salvador
• Roxina Villegas and Adrian Griffero
• Ernest Williams and Maricela Wilson^[19]
• Omar and Monica Ocampo

Tango orillero

Tango orillero refers to the style of dance that developed away from the town centers, in the outskirts and suburbs where there was more freedom due to more available space on the dance floor. The style is danced in an upright position and uses various embellishments including rapid foot moves, kicks, and even some acrobatics, though this is a more recent development.

Salon tango

Tango Salon does not refer to a single specific way of dancing tango. Rather, it is literally tango as it is danced socially in the salons (dance halls) of Buenos Aires. Salon tango was danced throughout the Golden Era of Argentine Tango (1935–1952) when milongas (tango parties) were held in large dance venues and full tango orchestras performed. Salon tango is often characterized by slow, measured, and smoothly executed moves, never moving against the line-of-dance, and respecting the space of other dancers on the floor around them. The emphasis is on precision, smoothness, musicality, good navigation, and following the códigos (tango etiquette) of the salons. The couple embraces closely, with some variants having a flexible embrace, opening slightly to make room for various figures and closing again for support and poise. The walk is the most important element, and dancers usually walk 60%-70% of the time during a tango song.

When tango became popular again after the end of the Argentine military dictatorships in 1983, this style was resurrected by dancers from the Golden Era:

• Carlitos (Carlos) and Rosa Perez. The legendary teacher couple at Club Sunderlad, Buenos Aires. Almost all World Tango Championship winners have taken lessons from them.
• Carlos Estévez "Petróleo" †
• Gerardo Portalea †
• Jose "El Turco" Brahemcha
• Jose "Lampazo" Vazquez †
• Luis "Milonguita" Lemos †
• Miguel Balmaceda †
• Mingo and Esther Pugliese
• Osvaldo Cartery † and Luisa "Coca" Inés
• Toto Faraldo
• Pedro "Tete" Rusconi †
• Ramón "Finito" Rivera †
• Virulazo †
• In the milongas at Club Sin Rumbo, Sunderland, Club Glorias Argentinas, Salon El Pial and Salon Canning.

One variant of Tango Salon is the Villa Urquiza style, named after the northern barrio of Buenos Aires where the clubs Sin Rumbo and Sunderland are located. Some argentinian dancers or couples who were or are current practitioners and teach the Villa Urquiza style of tango are:

• El Chino Perico (one of the old milongueros)
• María and Carlos Rivarola
• The Dispari family with Jorge Dispari and Marita 'La Turca' and their daughters Samantha Dispari and Geraldine Rojas with their respective couples, Santiago Fina and Ezequiel Paludi.
• Miguel Angel Zotto and Milena Plebs
• Andrés Laza Moreno
• Osvaldo Zotto† and Lorena Ermocida
• The Rodriguez family with Jorge and Liliana Rodríguez their daughter Malena, and son Javier Rodríguez.
• The Missé family (Andrea Missé †, Sebastián Missé with Andrea Reyero, Gabriel Missé and Stella Missé)
• Carlos Perez and Rosa Forte
• Fabián Peralta
• Adrián and Amanda Costa. Teaching in Europe. They live in France as of 2014. Studied under Jorge Dispari and Marita 'La Turca'.
• José Luis González (CL) and Paulina Cazabón (CL). They live in Chile as of 2015 and tour in Europe (mainly France).
• Juan Martin Carrara (UY) and Stefania Colina (UY). They live in Uruguay as of 2015 and tour in Europe
• Carlos Rodriguez de Boedo (AR) and Brigita Urbietytė (LT). They live in Kaunas, Lithuania as of 2015 and teach mostly in Baltic and eastern countries.
• Chiche Nuñez (AR). He lives in Berlin, Germany as of 2015.
• Alper Ergökmen and Selen Sürek. They live in Ankara, Turkey as of 2015 and teach mostly in Europe.
• Ney Melo. He lives in US as of 2015.

"Estilo milonguero" (tango apilado/confiteria style; estilo del centro de Buenos Aires)

This is a close-embrace style named by Susana Miller in the 1990s.^[20] Ideal for crowded dance floors, it is danced chest-to-chest, knees relaxed, back straight, with the partners leaning - or appearing to lean - slightly toward each other to allow space for the feet to move. The center line of the leader's and follower's spines are directly in front of each other, requiring that each dancer turn their head to their left slightly to find space over their partner's right shoulder. The follower's left arm reaches directly up over the leader's shoulder without resting any body weight on the leader's shoulder. The leader's left hand and the follower's right hand clasp in the same manner as other styles of Argentine Tango, with elbows pointed down (contrasting with elbows up and pointed back as in ballroom tango), with little or no pressure applied by the arms or hands. The leader's right arm is held high across the follower's shoulder blades to help facilitate the upper chest connection, to avoid pulling the follower's lower torso and hips in toward the leader, thus allowing more flexibility of movement in the mid and lower spine and better extension of the follower's legs. In the case of followers that are not tall enough to place their head over the leader's shoulder, it is recommended that the follower's head be turned to the right and touch the left side of the head to the leader's chest, and the follower's left arm may wrap around the outside right arm (although this is generally not preferred as it limits the leader's flexibility of movement, and is a danger on crowded dance floors to have the follower's elbow sticking out). It is generally not recommended for a leader to dance milonguero style with a follower that is too tall for the leader to see over the follower's shoulder since it would be very difficult to navigate around the dance floor.

A style of Carlitos Espinoza can be considered a modern development of tango milonguero.^[21]

Tango nuevo

Starting in the 1990s in Buenos Aires, the Tango Investigation Group (later transformed into the Cosmotango organization) founded by Gustavo Naveira and Fabián Salas^[22] applied the principles of dance kinesiology from modern dance to analyze the physics of movement in Argentine tango. Taking what they learned from this analysis they then began to explore all the possibilities of movement within the framework of Argentine Tango. From the work of these founders of the Tango Nuevo movement, there was shift in all styles of tango away from teaching what to dance toward teaching how to dance.

• 
  Linear boleo
• 
  Volcada lead in closed embrace

Though widely referred to as a tango style outside of Argentina, Tango Nuevo is not considered a style of dancing tango by the founders of the movement. It refers only to the method of analysis and teaching developed through the application of the principles of dance kinesiology to Argentine Tango. In 2009, Gustavo Naveira published an essay New Tango in which he states, "There is great confusion on the question of the way of dancing the tango: call it technique, form, or style. The term tango nuevo, is used to refer to a style of dancing, which is an error. In reality, tango nuevo is everything that has happened with the tango since the 1980s. It is not a question of a style... The words tango nuevo express what is happening with tango dancing in general; namely that it is evolving."^[23] Therefore, as the Gustavo Naveira and other founders of the Tango Nuevo movement have said, all styles of tango, which have now been influenced by the analysis of the dance, are all Tango Nuevo.

Despite the insistence by the founders of the Tango Nuevo movement that it is not a single style, it has become an accepted term by many that it is a separate and distinct style of tango. Practitioners of tango nuevo are Gustavo Naveira, Javier Antar, Norberto "El Pulpo" Esbrés, Fabián Salas, Sebastian Arce, Mariana Montes, Mariano 'Chicho' Frumboli, Lucía Mazer, Eugenia Parrilla. All of these dancers have highly individual styles that cannot be confused with each other, yet are all referred to by many as the tango nuevo style.

Tango traditional

A very pure and early form of tango, on base as walking rhythmically, not on the beat but with rhythm.

Tango con corte y quebrada

Tango which adds cortes and quebradas, cuts and breaks. The quebradas later on has been put in a more esthetic style (estilizar) and are today known as poses de tango, Tango Positions.

Tango de fantasía

This style mostly evolved over the 1940-1950 time span. The term Tango de Fantasía refers to music, dance, and dresses; it tries to codify a tango form different from the traditional one. Dancers added little sits and fast footwork – doing fantasies, as some people called it. The related men's suit with a white border is named traje de fantasía. In music, Osmar Héctor Maderna's^[24] was referred to as Tango de Fantasía due to his arrangements which included fancy solos. During the same time period, people used to refer to the non-traditional Argentinian folklore by a similar expression: Folklore de Projección.

Show tango

Show tango, and Tango de Escenario (stage tango) is a more theatrical form of Argentine tango developed to suit the stage.

In theory, all styles can be performed on stage, but the movement has to take stage elements into accounts, such as diagonals, centres, fronts, placement of lights, etc. Often, show tango routines includes embellishments, acrobatics, and solo moves that would be impractical on a social dance floor. Stage tango can be partially improvised, but in order for the general choreography to fit the set stage, some parts need to be rehearsed as a set routine.

Stage Tango still has to be led like it is led in all other Tango styles; otherwise the couple is missing the main ingredient of the dance, namely, the typical intimate connection; this connection becomes visible only when the leader and follower enter their roles  – whether the show is choreographed or not.

Tango on stage should not be confused with Tango de Fantasia or tango acrobatico, which is a particular style of tango that is only suitable for stage dancing.^[25]

Examples of tango shows

• Tango

Javier Rodrigues & Geraldine Rojas

Carlitos Espinoza & Noelia Hurtado

• Tango vals

Ariadna Naveira & Fernando Sanchez

Sigrid and Murat

• Tango milonga

Fausto Carpino & Stephanie Fesneau

Javier Rodriguez & Geraldine Rojas

Sebastian Arce & Mariana Montes

Chicho Frumboli & Juana Sepulveda

Bichi & Isa

Resurgence of Argentine tango outside Argentina

France

In 1983, the dance show Tango Argentino, staged by Claudio Segovia and Hector Orezzolli, opened in Paris, France, starring dancers Juan Carlos Copes^[26] and Maria Nieves,^[27] Nélida y Nelson, Eduardo y Gloria, María y Carlos Rivarola,^[28] Norma y Luis Pereyra,^[29][30] Mayoral y Elsa Maria, Carlos y Inés Borges, Pablo Veron, Miguel Zotto and Milena Plebs,^[31] and Virulazo and Elvira.^[32]

United Kingdom

Argentine tango dancing in the UK began in the early 1990s in response to the hugely popular internationally touring shows "Forever Tango" and "Tango Argentino". Enthusiastic Anglo-Argentine milonguero (dance hall tango dancer) Andrew Potter who had followed "Forever Tango" to London and stayed for its extensive run, got together with some Londoner friends to start the city's first ever tango milonga (tango dance party/hall) in The London Welsh Centre at 157,Grays Inn Road, known as "Tango The Argentine Way" which would pack out every Friday night. From that moment, the tango dances and classes proliferated throughout the Capital and then throughout the rest of the UK. Today, tango in its various manifestations (milonguero, tango nuevo, Villa Urquiza etc.) can be found in most of Britain's major towns and cities and throughout the year there are special seasonal courses and retreats when visiting star teachers from Argentina and Europe offer special workshops in the dance. In general, outside of Argentina, the music of tango has followed the dance in popularity, rather than the other way round (in Argentina the music came before the dance) but over the last twenty years a tango music tradition has grown in size and excellence with bands like Tango Siempre at the forefront.

In more recent years,the huge resurgence of interest overall in partner dances in the UK has been led by the decade old TV programme "strictly Come Dancing" (which focuses on modern ball-room styles) as well as by an ever growing interest in other popular partner dance forms practised widely in the UK over the last fifteen to twenty years, such as Salsa, Argentinian Tango, Swing and Modern Jive. Some dancers who start in modern jive or salsa find that as they progress they want more challenging and more connected dance forms and Argentine tango is a natural progression. There are now some jive venues that offer a second room with a mixture of blues and tango dancing. At such events it is common to see tango-jive fusion being danced.

The popularity of tango dancing has also been fed by Hollywood films that feature the dance.

There are now numerous tango clubs, milongas, teachers and classes throughout the country but especially in London.

USA

In 1985, the French dance show Tango Argentino transferred to Broadway in New York City.^[33] Cast members gave classes to a number of students, including Robert Duvall. Paul Pellicoro provided a dance center for the performers to teach new students. At the same time, Danel and Maria Bastone were teaching tango in New York, and Orlando Paiva was offering tango classes in Los Angeles, California. For further lessons, Duvall sought out Nestor Ray, a dancer who Duvall had seen perform in the documentary film Tango mio.

In 1986, Nora and Raul Dinzelbacher visited San Francisco, California, coming from La Paz, Entre Ríos and Buenos Aires aboard a cruise ship where they were dancing tango and chacarera professionally. Al and Barbara Garvey took tango classes from them as well as from Jorge and Rosa Ledesma from Quilmes, Buenos Aires; all in the style of choreographed show tango. In 1987, the Garveys traveled to Buenos Aires to discover the traditional improvisational social dance style at a large milonga (Centro Akarense) filled with older dancers in Villa Urquiza.^[34] Upon returning home to Fairfax, California, the Garveys continued tango lessons and began organizing milongas around the San Francisco Bay Area. They co-founded the Bay Area Argentine Tango Association (BAATA) and published a journal.

In 1986, Brigitta Winkler appeared in her first stage performance, Tangoshow in Montreal. Though based in Berlin, Winkler traveled often to teach at tango festivals in North America throughout the following two decades. Winkler was a seminal influence of Daniel Trenner.^[35] Montreal's first tango teachers, French-born Lily Palmer and her Argentine friend, Antonio Perea, offered classes in 1987.

The Dinzelbachers settled in San Francisco in 1988, in response to the demand for tango teachers following a visit to San Francisco by the touring production of Tango Argentino.^[36] Nora and Raul Dinzelbacher taught a core group of students who would later become teachers themselves, including the Garveys, Polo Talnir and Jorge Allende.

In 1989, the Dinzelbachers were invited to Cincinnati, Ohio by Richard Powers, to introduce and teach Argentine tango at a weeklong dance festival. The following year, Powers moved his festival to Stanford University and asked the Dinzelbachers back. Unfortunately, Raul Dinzelbacher, 40 years old, collapsed and died at the end of the third day of the festival. Nora Dinzelbacher was devastated but threw herself into her work, forming a dance performance troupe and teaching. She asked a student, George Guim, to become her assistant. They taught at a week-long dance festival in Port Townsend, Washington.

Throughout 1990, Luis Bravo's Forever Tango played in eight West Coast cities, increasing viewer's interest in learning the tango. Carlos Gavito and his partner Marcela Duran invented a dramatically different tango embrace in which both dancers leaned forward against each other more than was traditionally accepted. Gavito's ultimate rise to fame came from this starring appearance in Forever Tango.^[37]

In 1991, Richard Powers asked Nora Dinzelbacher to help him transform "Stanford Dance Week" into "Stanford Tango Week". The two produced the popular annual festival until the University abruptly cancelled it after its 1997 run. In 1998, with Bob Moretti, a retired USAF Lt. Col. and one of her students, Nora began a new festival in the same vein: "Nora's Tango Week", held in Emeryville, California.^[38] Moretti would continue to co-produce the festival until his death on June 22, 2005, just days before that year's Tango Week.^[39]

In the first half of 1994, Barbara Garvey's BAATA mailing list grew from 400 to 1,400 dancers. Garvey places the critical mass of the San Francisco Bay Area's tango resurgence at this point. The number of regional milongas went from three per month to 30.^[40]

Forever Tango returned to the United States late in 1994, landing in Beverly Hills, then San Francisco, where it ran for 92 weeks. From there the show went to New York where it became the longest-running tango production in Broadway history.^[41]

In June 1995, Janis Kenyon held a tango festival at Northwestern University. Kenyon had attended Stanford Tango Week in 1993, where she met Juan Carlos Copes and Maria Nieves. The pair were invited to teach at Kenyon's 1995 Chicago event. The next year, Kenyon moved her festival to Columbus, Ohio, where she featured Osvaldo Zotto. In February 1997, Clay Nelson (a two-time attendee at Stanford Tango Week) organized his first ValenTango festival in Portland, Oregon; "Tango Fantasy on Miami Beach" was formed by Jorge Nel, Martha Mandel, Lydia Henson and Randy Pittman as Florida's first tango festival; and the Portland October Tangofest was launched, again by Clay Nelson. 1999 saw a split in Miami: Nel and Mandel scheduled their "United States Tango Congress" to open a month prior to the Tango Fantasy event.^[42]

Daniel Trenner has been credited with bringing improvisational social Argentine tango to the United States.^[43] Like the Garveys, he first went to Buenos Aires in 1987, where he went to a milonga in Palermo and saw the traditional improvisational style being danced. Trenner was introduced to Miguel and Nelly Balmacera, a couple who would become his first tango teachers.^[44] Being fluent in both Spanish and English he was able to study with many Argentine tango masters, including Gustavo Naveira and Mingo Pugliese. He made video tapes of the lessons he took and translated the Spanish instruction into English. In the late 1980s, Trenner brought his newfound appreciation of traditional tango back to New York and conducted classes. In 1991, Trenner began working with Rebecca Shulman in performing and teaching tango.^[45] (Shulman would go on to be a co-founder and director of TangoMujer in New York and Berlin.) In 1995, Trenner taught for ten weeks in Colorado, followed by some 15 of those students accompanying him to Buenos Aires. Out of this experience, "Tango Colorado" was formed by Tom Stermitz and other tango aficionados from Denver, Boulder and Fort Collins, and a twice-yearly tango festival was organized in Denver. Trenner had planted the seed and moved on. In this way, Trenner has been called the Johnny Appleseed of tango.^[46]

In February 2009, the popular ABC series Dancing with the Stars announced that the Argentine tango would be added to the list of dances for its eighth season, following the initiative by its British parent show Strictly Come Dancing the previous year.

There are numerous tango festivals in the United States. The most popular are Seattle Tango Magic, Denver Memorial Day, Portland Valentango in Portland, Oregon, Denver Tango Festival in Denver, Colorado.

The Tango Society of Boston is a non-profit organization dedicated to the support and growth of the Argentine Tango. The Tango is a social and participant’s dance and is for everyone to learn and enjoy, regardless of dance background. The 12th Annual Boston Tango Festival June 2016 15th-19th http://www.bostontangofestival.org/contact.html

Perceptions of tango from film culture

Argentine tango is the main subject of many films.

• Tango (1913) with Lucyna Messal, Józef Redo. Short film featuring Tango dancers made in Poland.^[47]
• El tango de la muerte (1917)^[48]
• El Tango en Broadway (1934) starring Carlos Gardel^[49]
• Adiós Buenos Aires (1938)^[50]
• La historia del tango (1949) Tango documentary produced in Argentina^[51]
• Tango Argentino (1969) Tango documentary produced in Argentina^[52]
• Tango Bar (1988), starring Raúl Juliá, Rubén Juarez, Valeria Linch, María y Carlos Rivarola^[53]
• Naked Tango (1990), starring Vincent D´Onofrio, Mathilda May, Fernando Rey. Choreography by Carlos Rivarola, directed by Leonard Schrader
• The Tango Lesson (1997), starring Sally Potter and Pablo Verón, directed by Sally Potter
• Tango (1998), starring Miguel Angel Solá, Juan Carlos Copes, Cecilia Narova, Mía Maestro, Julio Bocca, Carlos Rivarola directed by Carlos Saura
• Assassination Tango (2002), starring Robert Duvall, Luciana Pedraza, Rubén Blades and Kathy Baker, directed by Robert Duvall
• Orquesta Tipica (2005), documentary film about typical orchestra Fernandez Fierro, directed by Nicolas Entel
• 12 Tangos - Adios Buenos Aires (2005), directed by Arne Birkenstock ^[54]
• El Ultimo Bandoneón (2006), directed by Alejandro Saderman^[55]
• Café de Los Maestros (2008) - Interviews with the musicians and singers from the golden era of Tango.^[56]
• El último aplauso (2009) - Documentary produced in Argentina^[57]

Argentine tango is featured or referred to in these films/TV shows:

• The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921) - Rudolph Valentino dances an Argentine tango in this silent film.
• Tango Bar (1935), starring Carlos Gardel, Rosita Moreno, Enrique de Rosas, Tito Lusiardo. Despite the title, tango is not a central theme of the movie. However, there is one scene featuring Carlos Gardel dancing tango.^[58]
• Scent of a Woman (1992) - Al Pacino's character, who is blind, dances the tango with a beautiful woman and is captivated by the scent of her perfume during the tango's close embrace.
• Moulin Rouge! (2001) - Two minor characters perform a tango while Ewan McGregor's character sings "El Tango de Roxanne".
• The Tuxedo (2002) - Jackie Chan used a dance-double for the tango scene.
• Shall We Dance? (2004) - Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez dance an Argentine tango by a rain-streaked window in a darkened dance studio.
• Nip/Tuck (2005) - In the 3rd season episode titled "Tommy Bolton", Bruno Campos and Joely Richardson dance a tango while out to dinner at an upscale restaurant.
• Take the Lead (2006) - Antonio Banderas dances the tango with Katya Virshilas.
• Another Cinderella Story (2008) - Selena Gomez and Drew Seeley dance at a costume ball.

A culture developed for tango films in the Cinema of Argentina beginning in the early 1930s. See Category:Tango films.

Tango is also subject of many books

• Nicole Nau-Klapwijk: Tango Dimensionen, Kastell Verlag GmbH 1999, ISBN 978-3-924592-65-3.
• Nicole Nau-Klapwijk: Tango, un baile bien porteño, Editorial Corregidor 2000, ISBN 950-05-1311-0

Tango is subject of operas

• María de Buenos Aires, Opera ("Tango Operita") in 16 acts; Music: Ástor Piazzolla, Libretto: Horacio Ferrer; Premier: 8 May 1968 in Buenos Aires with Amelita Baltar (María) and Horacio Ferrer (Duende);
• Orestes último Tango,^[59] Opera, Music: Diego Vila, Libretto: Betty Gambartes, Choreography: Oscar Araiz. Based on El Reñidero by Sergio de Cecco which is based on Electra of Sophocles. Premiere 22. March 2002 in Rotterdam by the Wereld Muziektheater Festival of the Netherlands. Originalcast: Julia Zenko (Elena), Carlos Vittori (Orestes), Susana Moncayo (Nélida), Rodolfo Valss (Soriano), Luis Pereyra (Morales), Jorge Nolasco (Vicente) and Nicole Nau (La mujer de la milonga).

See also

• Figures of Argentine tango
• Chamarrita
• Finnish tango
• Carlos Gardel
• History of tango
• Lunfardo
• Maxixe (dance) (or Brazilian tango)
• Tango music
• Tango (ballroom)
• Tango (dance)
• Queer Tango
• Uruguayan tango
• El Sonido de mi Tierra - The Great Dance of Argentina

References

External links

Music

• Argentine Tango Radio
• todotango.com musicians, lyricists, discographies
• tango.info/music musicians, lyricists, CDs, 78 rpm

Dance

• The Basics of Tango (Part One) Basic Tango principles and advice
• Tango Secrets - A structural and analytical approach to dancing Argentine Tango