The true birth of the Argentine Tango is a bit of a mystery, but it is certain that the dance is an emotional, intimate one that came from a unique cluster of people. One generally accepted theory of the Argentine Tango and its origins is that it was brought to Argentina in the mid-1800s by African slaves and their descendants. Africans picked up the dance on slave ships and it began to influence local culture by 1853. At this time, Argentina had banned slavery and African slaves and free Africans would gather to dance.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Argentina was experiencing a major influx of people. The population went from 180,000 people in 1869 to 1.5 million people by 1914. Most of these immigrants were single men dreaming of finding fortune to take back to their homeland or to bring their families to their new home. They were mostly poor and desperate, longing for success and missing their families and homelands. This desperation was expressed through dance and is seen in the evolution of the Tango. Spanish, Italian, Russian, Polish, African, British, and native-born Argentine inhabitants created a melting pot of people and their cultures. They lent dances and music between their groups and new styles were being created.

At one point, a group of young men called compadritos frequented the African-Argentine venues where the basic dances of the Tango were being danced. These compadritos were mostly native born, poor, and of mixed immigrant ancestry. They took the dance to different districts of Buenos Aires and ignited the dance’s popularity in infamous places like dance halls, bars, and brothels. In these places, the Argentine milonga music fused with African percussion and rhythms, leading to new steps and ultimately creating the Tango as its own form of dance. The exact time and place of its creation are unclear, but it is clear that the Tango was known as a dance stemming from poverty-ridden neighborhoods.

As with many forms and types of dance initially, high society looked down on the Tango and its dancers, but some people of upper classes snuck away to mingle with the lower classes and dance. The Tango gained popularity and became a well-known and established form of dance and of music by the early 1900s. It trickled out of Buenos Aires into other Argentine towns and hopped the River Plate to Uruguay. It came to know the same fame in this new place as it did in Buenos Aires.

Parisian society was also excited by this new dance that wealthy Argentine men were bringing, and by 1913 the Tango had spread to Paris, London, and New York. The upper classes of Argentina were reluctantly accepting the dance as a form of national pride and it spread worldwide in the 1920s and 1930s. Not before long, the tango reached movie screens and Tango singers took the music around the world. The world of Tango was part of the flourishing culture of the Golden Age of Argentina from the 30s to the 50s. With the declining economy of Argentina after the Golden Age, the Tango was forced underground with its political expression and the ban of large gatherings at the time.  It survived nonetheless, and rose up again in the mid-1980s when the Tango Argentino opened in Paris. The Argentine Tango was ignited once again and thrives in the current revival it exists in today.

Are you prepared to learn this most exciting and passionate dance? If so, and you live here in Phoenix, Arizona, join us at Dance FX Studios for Argentine Tango dance lessons. We are located close to Tempe, Chandler and Gilbert in the East Valley of Phoenix in Mesa, AZ for your convenience. Private Tango lessons begin with our introductory offer for either singles or couples. We would love the opportunity at Dance FX Studios to share our love of the tango with you.