First tango in Buenos Aires: World championships draw to a red hot close after same-sex couples make their debut

The World Championship of Tango has drawn to a breathtaking close and, as expected, it was the Argentine couples who stole the show, The Daily Mail reported.

Jesica Arfenoni and Maximiliano Cristiani dazzled the judges at the event held in the Luna Park Arena in Buenos Aires, winning the Salon Tango event with fellow Argentines Guido Palacios and Florencia Castilla, winning the Stage Tango.

More than 500 couples from 37 countries have been competing in the two-week tango festival. The winners each received £4,500 and plane tickets to Paris, where they're expected to perform.
 

The Tango originated in Argentina in the late 19th century and the passionate and playful dance is now an important part of the country's cultural heritage.

This year's championship brought an unusual twist as for the first time judges allowed same-sex couples, with three male pairs and one female pair, taking to the floor. A massive cheer rang out when Juan Pablo Ramirez, 34 and his partner Daniel Arroyo, 18, took to the dance floor to a 1940s classic.



“It takes two to tango,” Ramirez said after the performance. 'But they don't necessarily have to be different sexes.”

While the sight of two men locked in a passionate would have raised a few eyebrows among the more conservative members of the audience it actually harks back to the dance's beginnings in the 1890s.

Tango was born in brothels and it was originally only performed by pairs of men. Women were initially prohibited from participating in a dance considered prostitute-like.

The development seen as another sign of Argentina's increasingly open attitude to gay couple. The country that has been a pioneer in Latin America in legalizing gay marriage and whose capital is well-known as gay-friendly.