The Tango
CelebrityThe Tango is one of the most passionate ballroom dances available to us. No, the Tango is not the stereotypical rose in the mouth, stomp across the floor in a dramatic fashion as Hollywood would like us to think. Instead, the Tango is the amorous dance from Argentina where the lady and man are both vulnerable and committed to one another, relying on lead & follow and intense communication to create a musical picture.
American style Tango’s evolutionary path is derived from Argentina to the United States, when it was popularized by silent film star Rudolph Valentino in 1921, who demonstrated a highly stylized form of Argentine Tango in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. As a result, the Hollywood style steps mixed in with other social dance steps at the time began this divide from the Argentine style.
Following the English standardization of their version of Tango, Arthur Murray, a ballroom dance instructor in the U.S., tried his own hand at standardizing the ballroom dances for instruction in his chain of social dance schools. This looser, social style was referred to as American style by the English.
Want to learn how to Tango yourself? Sign up for a complimentary lesson today!