Tango

Johanka Lišková

What do you think of when you hear the word "tango"? Do you think of some movie scene, where two people fall in love while dancing? Or do you think of two people who are mad at each other? If you said one of these things, you're right! Tango is a really passionate dance full of love, lust but also a lot of temper.

Tango is the second standard ballroom dance in competitions. It originated in Uruguay and Argentina. When it spread into the world, different styles of it established as well. Because of its nature and origin, Tango was considered a Latin American dance at first. When Tango came to North America and Europe, it was simplified and made a part of the ballroom dances. The competition version of Tango established from the European style of Tango - the English Tango.

Tango was born in the impoverished port areas of Argentina, with enslaved African populations. The African Candombe helped shape this dance. It was frequently practiced in the brothels and bars of ports, where business owners employed bands to entertain their patrons with music. The words 'tango' and 'tambo' were initially used to refer to musical gathering of slaves. Tango became popular throughout society, as theaters and other platforms spread it from the suburbs to the working-class slums, where hundreds of thousands of European immigrants were.

Today, Tango is a competition dance performed as second. It is a very passionate, tempered, tough and piercing dance. I've also seen it in lots of movies. There, it is shown as a very romantic dance, where two people get really close to each other and that causes a lot of tension between them. I love the vibe around Tango.