[Tango-L] BA Expectations

[Deby Novitz]

Expect higher prices.  Everywhere and with everything.  Everyday brings 
a new price that is higher.  When I moved into my apartment in 2005 my 
homeowner's fees (called expenses) here were $265 pesos.  This month 
they were $535 pesos.  The woman who cleans my apartment - in 2005 the 
rate was 5 - 6 pesos per hour, now it is 8 - 9.  This is why apartments, 
guest houses, and hotels are now charging more.  We have no choice.

Food went up 65%.  I used to go to my favorite pararilla and have 
chicken, salad, and wine for for 8 pesos.  Now it is 17.  Fruits and 
vegetables are out of site.  Strawberries this time of year are usually 
2 kilos for $3 pesos.  Now you buy 1 kilo for 6 pesos.  Tomatoes are a 
joke.  They used to be 2 kilos for $2.50 pesos, some weeks they have 
been 10 pesos.

The government (which none of us who live here trusts their 
statistics....) says that clothing went up 164%.  Tango shoes now run 
from 250 - 350 pesos depending where you buy them and what they are.  
Last year you could buy shoes for 150 - 200 pesos.  Our clothes have 
gone up all across the board. 

That being said, the last thing Argentines want to hear is foreigners 
complaining about the high prices.  The one thing that has not gone up 
is salaries.  People are still making the same thing. 

Now about the milongas.  The majority charge 12 pesos, some charge 10.  
A very very few still charge 8.  Drinks are higher.  Water is 4 - 6 
pesos, a glass of champagne is 6 - 8.  Taxis, it used to cost me 10 
pesos to get to Niño Bien from Palermo, then 12, then 15.  I usually 
take the subte there. Sometimes I walk to Entre Rios and take the bus 
home.  I do not recommend that you do this if you do not know the 
barrio.  This is not the best barrio.  You stand out.  Take a taxi or a 
remise.

And now the ever subjective opinions about the dancing.  No the dancing 
is not as good as it used to be.  Last night I was with my friend 
Sandra.  She is a beautiful dancer.  We sat most of the night.  She is 
Argentine.  We sat because there really was not anyone to dance with.  
We keep asking ourself what happened to all the men who used to dance?  
There are now easily 5 women to every man.  That usually doesn't stop me 
from dancing.  I just did not want to.

 Finally at about 1:00 I decided I would dance. Sandra and several other 
women I know, decided to leave. My first dance was with an old 
Milonguero Ricardo.  We kept getting banged into on the dance floor.  He 
commented how people no longer listen to the music.  I kept getting 
kicked by foreign women doing stuff with their feet up in the air.  
Ricardo and I talked about how much it has changed.  I have only been 
dancing in BA for 7 years, he has been dancing more than 60 years.

There are many bad dancers who are Argentine.  There are many bad 
dancers who are foreign.  Foreigners are not an influence on how 
Argentines dance.  Not in the places I go to.  Yes, there is an 
acknowledgment that many of the tourists who come here to dance, dance 
nicely.  I had a great time with a group of guys from Italy a couple 
months ago.

Here is the difference I see.  Argentines who dance badly do not try to 
take up the dance floor with fancy figures and kicking their feet in the 
air.  Yes, they bang into people.  But rarely have I ever been kicked by 
an Argentine woman doing a boleo or men who are dancing backwards doing 
secadas.  Most of the time the foreigners are so busy trying to recreate 
what they have learned in classes.  How can you blame them?  This is 
what is taught.  Fancy complicated steps that cannot be danced in a 
social setting.  At least not here.

I guess for me the one thing that many people do not seem to get is that 
tango while it has become popular across the world is still a cultural 
icon here.   I sometimes think people expect Argentines to clap them on 
the back and thank them for keeping their culture alive.  For {in their 
opinions} bettering their dance.  For changing it and in their opinion 
making it better.  That is just as arrogant as the Argentine who thinks 
only Argentines can dance tango well.