The history of Argentine Tango begins on the Rio de la Plata, where in the greater Buenos Aires and Montevideo areas, the most diverse peoples and cultures met in the second half of the 19th century. Tango originated in the „La Boca“ port district of Buenos Aires between 1850 and 1880. The Argentine elite did not want to deal with this dance and music from the city’s poorer neighbourhoods. People were ashamed of the excesses that had sprung up in the city’s brothels and gutters. However, this changed when tango experienced its first boom in distant Paris, the city so admired on the Rio de la Plata.

Since the end of the 19th century, tango has spread throughout the world in various forms. Shortly before the First World War, tango finally crossed the Atlantic and entered the salons and bars of Paris, Berlin, Rome, and Vienna.

In Paris, the tango became a successful fashionable dance before the First World War, allowing some orchestras from the Río de la Plata to achieve success in the Old World.

With its acceptance in Paris, which was also considered a fashion role model in La Plata, the tango was also accepted by the upper classes of Argentine and Uruguayan society, and the Tango de Salón developed.

To distinguish it from the standard tango of the World Dance Program (occasionally called European tango), the more original (less regulated) form of the dance and the associated music are called Argentine tango worldwide.

In Argentina itself, the term is not common; there, people usually simply refer to it as tango.

It is danced at milongas, where people gather to dance tango together. Improvisation is characteristic of Argentine Tango – each couple interprets the music individually. Here, tango reveals itself in its most original form – full of feeling, intimacy, and expressiveness.

A milonga (tango dance evening) is a special dance event where Tango de Salon, Tango Vals and Milonga – the different tango music styles – are played.

Argentine Tango has been part of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity since September 2009.