The Argentine tango, a passionate dance and music style emerged in the late 19th century in Buenos Aires, Argentina from a blend of European, African and native influences, especially in the working class and immigrant communities.
In the great immigrant flow of the early 20th century, tango became the culture of Buenos Aires’ neighborhoods, bars, nightclubs, and popular theater.
Once “the forbidden dance, ” it had been typically considered to be a fixture of the barrios but it’s evocative and sexy overtures drew all classes of young people.
The dance continued to evolve in Buenos Aires up through the 1940’s, now considered to have been the “Golden Age of Tango.”
The Argentine version looks nothing like the more scripted, tame American ballroom tango… this version literally sizzles!
When the military government overthrew Juan Peron in the mid-fifties, they eliminated night life with curfews and harassment. As a result, the tango fell out of favor. “Proper society” passed moral judgment on the dance considering it part of a degenerate lifestyle. But all that has thankfully changed. The tango is back!
Fortunately, there has been a resurgence of this art form in recent years and Buenos Aires plays host to nightly performances in theaters and clubs all over the city. I recommend Cafe de Los Angelitos Tango Show, where I watched watched this theatre performance with tickets ranging in price from $90 USD to $130 USD located in the heart of the city.
It consists of an orchestra made up of five musicians (violin, piano, double bass, and two bandoneons), two singers (one woman and one man), and six pairs of dancers. Duration: 1 hour 20 minutes. Tango returns from myth to become an intense reality, through a different live show, in which bodies are guided as if in a trance, by what the bandoneon dictates, and explode into an inexhaustible ecstasy of pleasure.
Cafelosangelitos.com
Couldn’t have said it any better…