It’s lent its stylings to two senior compulsory patterns, arisen in five seasons for original dance usage — and once as a secondary short dance rhythm, one of those topics we’ll discuss at another time — and otherwise functioned as the focus of countless more free dances. Of all specific partner dances, none can be more relied upon to appear annually than the tango.
The Argentine Tango compulsory, and its fellow far rarer Tango compulsory, date to that 1930s spell of compulsory development, as the two-decades-long craze for organized partner dance hit the ice. The Argentine tango proper had in fact become something of an international sensation in this period, making this a reasonably timely adaptation — though, ironically, concurrent with the dance’s temporary decline in its actual South American homeland.
The compulsory dance is meant to emulate its counterpart with “sinuous” quality, “skated with strong edges and considerable elan.” It’s tough to be sure which specific Argentine tango should best inform a skated pattern; certainly distinctions can be noted just between Argentine dance as a genuine street dance and the polished show style presented by professional champions Flavia Cacace and Vincent Simone.
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