TANGO HAS ARGENTINE PANACHE.

Byline: Kerry Luft Chicago Tribune 

It's 11:30 on a Tuesday night, and Club Almagro is packed.

Through the glare of red and blue stage lights and the haze of cigarette smoke, couples clasp each other and sinuously swirl about the parquet floor. Their eyes are closed, their legs twined about each other.

Tango, Argentina's melancholy music and dance, is making a comeback, especially among the young.

The kids flock to dance halls, or milongas, around the country, learning a dance and a style of music that, until just a few years ago, appeared to be in danger of dying out. Its greatest fans were entering their 50s and 60s, and young people seemed more interested in the rock of such Argentine musicians as Charly Garcia and Fito Paez.

But, perhaps prompted by Al Pacino's sensual turn on the dance floor in the 1992 film ``Scent of a Woman,'' that has begun to change.

Clubs offer nightly tango lessons, and new milongas catering to the young have opened in Buenos Aires.

``This is just the start - it's getting bigger every day,'' says Juan Fabbri, the impresario who owns Club Almagro and runs the tango cable network.

Some believe that there are earthy reasons for learning to tango. ``All young people have a problem with physical contact,'' Fabbri says. ``They'll go to a disco and one partner will be dancing on one floor and one on another floor. Tango obliges you to get in touch.''

Indeed, tango may be the most sensual dance for this or any other generation. A good tango couple seems nearly welded at the hips; their legs move as if fused. Their eyes, if they are open, are locked, and the dancers seem as if they are in another world.

``It attracted me because I could have a woman in my arms,'' said Sebastian Misse, 17, who dances several nights a week and also gives tango lessons.

The tango was born at the end of the 19th century, in the slums of Buenos Aires. The Spanish and Italian immigrants, most of whom were men, would gather in barrooms and bordellos and sing songs of loneliness and heartbreak, creating a sound that is uniquely Argentine.

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Photo: The tango is experiencing a resurgence in its Argent ine birthplace.