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I had gone out to milongas almost every night while I was in Baires. Well, if you have only two weeks to spend, you would probably do the same. This trip, however, I split my time between the traditional milongas (such as El Beso, Cachirulo, Nino Bien), Canning, La Viruta, Sunderland practica and new milongas (Milonga 10, Villa Malcom). I wanted to experience different venues, dance with different styles (by no means “nuevo”) from different countries and listen to different DJs.

El Beso is probably my favorite traditional milonga, although the floorcraft at times needed improvement. Wednesday and Sunday are usually packed. The last Wednesday I went, the organizer had to stop allowing entrance at midnight (which is early by Baires standard) unless there were dancers leaving. Some of my friends had waited an hour to get in. I’ve always had very good dancing experience there. And I like the fact that it is small place. You could see everybody easily. It is good for spotting good dancers and making cabeceo.

I went to Cachirulo Saturday at Maipu 444 once. Somehow I felt that the level wasn’t as high as I expected. Maybe it was just that particular night;or maybe my expectation was higher this time. I left uninspired, although I had danced with some very good milongueras. Floorcraft was probably as good as any milonga could get. Very few bumps, but then again, dancing on a crowded floor was never fun.

I went to Nino Bien twice; once on Thursday night with a friend of mine, the other time at the CITA closing milonga. Thursday night at Nino Bien is… how should I put it…interesting. I went there more for socializing than anything else. I like it because A. Mario Orlando’s music has always been good, B. It was the first milonga I attended in BsAs. So I was sentimental about Nino Bien. I danced mostly with my friends/acquaintances that night. I didn’t return the following Thursday.

Instead I went to Villa Malcolm.

The first time I went to Villa Malcolm, it was a Friday night. I didn’t really like it. The light was very dim. The place was humid. Fans were blasting so strong that at times I couldn’t hear the music while I was on the floor. It was tile floor, hash on the feet, ankles and knees. On top of that, the floorcraft was chaotic. There were some very good dancers. But I wasn’t in the mood so I danced with some acquaintances and hung out most of the time.

I went back again on the following Thursday night. What a difference! There were candle nights on small tables with white table cloth. Slightly better floorcraft and more relaxed environment. Although I didn’t like the music selection and power went out for a few miniutes, I got to dance my last tanda with my favorite young portena.

Most of the nights that I went to milongas in Palermo area, I ended up at La Viruta. For me, La Viruta before 3:00am was amateur hours. I went there early on my last night (or morning), around 2am, to catch Sexteto Milonguero and witnessed the before scene. I didn’t even put my shoes on. But the after scene was quite good. At least from my perspective.

A lot of good dancers came down from different other milongas (La Viruta opens till 6am on Friday and Sat.). It is free entrance after 3:00am. The energy of the place was normally very high. Horacios played very good music. And I loved to have fresh medialuna around 4:30am with cafe con leche. Always left in a happy mood.

“Go to Milonga 10 tomorrow night.” My friend who is a professional told me on my first night out. I went to Cachirulo instead. Over the next couple of days, I’d heard the name mentioned so many times that I decided to skip Sunderland and went there on the next Saturday.

Milonga 10 is held at a club on Loyola 828, between Serrano and Thames, just a few blocks from Villa Malcolm. I took bus 151, got off at Serrano and walked a few block from the bus stop. It was a very small place, probably same size as of E Beso with a little smaller tile floor, and at a corner it gets very slippery. Saturday night the place was packed with young dancers. At its highest time, I estimated each couple got about 4′x4′ space to dance. Yet the floorcraft was superb, very few bumps, even though some dancers were dancing open from time to time. The energy of the place was high, and the music (Hugo was the DJ) was very good. There were some very good dancers, mixed with a few average ones. If you are a good dancer, this is probably the place to hit on a Saturday night. I went back again on Tuesday night. Slightly less people but very high level young dancers.

Canning, despite its fame, is my least favorite milonga. I like the place, the floor and the occasionally good live orchestras performance; and dislike just about everything else that comes with places. Although at different nights of the week, it has different milonga organized by various people. It seemed to me that none was ideal for good dancing. The floorcraft was always horrible, at least before 3am. The floor was mixed with beginners, mediocre milongueros who thought of themselves good dancers and typical bad European dancers (the ones who are stuck between traditional and good nuevo). Very few good dancers. I went there three times: twice on Friday night to meet up with some friends, once on Tuesday night to listen to Color Tango. Whenever I danced, I always felt that my space was threaten or invaded. I had to pay extra attention to avoid being kicked or bumped into for my partner and myself. What fun was that? And the music was mediocre at best. The volume of the speakers were whispering at times.

For me, Canning is the place to see and be seen. If I couldn’t have my dance at Canning, La Viruta, which is a few blocks away, was always the place that saved the night. More than once, I felt that I went Canning just to kill some time before going to La Viruta for the grand finale of the night.

PS. It was nice to put on a jacket and ironed shirt to attend the traditional milongas. Once a while, it felt free to go a new milonga with whatever I was in the mood for (jean, chino and funky t-shirt etc.). And it was nice that I enjoyed both ways.

The plan of my first night was to dance a few hours at Cachirulo at El Beso, then move to Canning to meet some friends, and finish at La Viruta.

Earlier, Sebastian Arce and I had a very nice conversation about tango music, the dance and the beauty of it. It is an inspiring experience to talk about tango, to exchange ideas, not just to dance it, especially with an artist like Sebastian. It opens the mind.

I got to the El Beso at the beginning. The class was just finished. Music started a few minutes after. I got a nice seat, and next to me a guy from Germany. The entrance fee has gone up to 18 pesos, with the better exchange rate, the cost in dollar is roughly the same. But there weren’t too many locals there. Of course, Tete is now gone. When I passed the table he used to sit by the bar, I couldn’t help but remember him.

I spot a very good couple of Argentine dancers right from the beginning. They had danced about five six tandas together. Probably the best couple in the milonga the whole night. I spent most of the time watching them dancing and learning. And I thought to myself, I want to dance with her.

I began my night with an Italian to a Di Sarli tanda. She was ok, but I had showed myself by dancing with her.

A few tandas after, I cabeceoed the Portena who was sitting now. She smiled, nodded. But the woman who was sitting next to her also smiled at me. And the German guy sitting next to me thought they were cabeceoing him. Oops…He got up, while I remained seated. He approached to the Portena, who was looking away. The other woman was looking at my way. So he was standing there between two women who weren’t planning to dance with him. It was a funny scene.

To add more complication to the matter, another European guy saw the slightly embarrassing situation, and decided to save the night. He got up, went over and tried to ask one of them to dance. Two European guys now stand before two women, who had no intention to dance with either of them in the first place.

I was sitting there, entertained by the whole scene. The portena looked at my way. We were both amused, grinning. So I cabeceoed her again, nodded and got a nod back. I went up and got her on the floor, out of the situation while the two guys were left trying to figure out now who should dance with whom.

We had a very nice De Anglis tanda. The floor of El Beso was a bit too smooth for my liking. So I was a little inhibited. I thanked her after the tanda and thought to myself that I would love to dance with her again. I’d sat for an hour and avoided a few cabaceos, while listening to the orchestras that were playing.

I had another good tanda with a beautiful young Portena, who happened to have studied with Jorge Torres six or seven years ago. Then I left for Canning.

Canning was packed even at the wee hours. I met up with a few friends there, danced a few tandas with them. The floor was a mess. How could anyone enjoy dancing there? I had no idea. But it was a place to see and to be seen. And I loved the floor of Canning, just the right friction that I prefer.

The rest of the time, I was just mingling with acquaintances, friends, talking with Damian, the DJ a bit, and got to know a few new faces. By three, I was ready to leave, although the plan was going to la Viruta after. I didn’t want to exhaust myself on the first night. I had made my round. Now rest up for more great tangos in BsAs on Day 2.

Not get on it at all!!!

Seriously

Floorcraft, such an issue in the milonga, especially when it gets crowded. It is never fun to be kicked and stepped on, or be on alert all the time. Sucks the joy of dancing.

My first BsAs milonga experience was at Nino Bien with Cherie y Ruben. I had never seen a floor so packed before. I did all right, however, after a few tandas. Navigation on a milonga floor is somewhat like driving: follow the car ahead of you, maintain the distance, if traffic is heavy then be patient; and avoid dangerous behaviors such as cutting lane left and right, over speeding (like 20 miles above speed limit) and tailgating.

I have danced in the milongas in Hong Kong, Roma, and Moscow as well as different festivals in the US since. From my observation, floorcraft has as much to do with skill as with attitude.

Good floorcraft skill is not very difficult to obtain. How hard it is to learn how to walk behind someone and avoid bumping into the others? The problem is that a lot of teachers teach how to dance, not how to dance social tango. Beginners do not have the proper introduction of floorcraft when they start learning.

The biggest problem, however, is the dancers’ attitude that contributes the messy dance floor. I’ve rarely seen the couple who is dancing for each other being the offender. If one is dancing for the partner, one is usually considerate enough to protect the other, not to do anything that spoils the joy of dancing. The biggest offenders are the ones who are dancing for themselves; sometimes the tango artists wanna be. They dance to show off.

At different festival milongas, I had seen quite a few “advanced” dancers performing all these fancy nuevo moves on the crowded floor, stopping the traffic and hogging three times more space than the others. They wanted to dance like Gustavo or Chicho, inspired by how they performed; while the real Gustavo or Chicho was dancing like the regular dancers on the milonga floor. It is not about open or close embrace, although it takes high skill to dance fluidly. It is about being considerate to the fellow dancers,  not to invade others’ space and to respect the line of dance. Even the biggest names in tango, nuevo or traditional, follow the line of dance and respect other space.

Who gives you right not to?

Here is a clip from Sunderland, March 2008. Old milongueros, famous tango teachers were dancing peacefully along with regular dancers. I missed the flowing piso.

I was djing at this practica the other night. It was light on the women side.  I was sitting there watching and listening to my own tandas.

There was this chubby middle age guy sitting next to me. I saw him dancing, a pre-intermediate at best.

“You want to lead me?” I asked him. He looked at me hesitantly but got up anyway.  I opened the embrace.

I had no idea of what he wanted me to do, except walking. Clearly he had no idea either. However, he determined  to do something, to dance I guessed,  other than just walking. I felt him using his right hand to push me left and right. It was very uncomfortable.

I stopped. He was struggling, I was not very happy being yanked and pushed around.

” I don’t think a woman will feel comfortable like this…” without thinking I tried to show him what he was doing.

” No!!!! “He stepped away from me. I saw the fury on his face.

” wow… it is ok if you don’t feel comfortable. ” I couldn’t understand the sudden outburst.

He walked away like I was some kind of disease and sat on the other side of the room.

I smiled… I began to understand what women were complaining about.