Argentine tango is a type of music and dance that began in the late 1800s in the areas outside the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It usually follows a 4 or 4 beat pattern and includes two or three sections that repeat in patterns such as ABAB or ABCAC. The lyrics often express feelings of longing, sadness, and sorrow over lost love. The orchestra typically includes many instruments that play melodies, and the bandoneon, a type of accordion, gives the music a unique sound. Over time, tango has become more popular worldwide, incorporating modern styles while keeping its traditional elements. Important people associated with tango include singer and songwriter Carlos Gardel, and composers and performers Francisco Canaro, Juan D'Arienzo, Carlos Di Sarli, Osvaldo Pugliese, Elvira Santamaría, and Ástor Piazzolla.

History of tango

The origins of tango are not fully known because there is little written information from the time when it began. In recent years, some people who love tango have studied its history carefully, making it less mysterious today. Most people believe tango started in the late 1800s in working-class areas of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was danced by Argentinian people, musicians, and immigrants. Like other Latin American countries, wealthy Argentinians avoided mixing with people of darker skin. They repeated European colonial-era ideas that non-white people were forced to live in separate areas. Tango was danced in streets and courtyards, especially in dark places. Afro-Argentinians played important roles in shaping tango’s music and dance steps early on. The word "tango" came from Afro-Argentine dance styles, and Black people remained connected to tango throughout the 20th century. Tango expressed the political struggles of the Black community and was enjoyed by immigrants living in poor areas who wanted better lives.

Argentine elites saw tango as a place where lower-class people gathered. However, when famous tango performers like Alberto Castillo became popular, the image of Black people linked to tango became more accepted in Argentina’s culture during the 1930s to 1950s. Tango songs often challenged the idea of Argentina as a country only for rich people who danced the foxtrot. Instead, they showed that real Argentina included both Black and white people who created tango. Tango songs also focused on humility, and this idea became part of Argentina’s national identity. The Buenos Aires city government and the national government promoted tango by creating the Academia Nacional del Tango. A law called "Ley Nacional del Tango" was passed in 1996 to recognize tango as an important part of Argentine culture.

At first, middle and upper-class Argentinians avoided tango because they preferred dances like the Viennese waltz. However, between 1910 and 1920, tango became popular in European cities like Paris, Berlin, Rome, and Vienna. European reactions to tango were mixed. In Rome, King Vittorio Emanuele III banned tango from dances at the Quirinal Palace. In Bavaria, Kaiser Wilhelm II ordered his soldiers not to dance tango in uniform. In Vienna, tango was excluded from a ball in the 1920s. Only in 2017 did tango return to traditional Viennese balls through the Technische Universität Ball, which now includes a milonga in its program.

Music

Argentine tango music has many more styles than ballroom tango music. Over the past 100 years, many orchestras have created tango music. These orchestras have made a lot of music, and their styles are very different from each other. This variety allows Argentine tango dancers to enjoy dancing Argentine tango all night long. Four main groups of Argentine tango music are Di Sarli, d'Arienzo, Troilo, and Pugliese. All four were born to families from Italy who moved to Argentina. These orchestras play music meant for dancing. When the music has parts that alternate between different melodies, the notes need to be clearly played. The music has a strong, repeated rhythm called "dos por cuatro," which means two strong beats in four. Ástor Piazzolla changed how tango music uses harmony and melody, moving it from dance halls to concert stages. His music shows modern life, and dancing it connects to modern dance styles.

Historically, Argentine tango dancing has used music from orchestras like those led by Osvaldo Pugliese, Carlos di Sarli, and Juan d'Arienzo. In the 1990s, younger tango dancers began using music from other genres, such as "world music," "electro-tango," "experimental rock," "trip hop," and "blues." Tango nuevo is often linked to alternative music, but it can also be danced to traditional tango music.

The TANGO-DJ.AT Database includes information and sound samples from 110,000 recordings of tango music. These recordings were taken from 78-RPMs, LPs, CDs, and digital files.

List of tango bandleaders during the Golden Age of tango:

Resurgence outside Argentina

In 1983, the dance show Tango Argentino was produced in Paris, France by Claudio Segovia and Hector Orezzolli. The show featured dancers such as Juan Carlos Copes and Maria Nieves, along with other performers like Nélida y Nelson, Eduardo y Gloria, María y Carlos Rivarola, Norma y Luis Pereyra, Mayoral y Elsa Maria, Carlos y Inés Borges, Pablo Veron, Miguel Zotto, Milena Plebs, and Virulazo and Elvira.

Argentine tango dancing in the UK began in the early 1990s after the popular international shows Forever Tango and Tango Argentino toured worldwide. Andrew Potter, an enthusiastic Anglo-Argentine milonguero (a person who dances tango at social events), followed Forever Tango to London and stayed for its long run. He then started the UK’s first tango milonga (a tango dance party or hall) at The London Welsh Centre on Grays Inn Road, called Tango The Argentine Way. This event became very popular, drawing many dancers every Friday night. From this point, tango dances and classes spread across London and then to other parts of the UK.

In 1985, the show Tango Argentino moved to Broadway in New York City. Some cast members taught classes, including Robert Duvall. Paul Pellicoro provided a dance center for the performers to teach new students. At the same time, Danel and Maria Bastone taught tango in New York, and Orlando Paiva taught classes in Los Angeles. Duvall later took lessons from Nestor Ray, a dancer he had seen perform in the documentary film Tango mio.

In 1986, Nora and Raul Dinzelbacher traveled to San Francisco from La Paz, Entre Ríos, and Buenos Aires by cruise ship. They danced tango and chacarera professionally. Al and Barbara Garvey took tango classes from them and from Jorge and Rosa Ledesma from Quilmes, Buenos Aires. These classes focused on choreographed show tango. In 1987, the Garveys visited Buenos Aires to learn traditional improvisational social tango at a large milonga (Centro Akarense) in Villa Urquiza, where older dancers practiced. After returning to Fairfax, California, the Garveys continued tango lessons and started organizing milongas in the San Francisco Bay Area. They co-founded the Bay Area Argentine Tango Association (BAATA) and published a journal.

In 1986, Brigitta Winkler performed in her first stage show, Tangoshow, in Montreal. Though based in Berlin, Winkler often taught at tango festivals in North America for two decades. She influenced Daniel Trenner. In 1987, Montreal’s first tango teachers, Lily Palmer (from France) and Antonio Perea (from Argentina), began offering classes.

The Dinzelbachers settled in San Francisco in 1988 after a visit by the touring production of Tango Argentino. Nora and Raul taught a group of students who later became teachers, including the Garveys, Polo Talnir, and Jorge Allende.

In 1989, Richard Powers invited the Dinzelbachers to Cincinnati to teach Argentine tango at a weeklong festival. The next year, Powers moved his festival to Stanford University and asked the Dinzelbachers to return. Unfortunately, Raul Dinzelbacher, who was 40 years old, collapsed and died during the third day of the festival. Nora was deeply saddened but continued her work, forming a dance troupe and teaching. She asked a student, George Guim, to help her. Together, they taught at a weeklong festival in Port Townsend, Washington.

Throughout 1990, Luis Bravo’s Forever Tango performed in eight West Coast cities, increasing interest in learning tango. Carlos Gavito and his partner Marcela Duran created a new tango embrace style, where dancers leaned forward more than was traditionally accepted. Gavito’s fame grew from his role in Forever Tango.

It is a little-known fact that Luis Bravo first introduced Forever Tango in 1990 while Tango Argentino was on a break. He took three couples from the show and Gloria and Eduardo as artistic directors. The show paused until 1994, when it reopened in San Francisco and later moved to Broadway in 1996 and 1997.

In 1991, Richard Powers started The Stanford Tango Weeks, inviting Nora Dinzelbacher and two others to teach with him. Recognizing the need to keep interest in Argentine tango alive, Powers organized eight more Tango Weeks over the years. The Stanford Tango Weeks became a popular annual event with 32 instructors teaching at the Roble Dance Hall at Stanford University over seven years. Juan Carlos Copes and Pablo Veron, both well-known teachers from Buenos Aires and actors in Argentine tango-inspired movies, taught at the event. Nora taught at all nine Stanford Tango Weeks. These events are credited with helping Argentine tango grow in the United States. Richard produced the last Stanford Tango Week in 1997, the same year the Tango Congress in Florida was organized.

In 1998, Nora Dinzelbacher, along with Bob Moretti (a retired USAF Lt. Col. and her student), started a new festival called Nora’s Tango Week in Emeryville, California. Moretti continued to co-produce