Tango Styles – Classic, Salon, Nuevo, and Milonguero

I take my best guess as the many styles of tango (that I’ve been exposed to) and also their variations. This list has not been checked for historical accuracy and should not be shared as fact. It is only a representation of how I have these styles organized in my mind. I’m also fully aware that many of the dancers included in the example are capable of dancing other styles and have even evolved throughout the years.

Origin of Tango Styles

My (personal) opinion about modern salon….. The old school “classic salon style” I would guess is from the 1950’s…the word “salon” refers to just the dance hall (milonga venue) where people would dance and so everyone at that time would have been considered a “salon dancer” so the term probably didn’t exist back then. Everyone danced more or less of that similar style (semi-open embrace with lots of cool moves, back then had more emphasis on originality). But then in the 1990’s, tango started making its revival because of STAGE TANGO dancers traveling the world…the style of tango that still continues to misinform the general public of today of what tango is. Stage tango blew up for many reasons. One is because it’s easier to enjoy for spectators (lots of flashy external moves, viewable from much farther away from the stage). Another is because it’s EASIER to do. Many dancers who couldn’t make the stringent cuts in ballet and other dances would flock to tango, learn some choreo, and run around the stage using their athleticism to do lifts and jumps instead of having to learn intricate tango movements (kinda like DWTS). Because of stage tango’s popularity, many other professional dancers felt compelled to dance in a similar style with the classic suit and smooth look with lines and nice flashy turns etc, to appeal to mainstream audiences.

What else also happened in the 1990’s was the tango nuevo movement. With all the original tango orquestras getting old and passing away, and newer orchestras unable to come up with new music that captured that authentic original tango feel, dancers started exploring alternative music (electric tango or even non-tango). With nuevo music, came nuevo moves/clothing/sub-culture and tango exploded into another form of liberation.

Nuevo dancers at the time felt they were dancing a true organic evolution of real tango, unlike the excessive movements and cheesy musicality of “stagy” salon dancers. And modern salon dancers (1990 & up) felt they were dancing the true classic tango, unlike the excessive movements and cheesy musicality of nuevo dancers. Salon dancers were accused of dancing for claps (too many tricks), and Nuevo dancers were accused of dancing for external show (“reckless” unsocial moves). Ironically, both groups look down on each other for quite similar reasons.

A new group, born from their common disdain for both the overly flashy salon style as well as the equally external nuevo style, came up with MILONGUERO STYLE. Which is the dominant style you see today where people just hug and walk around in hugging position and don’t do as much. It supposedly feels more true to the essence of tango, more intimate, more about the embrace and less about the steps.

But that milonguero style has now also evolved into many sub-styles, such as the “old people’s milonguero” style where you just embrace and don’t do anything, and young people’s milonguero style (aka “Nuevo milonguero”) where they stay in close embrace but still manage to do many figures and tricks. Salon style has evolved into trickster “old school salon”, generic minimalist “competition salon”, and “modern salon” which mixes salon’s elegance with Nuevo elements (big movements). Nuevo style popularity has been on a somewhat downward trend lately as people started turning back to the old school music (and most dancers naturally prefer the richness of classic tango music as they mature). Also too, classic tango music is still currently being restored from old vinyls and “new” songs are still coming out. Some of the most popular “old” songs that you hear now were actually recovered/rediscovered just 5-30 years ago. No older than even our popular top 40’s over the years.

Personally, I think all tango styles are very fun and can be both intimate/connected as well as external/flashy. As a tango student, it’s important to try a bit of all to grow as a dancer and if you really want to do moves correctly, you should seek the origins of each move. Some moves came from the salon branch, or the nuevo branch, or the milonguero branch…and without knowing where it came from, you might not do it as accurately. Then again, who cares? Just dance!