The Tango Salon style of Argentine Tango - what is it?

The Tango Salon style describes a type of dancing also popular in the 30s and 40s to music by typical orchestras such as Carlos di Sarli and Florindo Sassone etc. The music is elegant and more expansive than the Milonguero style. The dancing focused more on the melody.  

What characterises the style of Tango Salon?

The Tango Salon style is more about the melody. During the 1940s the Tango became popular amongst the middle and upper classes and as a result it became more ‘refined’. Away from the crowded barrios and conventillos of the working classes, the Tango adapted to the more salubrious surroundings of moneyed society and became more expansive and elegant.

It was danced in the houses of wealthy people who had ‘salons’, and the space which allowed the Tango to ‘breath’. The hold or embrace became slightly more open on occasion and the emphasis was on pure walking and figures which emphasised the melody rather than the rhythm. 

A variant of the Tango Salon style is the ‘Villa Urquiza style’ which originated in the Urquiza ‘barrio’ or ‘neighbourhood’ of Buenos Aires.