[Tango-L] Milongueando 2009

[Tom Stermitz]

Several of my friends and students have attended this festival, even  
going back a second time. In contrast with many (most?) Tango  
Festivals, the instructional focus is on social dancing (not show  
tango), i.e. "how they actually dance at milongas in Buenos Aires".  
They liked meeting all the people in classes (foreign and Argentine),  
and made a lot of good personal connections for dancing at the  
milongas later, or for when they attend festivals in Europe or the US.

I notice that women who go to Buenos Aires often dance their feet off  
at the milongas and come back transformed and greatly improved.

You can't always say the same about the men who return from Buenos  
Aires. Sometimes they learned a bunch of more steps without actually  
improving;  Others return motivated by the realization that they don't  
know jack about tango, which is a frustrating, but possibly  
transformational experience.

With respect to the Milongueando festival, the men I know who attended  
did come back very much improved in their tango. In particular, their  
sense of musicality and their "feel", i.e. their feeling for the  
dance, as well as how they feel to dance with.

As Cherie says, you don't need a Festival in Buenos Aires to get  
better, you could just dance all night, every night at the milongas.  
That is a good strategy if you are successful with social tango  
already, and are comfortable dancing at a festival when the floor gets  
crowded.

On Oct 25, 2008, at 11:29 AM, Jack Dylan wrote:

> Does anyone know anything about Milongueando 2009? It's quite  
> expensive but is it worth attending since I could be in BsAs at that  
> time? Their website says it's the 3rd International Encuentro of  
> Tango Milonguero in Buenos Aires. Did anyone attend either of the  
> first two?
> Jack


Tom Stermitz
http://www.tango.org
Denver, CO 80207