Anything I might say about Ballroom Tango here, in the Argentine Tango forum, is bound to be trashed by the tango police (who are self-appointed, and accountable to no one - rather like the real police); so I might as well go for broke...
This is ballroom tango dancing of the very highest standard. It is the fully developed form of a dance that found its way from the not-at-all respectable slums of Argentina, to Paris, in the years immediately before the Great War, and later to other European & American cities. Sanitised, it later made its way back to Argentina, and continued to develop, but in another direction, and it became the socially acceptable dance of a few venues in central Buenos Aires and of certain suburbs for a few decades, before falling into complete obscurity in the late 1950s, caught up in a wave of political change (when tango was no longer approved of), and with youth culture in thrall to Rock & Roll, just like everywhere else.
It never was, and still isn't, the National dance of Argentina, but there was a tango revival from the mid-1980s, for which the United Kingdom can largely take the credit; and now, tango is danced, once again, in BsAs, by lots of tourists, some professional dancers who make their living from tourists, and by some very old people.
I don't agree with your interpretations of two episodes in tango history as explained here. Moreover, your description of the current dancing public in BA is not accurate.This is ballroom tango dancing of the very highest standard. It is the fully developed form of a dance that found its way from the not-at-all respectable slums of Argentina, to Paris, in the years immediately before the Great War, and later to other European & American cities. Sanitised, it later made its way back to Argentina, and continued to develop, but in another direction, and it became the socially acceptable dance of a few venues in central Buenos Aires and of certain suburbs for a few decades, before falling into complete obscurity in the late 1950s, caught up in a wave of political change (when tango was no longer approved of), and with youth culture in thrall to Rock & Roll, just like everywhere else.
It never was, and still isn't, the National dance of Argentina, but there was a tango revival from the mid-1980s, for which the United Kingdom can largely take the credit; and now, tango is danced, once again, in BsAs, by lots of tourists, some professional dancers who make their living from tourists, and by some very old people.
That's explains a lot.I wasn't being wholly serious, you know ...
It's a bit difficult sometimes to recognize irony when reading internet forums.
