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Over the span of two weeks, I had attended more than 20 milongas and practicas. This time I had paid extra attention to the music/tandas that various DJ played. And I also took a private course with one of the well known DJs in Buenos Aires/world. I was not overall impressed by what I’d heard.

If people here complain about hearing the same music every night, well, don’t think there is much difference in Buenos Aires either. In fact, I’ve heard some well known DJs playing the same tanda at roughly the same time of the night different nights. If you go to traditional milongas, you better love the music of Troilo, Di Sarli, D’Arienzo, Canaro and Pugliese. These are five predominant orchestras that are played a few times a night.I was told that a lot of milongueros only respond to these orchestras. They would sit through other orchestras.

Very few DJs I’d listened to had created coherent energy throughout the night, especially at traditional milongas. And it seemed to me that nobody cared, as long as it was the same music, people got up and danced. Whatever format that DJs from this side of the world use: 2 tango, 1 vals, 2 tango, 1 milonga; 4 tango, 3 vals and 3 milonga in one tanda, there was hardly any format here. The first night I was at El Beso from the beginning, I heard four tanda of tango before one tanda of vals. Very often, I heard five tango, four vals or four milongas in one tanda. In a few cases, five milonga tracks were played before the cortina came up. Imagine that  you happen to be dancing  with a bad milonga partner at one of these five milonga set.

The DJs who played at the new milongas seem to play more variety of orchestras, but few meshed the music well. My last Thursday night at Villa Malcolm, my favorite young portena was there. She saw me, greeted me and asked me if I wanted to dance the next tanda. I told her that it was probably my last tanda with her this time, I wanted to dance with her when the music of the tanda was very good. Well, I’d waited almost three hours for the good music to come. I almost ran over to the dj and thanked him for finally putting on some good music so I could have one of my tandas of the trip.

There were some DJs I loved to listen to: Mario at Nino Bien, Sunderland and La Marshall, Hugo at Practica 8/milonga 10, and Horacio at La Viruta. Horacio often surprised me pleasantly with his ingenious way of mixing orchestras and different period. I was dancing to four of Di Sarli 50s vocal, which were my favourites,  one Friday night at La Viruta. Just as I thought the tanda was over, he put on the ” Esta noche de luna”  Di Sarli con Rufino 1943. I couldn’t help but smile at it. It worked for me!

All in all, I am getting very confident with my DJ skill and music selection. After all, I am playing a lot similar tandas like the ones of the good DJs in BsAs do.  What I have learned this time: Don’t be inhibited by rules and formats (although I am still reserved about playing six milongas in one tanda.) , follow my own instinct, feel free to experiment. There is no big deal. If it works, great! If not, then try something else. Music should be fun to listen to and dance to.

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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.

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“Sola?” Carlitos asked me a bit curiously when I showed up one night at the practica without the accompany of my friend. My dear kindhearted friend took me to the practica at Sunderland first time, (and a couple of times after) and introduced me to Carlos and Rosa, and other acquaintances. The very same night, people inquired if I was the Novio.

Another night, I went to Nino Bien with a good friend who is a professional. She got us a very nice table by the piso, front row. We were having a good time, chatting, people watching and commenting. We danced our first dance together…

The moment I met with a portena later, whom I got acquainted with in the milongas, for a tanda. Her first question for me was ” is that your girlfriend?” My friend told me later that at least twice she was asked if I was the new boyfriend.

Isn’t it an outdated mentality that tango is only for hooking up with someone? Can man and woman just be good friends, sharing a bottle of champagne or beer or wine together, having a tanda or two? Why must some people assume that because two show up together at a milonga, they are, by default, lovers?

Apparently, in some minds, tango is just a means to get some…

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Most of the people know about Sunderland. When my friend told me about the practica on Monday and Wednesday, supervised by Carlos and Rosa, I was very interested in going. The problem with going to Sunderland, however, is that it is far away from the center. It costs about 30-40 pesos by cab.

Bus 41 has a stop one block from Sunderland, and it costs only 1.25 peso (35 cents). The ride takes about 30-45 minutes depending on the traffic. We got there early due to the light traffic, and we had coffee in the shop.

The last Mundial Salon champion couple, as we all know, came from Japan and were trained by Carlos and Rosa. So there have been quite a few professional couples from Japan attending the practica.

The practica always starts with 45 minutes of walking exercise for men, supervised by Carlos and woman’s technique supervised by Rosa. It was a humbling experience to walk along with 30 some men, some are established professionals, along two straight lines.

After, it was just dancing. Carlos and Rosa watched attentively, and made correction and gave pointers to different couples from time to time. There were so many young but great dancers. I didn’t practice much after the walking exercise. Instead, I sat and watched dancer practice. It was a very inspiring experience. People were genuine, and carried no attitude. Good dancers danced and worked with less skilled ones. And I felt welcome from the beginning. And after practica, we shared a table with Carlos and Rosa downstairs at the restaurant, along with other students. We chatted casually, and it was a very relaxing atmosphere. I ordered a steak, it was so juicy and tasty.

I am going to attend every practica till I return home. Here is a video of some of the dancers practicing performance at the end of the practica. I am seriously in love with the Argentine girl in blue skirt. I think she will rise up in the tango world in just a few years.

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Well, I learned something (shockingly, but not surprisingly) yesterday. A little secret about milk in carton. Apparently, the milk that comes in the carton in BsAs (and maybe in some other countries as well, which reminds me to check when I get back home) is processed. But little did I know, thanks to Senor Capone, that the expired milk on the store shelf is returned to factory to be reprocessed, up to five times. So next time you pick up a carton of milk at the supermarcardo, look at the bottom of the carton, and see which number is missing. If 1 is missing, as shown here, it means the milk is not reprocessed. If 5 is missing, well, drink it at your own risk. (just kidding)

Tango wise, I had a great time at El Beso on Sunday. Saw Pedro Sanchez again. The old man still looks good. We chatted a bit, after he remembered who I am. He asked me to give him a call and hang out some time, Asado, baliando… Also I met a few acquaintances from all over the world. I really like this place: very good floorcraft, great energy, good dancers. I felt that I was finally warmed up.

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