[Tango-L] Milongas as business enterprises?

[Deby Novitz]

Nooooooooo, I don't think so.  People who run milongas here rarely make 
money and when they do, it is not that much.  Especially now with 
inflation.  The organizer's rarely own the venue.  Unless you do, you 
pay rent, you pay for the wait staff, you pay for the linens on the 
table, you pay for the glasses used at the bar, the DJ, etc.  It doesn't 
take much math to figure it out.  You get 150 people who are in the 
milonga.  Not all of them pay.  Teachers, other organizers, and a few 
others never pay.  Then some pay a reduced rate for whatever reason.  So 
out of that 150 maybe 120 pay.  Depending on the milonga the entrance is 
usually around 10 pesos.  People leave and come, so let's say on a good 
night the take is 1500 pesos...then subtract all the other stuff.  
Hardly what I would call a lucrative business.  People that organize 
milongas in Buenos Aires do it for the same reason you guys do in your 
community...you love the dance enough to provide a place for people to 
dance.  Some nights you do make money, but hardly enough to call it a 
business...more a labor of love.

I started coming here in 2000, there was Ideal, El Beso, Canning, 
Gricel, La Viruta, Nino Bien, El Arranque, (and others) and basically 
there are still these places.  There have been few new places.  New 
organizers in the same clubs on different days perhaps.  There seems to 
be this romantic notion about the "good old days."  Kind of like my 
parents waxing poetic about Frank Sinatra. 

There are still some neighborhood milongas that don't make it to the 
"book."  On Fridays sometimes Roberto and I go to this milonga in 
Avellneda.  You will never find it. (Hey if Roberto didn't drive, I 
would not find it.)  It is a group of friends who rent a senior center 
hall in a really crappy part of the town.  Avellneda is a very poor 
barrio(city) outside of Buenos Aires.  Everyone knows everyone at this 
milonga.  You pay 2 pesos to offset the cost of the hall.  There are 
some drinks you can buy.  The DJ brings his CDs and borrows from 
friends.  No fancy sound system here.  This is more like friends getting 
together. It isn't that you would not be welcome here, it is just this 
is more like a private party.  Believe me, no money made here.  These 
are few and far between. 

I have spent many hours talking to people who have danced tango for 50 
years or more.  The milonga scene is much more than 12 years old.  
Perhaps you did not know this, but during Argentina's dark years, the 
government outlawed public gatherings of more than 10 people.  Family 
birthday parties that had more than 10 people needed a permit from the 
police station or you could be hauled off to where ever.  People were 
not allowed to go to dance. In addition to the permits, there was a 
curfew.  This is what killed the dance halls on Corrientes.

The "dirty war" ended in 1983.  Tango began to make a revival, so did 
the milongas.  This was a society that had to reinvent itself.  Many 
will tell you that they were proud to be Argentinians again.  Part of 
that was to revive the tango.  Tango shows began to happen, classes 
began to be taught.  People have told me that it was mainly younger 
people who went to learn the tango.  The older people were still 
fearful, and did not come back to the milongas until later.  To this day 
there is a nationalistic pride of tango to Argentinians whether they 
like it or not.