Tango can be danced in a variety of styles and accompanied by different types of music. These styles vary in tempo and fundamental movements. Most modern dancers do not allow themselves to be pigeonholed into a particular style and incorporate various styles and ideas into their movements. Some are even unhappy when their are told what particular style of tango they dance. But at the end, it is as easy (or complicated) to see a particular style as it is to tell the difference between an impressionist painting and a modernist one.

Different styles of Tango

• Tango Argentino Tango Oriental (uruguayo)
• Tango Canyengue
• Tango Liso
• Tango Salon
• Tango Orillero
• Tango Milonguero (Tango Apilado)
• Tango Nuevo (New Tango)
• Show Tango (also known as Fantasia)
• Ballroom Tango
• Finnish Tango

These are danced to several types of music

• Tango
• Vals (the tango version of waltz)
• Milonga (a related dance that usually has a faster tempo)
• Tango Electronico
• "Alternative Tango," i.e. non-tango music appropriated for use in the dance

The "Milonguero" style is typically danced with a slightly leaning posture that typically joins at the shoulders of the dancers. In most cases the style is danced in a close embrace. Usually the woman's head and body is so close to her partner that her left hand is placed far behind her partner's neck. The couple maintains a constant upper body contact and often doesn't loosen their embrace to accommodate turns or ochos. An ocho cortado is a fundamental dance step in the style incorporating all the factors in one move.

Tango Salon - the rules of tango Salon are based on the fact that people don't have much room to move as happens in the crowded Tango Salons of Buenos Aires. The partners must constantly hold each other by means of the embrace (open or close) and all movements usually performed within the space allowed by the couple’s embrace - leader or follower may not raise his or her legs above the knee line. Couples must move counterclockwise and avoid remaining in the same place for more than two musical measures.

see video - Our Special Guests Juan Carlos & Partner are dancing Tango Salon

Source for rules: http://www.tangocaminito.com/ElMundoShow08.html

Tango Orillero originated in a setting where dancers had a lot of room to maneuver and thus were able to maintain a further distance from their partners th us allowing both dancers to make other steps outside the embrace. Orillero style differs from salon style tango because of these playful, space-consuming embellishments and figures. The style can be danced in both open and close embraces

Show tango ( aka Fantasia) The complex figures of the above style became the basis for a theatrical performance style of Tango seen in the touring stage shows. For stage purposes, the embrace is often very open, and the complex footwork is augmented with gymnastic lifts, kicks, and drops

Tango Nuevo A newer style sometimes called "Tango Nuevo" or "New Tango" has been popularized in recent years by a younger generation of dancers. The embrace is often quite open and very elastic, permitting the leader to lead a large variety of very complex figures. This style is often associated with those who enjoy dancing to jazz- and techno-tinged "alternative Tango" music, in addition to traditional Tango compositions.

Ballroom tango is a ballroom dance that branched away from its original Argentine roots by allowing European, American, Hollywood, and competitive (a.k.a dancesport) influences into the style and execution of the dance. The present day ballroom tango is divided into two disciplines: American Style and International Style. Both styles are enjoyed as social and competitive dances, but the International version is more globally accepted as a competitive style. Both styles share a closed dance position, but the American style allows its practitioners to separate from closed position to execute open moves, like underarm turns, alternate hand holds, dancing apart, and side-by-side choreography.

Tango Canyengue is a rhythmic style of tango that originated in the early 1900s and is still popular today. It is one of the original roots styles of tango and contains all fundamental elements of traditional Argentine Tango. The embrace is close and in an offset V, the dancers typically have bent knees as they move, and the woman does not cross. Canyengue dancers are known to use exaggerated body movements to accent their steps Its main characteristics are its musicality and playfulness. Its rhythm is described as "incisive, exciting, provocative".

Finnish Tango spread from the dominant urban dance form to become hugely popular across Finland in the 50s after the wars. The melancholy tone of the music reflects the themes of Finnish folk poetry; Finnish tango is almost always in a minor key. The tango is danced in very close full upper body contact in a wide and strong frame, and features smooth horizontal movements that are very strong and determined. Dancers are very low, allowing long steps without any up and down movement. Forward steps land heel first, and in backward steps dancers push from the heel. In basic steps, the passing leg moves quickly to rest for a moment close to the grounded leg. Each year the Tangomarkkinat, or tango festival, draws over 100,000 tangophiles to the central Finnish town of Seinäjoki, which also hosts the Tango Museum