[Tango-L] Tango, Vol 27, Issue 4 3. Milongas of Buenos Aires (larrynla@juno.com)

[Darlene Robertson]

Larry et al,

I just returned from BsAs and am thankful for the timeliness of this discussion.  What I found to be interesting is that our BELOVED cabaceo isn't used everywhere.  Men simply had no problem asking me directly to dance and I witnesses first hand that others were asked directly (Argentines by Argentines, etc.).

MOST of the time the cabaceo was the method but it just wasn't an "all or nothing" experience for me.  This was at Nino Bien, Salon Canning, Practica X, Villa Malcolm, La Viruta, Porteno y Bailarain, and Club Gricel.  As Larry mentioned, there are MANY daily milongas to choose from.  I just asked locals where they were going the next night, etc. and there was usually a consensus.  To that end, and because my trip was so short, I never went to Confiteria Ideal (and it was only mentioned as a place tourists go).

I would like to point out that none of the milongas I attended were LESS than $ 15 pesos.  Most of the time I arrived to them by Subte (with a few exciting bus rides thrown in for good measure), at 90 centavos per ride, and the taxi rides back home were also around $ 15 pesos.
One of the men I met had been to a milonga North the the city and he was complaining about how "stupid" they were in that they didn't use the cabaceo at all.
It was a great experience and I have some non-tango hilarious situations to round out the trip!
I was also excited to find Practice Sneakers that are HEELS at Tango8 (at LaValle & Anchorena in the Abasto neighborhood) as well as picked up more Traspie and Comme il Faut pairs than I originally planned.

Abrazos y Besos Y'ALL,
Darlene

Message: 3
Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2008 21:10:33 GMT
From: "larrynla at juno.com" <larrynla at juno.com>
Subject: [Tango-L] Milongas of Buenos Aires
To: tango-L at mit.edu
Message-ID: <20080603.141033.22525.0 at webmail20.dca.untd.com>
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What were your experiences with Argentine milongas?  How 
far from the stereotypes did some vary?  What practices 
seemed common?

Larry de Los Angeles