Draft:Leonardo Fandango

Leo 'Fandango' Acosta is an Argentine Tango dancer born in Buenos Aires in 1959. He is a 2nd generation 'Milonguero' - his father was also a Tango teacher and organiser and Leo learnt his first steps from him at the age of 7 years old.

Leo has danced Tango throughout his life pausing only during the 1980s at the time of the dictatorship in Argentina when social meetings were banned.

When Tango was revived in the 1990s, Leo was part of the Nuevo generation who rediscovered the skills of the past dancers and as a 'Milonguero' appeared with his partner on Argentine TV.

In 2001, as a result of the theatre shows that saw the revival and subsequent popularity of Argentine Tango, Leo arrived in London. There he set up his School 'Tango Fandango', using the name given to him by his father as his professional stage name in Buenos Aires.

From many years of dancing Tango, Leo subsequently defined his teaching methods to create his book, "The ABC of Argentine Tango” in 2015 which was revised and updated in 2022. The book defines the Argentine Tango to help people understand this unique art form.

In 2012, Leo revived the Tango Suppers at the London Waldorf Hilton, the ballroom where the Argentine Tango was first introduced to the UK in 1910.

He has dedicated the last 40 years of his life to teach the social art form of the improvised Argentine Tango, a cultural movement which is now recognised as a UNESCO world heritage dance.

His links through his Tango family and unique memories of the great musicians such as Rudolfo Biaggi visiting his parents home when he was a child, makes him an important source of knowledge of Argentine Tango culture. He is able to give a rare insight into the social Argentine Tango as he was taught not just by his father but by his father's elderly friends, whose knowledge precludes anyone presently living today. He is one of the few teachers who can identify the old Argentine styles of the 'Canyengue' or 'Orillero' as he was also taught as a child by an elderly gentleman who knew the legendary ‘El Cachafaz'. Today, the only knowledge that is left of this dancer is a short film clip from 1933 although he is still revered as one of the all time greats.