Tango
Tango is a general term used to describe the three different styles of tango, American tango, International tango and Argentine tango. The tango originated in Argentina in the late 1800's and then spread to other parts of the world in a tango show, which went to Paris and finally arrived in New York in the early nineteen hundreds. The tango that evolved in the U.S. became known as the American tango and incorporated many movements from the very popular foxtrot of the period. The American tango became a smooth dance that moved in long sweeping movements around the dance floor but did not use rise and fall like foxtrot. In Britain, an English form of tango evolved and was later called International tango. It is used widely for Dancesport and across Europe. While all three styles of tango are related they have all evolved into their own unique flavor of tango.
The best form of tango for social dancing is the American style tango. The Amerian tango has been popular since tango first arrived in the U.S. and remains a popular dance today. The American style tango has been taught in dance studios across the United States. It is included in most ballroom dance programs as one of the five classic ballroom dance genres along with waltz, foxtrot, cha cha and rumba. The tango uses a staccato type movement with no rise and fall and moves counterclockwise around the dance floor. In the last twenty years the Argentine tango has risen in popularity, as well. During the two-thousands an interesting phenomena arose of swing dancers inserting some tango movements in their swing. This dance genre was a hybrid of both swing and tango and was known as swango.
At the Pattie Wells' Dancetime Center, we specialize in American tango and Argentine tango dance lessons in group dance classes, private dance lessons, practicas and dancing at dance parties. We are home to the Sin Nombre which hosts a milonga every Friday night at the Dancetime Center. We recommend all dancers learn tango to focus on lead/follow techniques and to work on musicality. The dancers that learn to dance tango find it easier to learn the other dances.
Tango Music Playlist
