The Apilado

Apilado, is derived from the verb ‘Apilar’ which means ‘to pile up’ or ‘to put in a pile’. From an Argentine Tango standpoint, it means to put one’s body onto another, or to place your body onto another person’s body. This style is of course part of the iconic look of tango, the leaning bodies that form the shape of the letter A between the partners.

This ‘A’ shape was popularized by Carlos Gavito in the traveling Tango show “Forever Tango” in the 1990’s. However, this was largely for dramatic effect, not for social tango dancing. Dancing socially, the amount of Apilado used is very small – in fact just a few millimeters worth – no more. When Apilado is engaged, the couple is dancing, depending on the situation, in either a supported way (shared) or unsupported way (forced). In the latter case, the Follower is being forced to fall on top of the Lead or to place all of their weight on the Lead.

There is an argument that the Apilado should be considered a style of ‘embrace’. However this it is more frequently considered a style of movement. This can be done to an extreme for effect to accentuate the Tango look or the dramatic effect of a musical crescendo. However, almost no one dances the Apilado socially for a number of reasons: it’s uncomfortable when done to the extreme; it takes up too large an amount of space within the line of dance and does not work on crowded floors; and when Gavito died it fell out of fashion. The Apilado style of dance should only be used if there’s lots of space for it and only sparingly.