Index of pages of LBDC Website FAQs

Tango

The International Tango has lots of quick, dramatic movements and shapes. The dancers walk with a staccato technique. Learn International Style Tango.

Ballroom Tango was born in the slums of Buenos Aires in the late 19th century. Argentine gauchos and migrating blacks met and mixed in the infamous Barno de las Ranas trading cultural rhythms and dance steps in and around the area's well-known brothels. From this melting pot emerged a highly passionate dance, one that the respectable classes of society shunned. But as with the Waltz, there is nothing like controversy to make a dance triumph!

In the United States. Tango became all the rage right before the First World War. Vernon and Irene Castle made their fortune from Tango becoming America's sweethearts of the dance There was a flurry of Tango dance hall openings, and Tango teas became popular in big hotels. Couples even danced between courses at the finer restaurants Rudolph Valentino did his part, performing a sensual Tango in the silent film "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse The dance varied greatly from performer to performer, and was eventually standardized in the 1920s.

Standard Tango

Around 1912. Tango was increasing in popularity with Europeans who infused their own style and technique into the dance In 1922 the English codified Tango for competitions the style being known as English Style and then International Style reflecting its worldwide popularity.

Subsequent to this standardization. Arthur Murray, an instructor in the U.S.. introduced his own simpler version of Tango into his chain of dance schools. This looser, social style became known as American Style