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Took a night off on Friday. Too tired to go out. Stayed in watching the 13 going on 30 by Jennefer Garnder. Actually learned a few words in Spanish because of the subtitle.

Saturday, woke up early around 11:00am and had breakfast before went to my 1:00pm massage session. Relaxed and got ready for a night of tango.

First stop: los Consagrados, a milonga para portenos. Got there around 7:00pm. Cherie y Ruben were already there. So was Tina. The group got bigger as the night went on. By now, I have some regular portenas to dance with. We had champagne, chatted and time went by before I knew it. It was 10:15pm when the La Cumparsita was played.

Time to hit the next stop: Sunderland. It was a trip out from Nino Bien. The cab driver didn’t even know the exact location. TG, Tina was there to give direction and talked to driver. 30 peso and thirty minutes later, we were at Sunderland. Again without reservation, Tina used her magic to get us a table right next to the floor.

The place was less crowded than last week. I actually enjoyed the tandas with Tina and La Chemin du Tango, who joined us later. Javier y Andrea will be performing on March 15. We are planning to come back and have a big table that night.

Geraldin and Ezequiel came in around 2:00am and sat at the next table. Tina couldn’t help but kept looking at Geraldin’s feet. “Those, must be custom made.” Women and shoes.

Gustavo came in his posse. We chatted a little about milongas. He’s been away from the popular ones now. That’s why I haven’t seen him around till this night.

We left around 3:15am and caught a cab to La Viruta. It was my first time to Viruta. It is more like a night club for people who dance tango. Dim lights, young crowd,gorgeous women…good place for pick up, flirtation and muchos besos. It is an interesting place. I might come back another time to explore.

It was 6:30am Sunday morning by the time I got back to the apartment. It had been a long day.

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Went to Nino Bien early because Julio y Corina were teaching a group class. I watched them explained a few steps then sat down. Julio and Corina asked why I didn’t join in. I smiled. Never again, group class.

It was just so happened that my table was right behind theirs. They were friendly people and of course maestros and great performers. But I couldn’t see the steps that they taught being useful on a crowded floor. Later they danced to a milonga on the floor. It was beautiful to see.

And just as the class came to the end, I caught the sight of Tina and guess who: La Chemin Du Tango. It is a small tango world indeed. Later when a D’Arienzo tanda came up, I tried very hard to cabaceo her. And she caught it. She has nice embrace, feels light and follows very well. I enjoyed very bit of D’Arienzo with her.

Tina was popular. I couldn’t get the chance to cabaceo her every time a good tanda came up. She was always on the floor. Finally one hour and half later, I saw her sitting down. Walked over and cabaceoed her. We had a nice tanda, but it was too crowded and too many not-so-good dancers around to have a great tanda. Hopefully at Consagrados on Saturday, we can finally be at our best.

Nino Bien is actually quite an international scene. Over fifty percent of the women are not portenas. And you can tell how tango has been developing in different parts of the world. I danced with a woman from Switzerland. She has the embrace and dance very well.

In my opinion, a lot of foreign women are as good, if not better, as the portenas. Few men could dance as good as the old milongueros. It is not the technique. There is something the old milongueros have that takes years to cultivate. Watching Tete dancing is quite an interesting experience. There is nothing special in his steps, but by watching him dancing with young woman I can feel the joy that radiates. Same with Ruben y Cherie, watching them dancing together, it is just fascinating.

The younger generation, however, doesn’t have it. I have seen a lot of them perform and dance socially in the milonga. The connection is on the feet, not the heart. Too many figures, too many steps, too showy, lack of the magic that draws the hearts. It takes life experience to express the feeling in the music. Without the depth of life experience, then tango is no more than just another dance.

Cafeteria La Ideal martinee next…

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So I read this before: in BA, if you dance with the same person more than twice, then others might think that there is something going on between the two. I guess that the rule doesn’t apply to milongas anywhere else. In NY, we often dance with the same partner a few times in a milonga. While in Rome, however, do as the Roman do. I followed the “codigo” well in BA.

This time I found this particular rule is no longer strictly followed. Or has it ever had such a codigo? At Consagrados, I danced with this young portena three times. Sunday night, at El Beso with the young portena who claims to be a lawyer actually cabaceoed me the second time. Last night, the portena in green dress twice. So now I am bit confused. Some women I would love to dance with more than one tanda. Sometimes when I cabaceoed someone in the middle of a tanda and found out we had good connection. Do I cabaceo her again?

I asked Ruben with help of Cherie. His answer is that it is OK to dance someone more than once in the milonga as long as not consecutively and the intention is to dance. And part of the reason that people don’t dance more than one tanda together is that they could have chance to dance with others. That is, unless you are the best dancer in the milonga, according to Ruben, women, after having their best dance with you, don’t want to dance with anyone else and then go home happily.

Maybe one day I could become this dancer who gives the best tanda. One day…

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Went to El Beso early and hoped to get to sit at a table. Nope, all taken. So I ended up hanging around by the bar area. Had a nice first tanda with a portena in a green dress, then I sat around for an hour and half without finding one to dance.

It is harder for a guy who is a relatively new face in a milonga to get good dances. Experience dancers don’t look at you unless they have seen you dancing on the floor. The ones who easily accept your cabaceo are normally foreigners or not-so-good dancers.

Right now I don’t mind not getting dances any more. I would rather have one or two great tanda a night then dancing 10 tandas. It is about the quality not the quantity. Like in everywhere else, I am building my dancer card one at a time. People will remember your face if you are good dancer. I am not worried about that. I spent more time watching the floor then being on the floor. It is a good learning experience to see different leads, follows and expressions of the music.

Talking about foreigners, I think a lot of them(me included) are better dancers. With different background and financial means, we are getting better in shorter amount of time. I have danced with some older portenas, only a few have the good overall feel.

Later, I danced with an middle age Italian woman from Bologna. She dances beautifully: good embrace, calm and smooth movement. Another portena of the same age: lean back posture, lift her feet in the dance which gave me a uncomfortable feeling, her following was just decent.

A good song came up, I wholebody was jazzing up. I looked around and caught the eyes of the first portena. Off we went to have a second tanda. The connection was better this time. The floor opened up, we danced more freely. I could hear her breathing.

I left around 2 am, another early night home. I had a decent time tonight. Two and half good tandas, not bad!

Tomorrow, Nino Bien. Julio y Carina are teaching before the milonga. So i will be there early. Maybe take some video to share. I am getting lazy with taking video and picture this time. Maybe I am less touristy.

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Woke up feeling muy cansado. Got an appointment for massage at twelve. Didn’t even have breakfast. I could feel all the knots on my shoulder, back and legs. I felt soreness all over my body after. I need to have a few more sessions.

Javier is on the beach somewhere right now. I don’t have any class schedule this week. So I decided to try a milonga class at the Escueia Argentina de Tango on Rodriguez Pena. There were only four students: me, a french man and a couple. There were two chicas, but they just wanted to dance with each other.

The teacher showed a few steps. The chicas played around by switching lead. And I gave my following virginity in BA to the French guy. Javier told me to learn how to follow. It would help me to understand how the woman would feel. And I felt the French man very nervous. I left thirty minutes after. And it was supposed to an hour and half class.

I took the bus, yes! the bus to Porteno y Bailarin. Cost only 90 cents ( a little over a quarter US). Great, I just save 7 peso. I am loving this bus exploration.

Porteno y Bailarin has changed its old wood floor to marble one. Based on my experience, it is going to take toll on feet if one dances all night long. I am still feeling the pain on my foot and knee from Sat. night at Sunderland.

Well, I don’t have to worry about it. I didn’t dance much. First of all, I didn’t feel the music the whole night except one tanda of Di Sarli and one tanda of Lucio Demare. My friend told me on Sunday at El Beso that people are not going to P&B because of the music. She didn’t have good dances at P&B. I have to agree with her.

I danced one tanda with a portena only because I saw both owners of P&B danced with her and she cabaceoed me. Her embrace was… so not Argentine.

My second tanda and the last one was with… Tina ! After all this blogging and comments, we finally met in person and got to dance a tanda of vals. I was watching her dancing before our tanda and enjoying her elegant, clean and playful footwork. She has wonderful embrace. I wished the floor wasn’t so crowded at the time, so that I could have more connection with her. I guess there will be another time then.

I left shortly after our tanda. It was only two o’clock, still very early. Walked out on the street, I saw some familiar faces coming out from El Beso. I could have more dances at El Beso, but the one with Tina made up for them.

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