Tango is a dance that started in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Montevideo, Uruguay during the late 19th century. Early tango was known as Tango Criollo. Tango is a derivation of three dance styles the first is the Spanish Habanera, second the Uruguayan Milonga and finally the Candombe. It started as a local dance and then it spread into society by theatres and street barrel organs, which were packed with European immigrants. By 1912 the tango arrived to Europe started in France and then some other countries. With time tango evolved into “ballroom tango” with less body contact. The first recorded tango was Mi Noche triste by Carlos Gardel in 1917. In 1922 guidelines for the English style of ballroom tango were set. As this form became popular around the world, the Argentinean people keep their own style but know low and high class of society danced to it. Tango decayed in popularity for a while, until the 1980’s when there were a couple of shows in Broadway about this dance; one of them is “Forever Tango”. (Denniston)
Tango consists of a variety of styles that developed in different regions and eras of Argentina and Uruguay as well in other locations around the world. The styles are mostly danced in either open embrace, where lead and follow have space between their bodies, or close embrace, where the lead and follow connect either chest-to-chest “Argentine tango” or in the upper thigh, hip area “American and International tango”. The different styles of Tango are: Tango Argentino,