[Tango-L] The bar versus other venues for milongas

[Martin Waxman]

At 09:40 AM 5/6/2007, Felix Delgado wrote:
>Our tango group is looking for a location for a milonga. One 
>suggestion has been to host it at a campus bar that is available on 
>a slow night. They have a successful salsa dance on another night. 
>The dance floor is pretty nice. I sometimes go to and enjoy the 
>salsa dance. However it is a bit noisy (the dance floor is near the 
>bar, not in a separate area) and people cross the dance floor to get 
>ot the rest rooms. To me tango is different than salsa in that you 
>need to concentrate more and I prefer quieter places. With tango 
>recordings being older and not as loud, I can imagine the bar noise 
>being distracting. I would prefer a place that we could dedicate to 
>tango, but several members of our group are excited about holding a 
>milonga in a bar and say that having a milonga in a public place 
>will attract people. I don't think we want to attract the people who 
>come there to get drunk and I think we could find a better place.
>
>Does anyone have experience with hosting or going to milongas in a 
>bar? What characteristics make a good milonga venue, other than a 
>good dance floor and sound system and proximity to tango people? Is 
>access to alcohol a necessity? What about food service?

Felix,
see: http://www.newyorktango.com
Under Sunday on the dance calendar, click on Esmeralda's
The link will give you Lucille Krasne's phone number -- I don't have 
her email handy,
but she usually sends out weekly announcements.
Session 73 is a bar/restaurant on the South West corner of 73rd 
Street and First Avenue in New York City.
It has windows on two sides so that people on the street can see in.
There are two dance areas.  One right along side of the bar, and one 
in a back room.
Nice venue; nice crowd.

Lucille can probably offer advice about running a milonga in a bar.

Marty Waxman