Argentine Tango

What Is Argentine Tango?

Argentine Tango originated in the working-class neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires and Montevideo in the late nineteenth century, combining influences from African candombe, Spanish tango and immigrant European dances brought by waves of arrivals to the Río de la Plata. It is a fully improvised partner dance based on a shared embrace and walking, with no fixed sequence of steps.

When Londoners say "tango school" without qualifying it further, this is almost always what they mean — nearly every dedicated tango school in the city teaches the Argentine style. If you specifically want the formal competition dance from the ballroom Standard syllabus, see our Ballroom Tango guide.

Unlike ballroom tango, Argentine tango has no set choreography — every dance is a unique, improvised conversation led moment to moment by subtle weight changes and connection through the embrace, not verbal or visual cues. The embrace ranges from close ("milonguero") to more open ("salón"), and the vocabulary of movement is vast, built from walking, pauses and turns rather than a catalogue of fixed figures.

The social event where Argentine tango is danced — the milonga — is as central to the culture as the steps themselves. Regular dancers return night after night less for any single dance than for what tango dancers call "the perfect embrace" with the right partner and the right song.

Argentine Tango vs Tango

Argentine tango and ballroom tango share a common root in 1880s Buenos Aires, but a 1930s codification for European competition split them into two genuinely different dances — and in London, they are almost always taught at different types of school.

Benefits of Argentine Tango

Who Is Argentine Tango Suitable For?

Learning Argentine Tango in London

London has one of Europe's most respected Argentine tango communities, with weekly milongas (social tango events), structured classes and regular visiting instructors from Argentina. The city's tango scene is international in character and warmly welcoming.

Several of London's leading schools are led by dancers with genuine international competitive pedigree. London Tango Academy, founded in 2003 by Leandro Palou and Maria Tsiatsiani, has choreographed Argentine tango for Strictly Come Dancing and judged the Tango World Championship in Buenos Aires — the school won "Best UK Dance School" at the 2023 Prestige UK Awards. The Argentine Tango School, founded in 2023 by world and European tango champions Adrien Bariki-Alaoui and Iro Davlanti-Lo, runs structured 8-week courses built around their own teaching method. Tango Movement, led by David and Kim Benitez, teaches from studios in Soho and the Barbican, while Tango Amistoso, founded by Winston, runs three weekly milongas alongside its own performance group and brings in teachers from Buenos Aires, Paris and Athens.

Argentine tango classes in London follow the traditional method of learning the embrace, the walk and the fundamentals of improvisation before developing a personal vocabulary of movement.

Most tango schools integrate classes with milonga attendance, understanding that social dancing is central to the development of tango.

Argentine Tango FAQ

• What's the difference between Argentine tango and ballroom tango? +
  Argentine tango is fully improvised and danced in a close, shifting embrace; ballroom tango is a fixed, choreographed competition dance danced in a formal frame. See our Ballroom Tango guide for the full comparison.
• Do I need a partner to join a beginner class? +
  No. Beginner courses teach the embrace and walking technique from the ground up, and most classes rotate partners so you don't need to bring your own.
• How long does it take to dance Argentine tango socially? +
  Most students feel comfortable with the basic embrace and walk within a few weeks; building the improvisational vocabulary to dance confidently at a milonga typically takes several months of regular practice.
• What should I wear and what shoes do I need? +
  Comfortable clothing and smooth-soled indoor shoes are fine to start. Once you're dancing regularly, dedicated suede-soled tango shoes make the pivoting technique noticeably easier.
• Is Argentine tango difficult for absolute beginners? +
  The lack of fixed steps means there's more to absorb early on than in a choreography-based style, but beginner courses are built specifically to introduce the embrace and walk progressively — no prior dance experience is assumed.
• What is a milonga, and can I go before I feel ready? +
  A milonga is a social tango dance event — the heart of the culture, not just a class. Most beginners are welcome once they've done a handful of classes; the etiquette and pace can feel intense at first, so many schools recommend attending with your teacher or classmates initially.
• Where can I find Argentine tango milongas in London outside of class? +
  Several London schools run their own weekly milongas, and the wider community hosts additional social dance nights across the city most nights of the week.
• Is the close embrace required from the first class? +
  No. Most beginner classes start in a slightly more open frame while you build the walking technique, moving to closer embrace as your balance and connection develop.