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Tango is a social dance form that originated in Buenos Aires and Montevideo.
The musical styles that evolved together with the dance are also known as
tango. Early tango was known as tango criollo or simply tango. Today, there
are many tango dance styles including Argentine tango, ballroom tango (American
and International styles), Finnish tango, Chinese tango, and vintage tangos.
Argentine tango is often regarded as the "authentic" tango since
it is closest to that originally danced in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Music and dance elements of tango are popular in activities related to dancing, such as figure skating, synchronized swimming, etc., because of its dramatic feeling and rich opportunities for improvisation on the eternal topic of love.
The word "tango" has no clear etymology. It may derive from a place-name used in African languages, or from the Spanish and Portuguese word tocar, meaning 'to touch'. However, it is more commonly thought that etymology of tango is from Niger-Congo origin, where tamgu means 'to dance'. The name was widely used among Black communities in Spanish America to refer to a place where people gathered to dance. Later the name was applied to various Black dance forms, leading up to the development of what is now known as tango.
The dance originated in Montevideo and Buenos Aires during the late 19th century. The music derived from the fusion of music from Europe, the South American Milonga, and African rhythms. The word Tango seems to have first been used in connection with the dance in the 1890s. Initially it was just one of the many dances, but it soon became popular throughout society, as theatres and street barrel organs spread it from the suburbs to the working-class slums, which were packed with hundreds of thousands of European immigrants.
The dance was soon found on the street, in bars, dance halls, and in the upper class venues such as the Teatro Opera, which started organizing balls that included tangos in 1902.
In the early years of the twentieth century, dancers and orchestras from Buenos Aires travelled to Europe, and the first European tango craze took place in Paris, soon followed by London, Berlin, and other capitals. Towards the end of 1913 it hit New York in the USA, and Finland. These exported versions of Tango were modified to have less body contact ("Ballroom Tango"); however, the dance was still thought shocking by many, as had earlier been the case with dances such as the Waltz. In 1922 guidelines were first set for the "English" (international) style of ballroom Tango, but it lost popularity in Europe to new dances including the Foxtrot and Samba, and as dancing as a whole declined due to the growth of cinema.
In Argentina, the onset in 1929 of the Great Depression, and restrictions introduced after the overthrow of the Hipólito Yrigoyen government in 1930 caused Tango to decline. Its fortunes were reversed as Tango again became widely fashionable and a matter of national pride under the government of Juan Perón. Tango declined again in the 1950s with economic depression and as the military dictatorships banned public gatherings, followed by the popularity of Rock and Roll. The dance lived on in smaller venues until its revival in the 1980s following the opening in Paris of the show Tango Argentino and the Broadway musical Forever Tango.
Technique
The ways that steps are taken in tango are quite different in ballroom tango versus Argentine tango. Ballroom tango does not use gliding steps but instead uses staccato steps. However, teachers sometimes call the steps out as SLOW SLOW QUICK QUICK SLOW. The SLOW steps are better described as QUICK-HOLD where the dancer rushes to make a step and then holds it as long as possible before rushing to make the next step. That is what gives the staccato action of the steps. This is an attempt to match the staccato accents that always appear in ballroom tango music.
In ballroom tango the feet move before the whole body weight is moved, quite in contrast to argentine tango, where the body center starts to move and is then supported by the movement of the feet.
Other forms of tango, including Chinese tango and Argentine tango, use more gliding steps that match the music which tends to be romantic and less staccato. The basic position is a closed position similar to that of other kinds of ballroom dance. In Argentine Tango, the "close embrace" with full upper body contact is often used. In Ballroom tango, the "close embrace" involves close contact, too, but the contact is with the hips and upper thighs and not the upper torso. In Argentine Tango, the ball of the foot may be placed first. Alternately, the dancer may take the floor with the entire foot in a cat-like manner. In the International style, "heel leads" (stepping first onto the heel, then the whole foot) are used for forward steps. Ballroom tangos, including American and International, are based mainly on the movement of the feet across the floor, while the Argentine Tango includes various other moves such as the gancho (hooking one's leg around one's partner's leg), the parada (in which the leader puts his foot against the follower's foot), the arrastre (in which the leader appears to drag the follower's foot), and several kinds of sacada (in which the leader appears to kick the follower's foot out of the way, by stepping into the follower's space).
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.