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All About the World's Most Romantic Dance

Widely believed to be the most romantic dance globally, the tango is beautiful to behold and energetic to perform. It's expressive, animated, even a little risqué, and its popularity is enormous. This website focuses on tango's many facets, including its history, fashion, and technique.

Tango Beginnings

It's hard to pinpoint precisely when the tango began. The dance evolved from the mid to late nineteenth century in Argentina and Uruguay along the River Plate. African dance at around the time slavery was abolished (1853 in Argentina) was blended with dances brought in by European immigrants over the following decades.

Well-known dances in the tango include the Spanish flamenco, Polish mazurka and the Viennese waltz. Although the tango conjures up images of romance today, in its earliest days it was most frequently danced by impoverished single men. Male immigrants greatly outnumbered their female counterparts, and their dancing prowess was a way to impress the ladies.

The tango became socially unacceptable for a while in certain circles, not only for its suggestive nature but because it was often danced in brothels. No such stigma exists a century and a half later. Buenos Aires remains the world's tango capital, but the dance can be enjoyed anywhere.

Milongas

Today, there are tango dance classes and events in most major cities in the world and many towns and villages. Such events are called 'milongas', where people go dancing the Argentinian tango. No other dance on earth encapsulates life's drama, and passion like the tango does.