The Viennese Waltz was the world's first popular dance to use the actual "closed hold", what is now accepted as the standard Ballroom hold. The Polka was the second dance in Europe to use this scandalous new hold, an "immoral" way of dancing during the early 19th century. This form of dance was brought by emigrants as they moved to Argentina.

For both sexes, to dance in a close embrace, cheek to cheek, chests together, the legs invading each other's space was a little too "offensive" at that point in time - 1890-1910.

Buenos Aires in the 1890s was a big village, where dance halls (academias) and theaters were the only places where you could dance or watch people dancing during a play. The academias, also called "pirigundines", had "hired women" and were venues that required a government permit. They were located in the suburbs, most probably because of high rents in the downtown areas.

Groups of men would gather together to practice, improvise and innovate, creating new moves and steps, accelerating the development of this dance. To be a good dancer was (and still is!) a sure way of attracting the ladies' attention... men practised among themselves so that they could impress and attract the admiration of women ... and men. So, dancing among men had nothing to do with homosexuality.

Tango cohabited with other beats like the habanera, the polka, the corrido, the waltz, the schottis and many other rhythms. Buenos Aires was the cradle of tango and it grew to maturity with the city.

It was usual then, that in every comedy, zarzuela (a Spanish operetta) or play for the actors to sing and dance. Already before the turn-of-the-century, tango appeared on these shows.

The street barrel organs brought tango out of the dancehalls into the streets. It was not uncommon to see people dancing in public places, often men with men as women were in short supply at that time.

With the technological improvements in the record industry and with it, the development of music in general, tango reached out to a much larger audience.

Between 1903 and 1910, over a thousand records were released - 350 were tango discs. There was also an incredible number of sheet music produced. In the next decade the output increased to 5500 discs, 2500 of which were tango tunes.

In conclusion: tango is a magical blend of Spanish and native cultures, with a strong Italian influence. The milonga, the habanera and the schottis, on one side, and opera music and the canzonetta, on the other, produced this unique music and dance.

It was born in the suburbs, in the far distant neighborhoods bordering the countryside. It settled and developed in the dance halls called academias. The street barrel organs spread it through neighborhoods and theaters included it in their plays. It cohabited with other dances, but little by little it developed it's own intense sensuality and conquered the masses.

It was accepted, to a greater or lesser extent, by all the social levels. It was first acclaimed in Europe, and later in the United States, Japan (as early 1920) and the rest of the Americas.