Argentine Tango is a Must for Any Argentina Tourist

Argentine Tango is a Must for Any Argentina Tourist

Tango is a dance that brings together a variety of styles and genres from poetry to music and singing.  Tango is extraordinary to say the least.  The origins of Tango date back to around the late 1800’s and is said to have come from near Buenos Aires.  Immigrants and settlers joined together in South American countries where they brought their own native customs, music, and dances. 

Tango was created from the variety of dances that each immigrant and settler brought from their own countries.  It combined Cuban dances, African dances, Italian dances, etc.  It has been claimed that Italians were the biggest contributor to the art of tango simply due to the fact that the first musicians came from there and there more within that group.

Argentina was a country that immigrants came to in order to settle and hopefully find their true fortune.  Buenos Aires was a very poor city at the time, but still almost 2 million immigrants found their way there in the early 1900’s.  Since the majority of the immigrants were men, a lot of crime and gangs were created as well as the tango.  Men danced together since there were very few women so it originated as a man-to-man dance rather than man-to-woman dance.  However, the tango dance moved around the country and into parts where women were.  It is claimed that men would dance three dances to prove their dancing skills to women, whom would then chose a man based on their utmost dancing skill.

This culture of tango dancing developed significantly and found itself moving rapidly up the social ladder.  Soon, this type of dance caught the eye of the rich sons, who introduced this dance in Paris around the early 1900’s, as Paris was the center of the entertainment and artistic world.  The dance was highly accepted in Paris and since the tango was exceedingly popular there, it had been mandatory for the upper class in Argentina to accept this dance and learn it well.

By the time the year 1913 came around, the tango was known throughout the world and had come to be known in the United States.  It had made its way to Hollywood where the fascinating dance had been ultimately glamorized.  Hollywood was ready to present this dance in the most fashionable way possible.  They did so by turning the tango into a dance that exemplified love songs.  This caused the tango dance to lose a bit of its original significance and importance as it was originated by men that were lonely and poor.

The transformation of the tango continued and although it still seemed to be a true expression of the Argentine culture, it had caused a decline in popularity in Europe.  The tango transformed even more as the years went by creating a dance that was for the wealthy and upper class representing current political and economic conditions.  By the time the century reached around the 1970’s and 1980’s, the tango dance had lost a lot of its reputation and was only accepted by a few.  However, it did reach a breaking point and began a journey to restoration when there a world tango tour began, known as the Tango Argentino.

The tango was finally accepted across the world and upper class in New York as well as all of the Argentine society began to dance this soul-expressing dance.  The Argentine Tango has made Argentina what it is today in the matters of creating a beautiful country that has significance and is treasured as well as renowned throughout the world.