Argentine Tango as an Integrative Therapeutic Approach: Bridging Dance Therapy and Melotherapy

Argentine tango integrates rhythmic auditory information, adaptive locomotion, improvisation, and continuous partnered interaction within a complex dance practice. This review examines its therapeutic relevance with primary emphasis on neurological rehabilitation, particularly Parkinson’s disease (PD), where tango-specific evidence is most developed. Particular attention is given to balance, functional mobility, gait adaptability, and motor–cognitive integration, while cognitive, emotional, and social outcomes are considered complementary dimensions rather than equivalent primary endpoints. This review examines mechanisms involving auditory–motor coupling, motor learning, embodied cognition, and interpersonal coordination, while distinguishing tango-based interventions from formal dance/movement therapy and music therapy. Particular consideration is given to Adapted Tango, including how task demands can be scaled while preserving defining characteristics of Argentine tango. Rather than claiming superiority over other dance forms, the review proposes that tango is therapeutically relevant because of its distinctive combination of walking-based multidirectional locomotion, musical interpretation, improvisational decision-making, and partner-derived sensory information. These relationships are integrated within the Argentine Tango Therapeutic Integration Model (ATTIM), proposed as a hypothesis-generating framework for future research.