A Brief History of Tango

The exact origins of Tango are obscure. The popular myth – that the dance evolved in the bordellos of Buenos Aires – is far from the whole truth. The word "Tango" may be African in origin, meaning "closed place" or "reserved ground." Or it may derive from the Latin verb tanguere, to touch. Another theory is that it is a corruption of African words “tan – go”

mimicking the rhythm of dances that African slaves brought to Argentina in the mid-1800s. Whatever its origin, the word "Tango" acquired the standard meaning of the place where African slaves and free blacks gathered to dance.

tango lessons sussex The polka, Viennese waltz and mazurka were the only “partner” dances of the mid nineteenth century and in these the man and the woman faced each other at a respectful distance. Even so, for the couple to be holding one hand with the man’s other arm round his partner’s waist must have been as risqué as one could get in polite circles.

Argentina was undergoing a massive immigration during the later part of the 1800s and early 1900s. In 1869, Buenos Aires had a population of 180,000. By 1914, its population was 1.5 million. The intermixing of African, Spanish, Italian, British, Polish, Russian and native-born Argentines resulted in a melting pot of cultures, and each borrowed dance and music from one another. The European dance forms undoubtedly travelled with the immigrants and became mixed with the popular habanera from Cuba and the candombe rhythms from Africa.

Most immigrants were single men hoping to earn their fortunes in this newly expanding country. (At one point men outnumbered women by at least ten to one.) They were typically poor and desperate, hoping to make enough money to return to Europe or bring their families to Argentina. The evolution of Tango reflects their profound sense of loss and longing

for the people and places they left behind.

Most likely the Tango was born in African-Argentine dance venues attended by compadritos, young men, mostly native born and poor, who liked to dress in slouch hats, loosely tied neckerchiefs and high-heeled boots with knives tucked casually into their belts. The compadritos took the Tango back to the Corrales Viejos—the slaughterhouse district of

Buenos Aires —and introduced it in various low-life establishments where dancing took place: bars, dance halls and brothels as well as the shabby courtyards of the tenement blocks. It was here that the African rhythms met the Argentine milonga music (a fast-paced polka) and soon new steps were invented and took hold.

Although high society looked down upon such activities – not least the shocking close embrace of the Tangueros – the well-heeled sons of the porteño oligarchy were understandably attracted rather than repulsed. Eventually, everyone found out about the Tango and, by the beginning of the twentieth century, the Tango as both a dance and as an embryonic form of popular music had established a firm foothold in the fastexpanding

city of its birth.

It soon spread to provincial towns of Argentina and across the River Plate to Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, where it became as much a part of the urban culture as in Buenos Aires.

Given the “shortage” of women, being able to dance well became a key attribute for young men to woo their sweethearts. This gave rise the all male “Prácticas” where men danced together to perfect their Tango technique. This was a pure practical necessity - there was nothing sexually ambiguous about men dancing together. Young men would first learn the follower’s steps – for several months – before graduating into learning how to lead.

The worldwide spread of the Tango came in the early 1900s when wealthy sons of Argentine society families made their way to Paris and introduced the Tango into a society eager for innovation and not entirely averse to the risqué nature of the dance or dancing with young, wealthy Latin men. By 1913, the Tango had become an international phenomenon in Paris,

London and New York. There were Tango teas, Tango train excursions and even Tango colours—most notably orange. The Argentine elite who had shunned the Tango were now forced into accepting it with national pride. The Tango spread worldwide throughout the 1920s and 1930s. The dance appeared in movies and Tango singers travelled the world. By the 1930s, the Golden Age of Argentina was beginning. The country became one of the ten richest nations in the world and music, poetry and culture flourished. Tango came to be a fundamental expression of Argentine culture, and was strongly encouraged under the Peron government.

This Golden Age lasted through the 1940s and into the 50s but came abruptly to an end with the military coup in 1955. Anything associated with the previous Peron regime was strongly discouraged. As political repression developed, Tango song lyrics increasingly reflected political feelings until they started to be banned as subversive. Large dance venues were closed and large gatherings in general were prohibited. The necessity of going underground combined with the eventual invasion of rock and roll (which was subtly promoted by the government to weaken Tango further) sent Tango into decline until the mid-1980s when the

stage show Tango Argentino opened in Paris. Once again it was Paris that was to launch the rekindling of the Tango phenomenon worldwide. The show toured the world and stimulated a revival that is still growing across the globe today.

Not that Tango is standing still like a museum piece preserved from the Golden Age of the 1940s. Whilst respect for traditional forms of Tango has never been higher, new styles of Tango are evolving – both dance and music – as new generations of dancers and musicians embrace the Tango art form and make it their own.

Disclaimer - Site by Agent8 Design

Photography: Richard & Sally D'Arcy