Students come to me frequently with this request…  “I want to Tango!”  “OK, I say, which type of Tango do you want to learn?”  And I know this question is confusing.  So here is the reality:  there are THREE styles of Tango to choose from.  Yes, three.

Argentine Tango

This is where Tango began, in Argentina, spreading to Uruguay and then throughout the world.  The Argentine Tango is an incredibly intimate dance, with the upper body quiet and energy directed inward toward your partner.  The excitement of the dance comes from the embrace, which is very close, and the legs and feet.  This dance style has the closest embrace of any partner dance and I tell my students that it’s so close you almost need protection!  Still, in group classes or Milongas (Argentine Tango parties) you don’t need to be that close… you can dance it without full body contact.

The amazing thing to watch for in this dance is the leg / foot action of both partners.  The legs are so close that they interweave and sometimes you almost can’t tell which legs belong to which person!  And that’s the idea.  This dance is about passion, and there’s a lot of entrapments going on, where the man or the woman will ‘trap’ the other with legs or feet.  You will also see a lot of leans and taking the woman off her balance… the man takes complete control of her and she surrenders to him.  It’s very dramatic.  And the woman will play with the man, teasing him with her feet, ankles and legs.  In a classic move, the man starts the woman moving around him, then he stops her with his foot; she stops and now must pass over the man’s foot, which she can do quickly or slowly; she can embellish the action by rubbing her foot against his foot, ankle, or even his entire leg before crossing over.  So the woman does have a lot of say in just how much goes on.

Argentine Tango is not a “syllabus dance,” that is, there are no defined lists of movements with precise descriptions of how to execute those movements (it’s what we call a street dance or club style dance, like Salsa, Hustle, West Coast Swing, etc.).  So it evolves constantly and how you learn to dance it depends on your instructor and where you are in the world.  One of the biggest differences in style comes from the position of the woman’s head (and therefore the rest of her body since the head is generally connected to the body!)  In “Milonguero” style, the woman’s head is to her left, allowing for the closest frame in any partner dance.  This position really limits the movements which are possible and it is the less common style (both here and in Argentina).  The “Salon” style allows the woman to keep her head straight and slightly to the right, basically with her eyes on the gentleman’s right temple.  The angle that this creates between the partners allows for much more variety of steps.

Argentine Tango (Fantasia – Milonguero style with the woman’s head to the left): YouTube Link

Argentine Tango (Salon style with the woman’s head to the right): YouTube Link

Argentine Tango Music

The most classic Argentine Tango orchestras (what we call the TOP TEN) include:  Osvaldo Pugliese, Juan D’Arienzo, Francisco Canaro, Anibal Troilo, Pedro Laurenz, Carlos DiSarli, Miguel Calo, Ricardo Tanturi, D’Agostino /Vargas and Alfredo DeAngelis.  A modern composer of the classic style is Astor Piazzolla.

One Last Thing:  Tango Nuevo

The truth is, you can dance Argentine Tango to basically any music (that doesn’t mean it will look good, but you CAN adapt the moves to anything).  One branch of Argentine Tango dancers took a modern approach and their preference for modern, often electronic music with strong percussive elements led to “Tango Nuevo” which purists deny completely, but it is very popular among younger people who find the classic music just too, well, classic.  You’ve heard the music in movies… groups like the Gotan Project and Bajofondo are very popular.

Tango Nuevo:

Ballroom Tango

The Europeans aristocrats saw what the Argentine Tangueros were doing and they took the ideas and molded them into a ballroom dance which was more “proper” and “dignified.”   Much of the passion of the original form was lost, but in it’s place we have some very unique and beautiful elements not seen in other ballroom dances.  Ballroom Tango, like all ballroom dances, has a strict syllabus – so if you learn it here or in New York or in Japan or in France, you will be able to dance with any other trained ballroom dancer.

Ballroom Tango is danced in a ballroom frame, although the dancers are closer together than in other ballroom dances.  The woman hooks her left hand under the gentleman’s armpit and the gentleman’s right hand crosses the lady’s spine (TOTALLY unique in ballroom dancing).  Also unique is the complete lack of rise and fall (the steady height makes the leg action of primary importance, keeping with the historical flavor of the dance).

Ballroom Tango is danced to very strict rhythms and very staccato music, which allows the dancers to move with sharpness and stealth, punctuated by dramatic holds.  This dance is about power and sexual tension (as in the original) but it is a more outward struggle rather than an intimate one.  It’s extroverted and it’s exciting to watch, compared to the Argentine style which can be so intimate that the audience is almost “left out” (the exception being the “Fantasia” or stage style of Argentine Tango).

Smooth or Standard?

Finally, as in all Ballroom dances, we have American style (Smooth) vs. International style (Standard).  Without going into too much detail here, the main difference you will see is that in Smooth, the couple can break frame and do moves in open positions (side by side, in shadow or even without any contact at all) while Standard Tango does not allow the couple to break frame.  Social dancers prefer American Smooth Tango, and that’s what you’ll see here in the US for the most part.

International / Standard: 

Smooth: 

Smooth: 

Whew!  OK, Which to Choose?

That’s a tough question.  It depends on your dancing goals.  If you are looking for a dance you can do almost anywhere to a wide variety of music, then Argentine Tango is the way to go.  If you want something dramatic and you’ll have the space, go for Ballroom Tango.  (By the way, for those of you looking for something DIFFERENT for your WEDDING FIRST DANCE, consider a Tango – it will blow your guests away!)

And of course, my favorite answer… why choose?  Learn BOTH!