Tango Etiquette

Our Class Etiquette

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General Tango Etiquette

Many people experienced in Argentine Tango dancing learn a number of guidelines to make the dance experience more enjoyable for both dance partners. The guidelines are often learned as a result of observation, hearsay and a certain amount of embarrassments often through a number of years. The intention of this section is to provide a shortcut to make the learning process shorter and to avoid embarrassing situations in the dance floor.

A) An evening of Argentine Tango dancing is called “a milonga”. During a milonga evening, people dance in a line-of-dance manner in a counter clock-wise direction around the dance floor. The more experienced dancers prefer to dance in the outer lanes, whereas less skilled dancers generally dance in lanes closer to the center of the circle. It is important to avoid crisscrossing or cutting across lanes in order to avoid collisions. Never dance “against” the line of dance traffic, or even a single back step against the line of dance. This is just a matter of safety and respect for all involved. For the same reason people do not “stand” talking or walking across the dance floor. This has no relationship with what you may have seen in an Argentine Tango exhibition dance by one couple in the stage or in dance floor with essentially no other couples sharing the floor.

B) In a social dance at a milonga venue, dancers do not use “high boleos”, ganchos or any embellishment that is high in the air or that occupies a large space, like an excessive leg extension. Embellishments are done in a small space, generally at floor height avoiding making it dangerous for anyone near you. In the dance embrace the man’s left arm and the lady’s right arm are kept with elbows pointing down, close to the body to avoid hitting someone else.

C) It is not socially acceptable to disturb the dance flow by attempting to show, explain or teach your partner in the dance floor any movement while dancing. In most venues there is another room or a space away from the dance floor, or sometimes a practice time specially designated for that purpose.

D) Asking a person to dance is rather different in Argentina than in other countries, however with so many visitors going to Argentina to dance, to take lessons and enjoy the authentic dance scene, the manner of inviting someone to dance has been adopted little by little in most of the world at the Argentine Tango dance salons.

It is a non-verbal invitation that eliminates a possible verbal refusal. It is done when one set of dances has finished and there is a musical curtain (non-danceable music) to indicate there will be a new different set of music very shortly. People interested in dancing visually identify potential partners and attempt to “lock” eyes and give a discrete nod. A lady may acknowledge that by locking eyes/smiling and the couple meet in the floor. A refusal is done by NOT locking eyes/no nod and appearing not interested regardless if you are a man or a woman.