Dances from the candombe ceremonies of former slave peoples helped shape the modern day Tango. The dance originated in lower-class districts of Buenos Aires.

The music derived from the fusion of various forms of music from Europe. 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, primarily Italians, Spanish and French... Continuing further down...

New York Times Cover

August 25, 2007

Tango performance

Porteno Ballarin

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Tango performance

Club Gricel

Buenos Aires, Argentina

With my Tango Student

Sueno Porteno

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Dancing with Julia Pugliese

Sueno Porteno

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Made it to the Chinese newspapers

Tango performance

La Bocca

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Casa De Tango

October 2010

New York City

With Tango student at Dance Manhattan NYC

Lafayette Grill NYC

Tango Workshop

Assisted by Gabriella

TRIAD THEATER

BROADWAY NYC

Columbus Circle

NYC

Outdoor Tango

Andrea & Roger

South Street Seaport NYC

Outdoor Tango in Central Park

(see, at 2:20 minutes)

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. In the USA around 1911 the name "Tango" was often applied to dances in a 2/4 or 4/4 rhythm such as the one-step. The term was fashionable and did not indicate that tango steps would be used in the dance, although they might be. Tango music was sometimes played, but at a rather fast tempo. Instructors of the period would sometimes refer to this as a "North American Tango", versus the "Rio de la Plata Tango". By 1914 more authentic tango stylings were soon developed, along with some variations like Albert Newman's "Minuet" Tango.

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 1983 following the opening in Paris of the show Tango Argentino created by Claudio Segovia & Hector Orezzoli. This show made a revolution worldwide, and people. everywhere started taking tango lessons.

With my friend, Nelson Avila (One of the stars of Tango Argentino)

Taken after Nelson's performace in La Bocca. (almost 1000 spectators)