How Tango Was Banned and Then Embraced by Argentina

A Dance of Contradictions

Few dances in history have experienced such a dramatic reversal of fortune as Argentine tango. Born among immigrants and the working class, scorned by polite society, celebrated abroad, suppressed by dictators, and finally embraced as a treasured national symbol — tango's relationship with Argentine society tells a story of class, identity, and cultural pride.

For London dancers, understanding this turbulent history adds depth to every embrace and every step on the dance floor.

The Outsider Origins

Tango emerged in the 1880s and 1890s in the conventillos and port neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires. Its creators were immigrants — Italian, Spanish, African — and the native-born working class. The music was played in bars, brothels, and street corners. The dance itself, with its close embrace and suggestive movements, was considered scandalous.

Argentine high society viewed tango with a mixture of disgust and alarm. It was the music of the poor, the foreign, and the morally suspect. Newspapers editorialised against it. Parents forbade their children from dancing it. The Catholic Church condemned it.

In its earliest years, tango was not Argentina's pride — it was Argentina's embarrassment.

The Paris Paradox

Everything changed when tango reached Paris around 1910. The French capital, always hungry for exotic novelties, fell in love with the Argentine dance. Parisian society embraced tango with enthusiasm, adapting it to European tastes while retaining its essential character.

The effect on Argentine attitudes was immediate and profound. What Buenos Aires had rejected, Paris had crowned. The Argentine elite, who looked to Europe — and particularly France — as the arbiter of culture and taste, suddenly found themselves owning the world's most fashionable dance.

Tango began a rapid ascent through Argentine society. Dance academies opened in wealthy neighbourhoods. Orchestras played in elegant venues. The dance that had been forbidden in respectable homes was now performed in the finest salons.

The Golden Age of Acceptance

By the 1930s and 1940s, tango had become Argentina's undisputed national music and dance. This was the golden age — a period of extraordinary creative output and widespread popular participation.

During this era:

• Tango orchestras were major entertainment enterprises, playing to packed houses nightly
• Radio stations broadcast tango across the country, making stars of singers and musicians
• Dancing tango was a normal part of Argentine social life, spanning all classes
• Tango lyrics explored themes of love, loss, nostalgia, and city life that resonated with the national character
• The dance became intertwined with Argentine identity — to be Argentine was, in some sense, to feel tango

Carlos Gardel, who died in a plane crash in 1935, became tango's most iconic figure — a symbol of Argentine artistry and charm known worldwide. The saying goes that Gardel cada día canta mejor — sings better every day — reflecting how his legend only grows with time.

Suppression Under Military Rule

Argentina's political turbulence in the second half of the 20th century brought new challenges for tango. A series of military governments, particularly from the 1960s through the early 1980s, created an environment hostile to tango in several ways:

Restrictions on gatherings

Military regimes were suspicious of large social gatherings. Milongas, where hundreds of people gathered late at night, attracted unwanted attention. While tango was never officially banned in this period, the atmosphere of surveillance and control made organising and attending milongas difficult and sometimes dangerous.

Cultural policy

Some military governments actively promoted other forms of culture — folklore music, classical music — at tango's expense. Tango, with its roots in working-class urban culture and its sometimes politically charged lyrics, was not the image the military wanted to project.

The Proceso era

During the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional (1976-1983), Argentina's most brutal military dictatorship, the suppression of civil liberties affected every aspect of cultural life. Many tango musicians and artists went into exile. The vibrant milonga culture of the golden age continued in diminished form, kept alive by dedicated milongueros who danced through the dark years.

The Cultural Desert

By the early 1980s, tango was at its lowest point. The combination of political suppression, competition from rock and pop music, and changing social patterns had reduced the once-thriving tango scene to a shadow of its golden age glory.

Young Argentines largely associated tango with their grandparents' generation. Milongas that had once drawn hundreds now attracted dozens — mostly older dancers who remembered the golden age. The great orchestras had dissolved. The recording industry had moved on.

It seemed possible that social tango might simply fade away as its last practitioners aged.

The Remarkable Revival

Tango's revival came from multiple directions simultaneously:

The Broadway spark

The show Tango Argentino, which premiered in Paris in 1983 and opened on Broadway in 1985, was a revelation. Audiences who knew nothing of tango were mesmerised. The show toured worldwide and inspired a new generation to discover the dance.

Return to democracy

Argentina's return to democracy in 1983 freed cultural expression. New milongas opened. Young dancers sought out the old milongueros — the veterans of the golden age — and learned from them directly. This transmission of knowledge from the generation that had danced through tango's peak to the generation that would carry it forward was crucial.

International interest

As tango communities grew worldwide — in Europe, North America, Asia — Argentine teachers and musicians found new audiences and new economic opportunities. International interest also fed back into Buenos Aires, energising the local scene.

Government embrace

Argentina's democratic governments gradually embraced tango as a cultural asset. Buenos Aires declared tango part of the city's cultural heritage. The annual Tango Festival and World Championship, held in Buenos Aires since 2003, became a major international event.

UNESCO recognition

In 2009, the tango was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity — a joint nomination by Argentina and Uruguay. This recognition cemented tango's status as a world treasure and gave official weight to preservation efforts.

Tango Today: National Pride

Today, tango is one of Argentina's most recognisable cultural exports. The dance that was once banned from respectable homes is now celebrated as a source of national pride. Buenos Aires promotes itself as the world capital of tango, and the dance attracts tourists from every continent.

Yet tango's relationship with Argentine society remains complex. Not every Argentine dances tango, and the dance continues to evolve in ways that sometimes create tension between traditionalists and innovators. But the fundamental truth is clear: tango survived everything Argentina threw at it — snobbery, suppression, neglect — and emerged stronger each time.

What This Means for London Dancers

When you dance tango in London, you're participating in a tradition that has survived extraordinary challenges. The embrace you share with your partner connects you to generations of dancers who kept this art alive through periods of suppression and neglect.

Understanding this history enriches every milonga you attend. The music of the golden age carries not just melodies and rhythms but the spirit of a culture that nearly lost its most precious dance — and fought to keep it alive.

Discover London's vibrant tango scene on TangoLife.london and add your story to tango's remarkable ongoing history.