[Tango-L] Report from Buenos Aires #7: Milonga Review

[Michael]

My vacation is coming to an end. Instead of just dropping names of
milongas, I´m posting my review. Hopefully others will do the same.

I. Lo de Celia

The floor is square with a line that goes around the perimeter. The
table set up is                  Men

                                                Women
Women

                                                             Men

Couples are usually put in the back row. Florescent lights are over
the dance floor. Colored lights are over the tables which causes dark
spots and can make cabeceo difficult.

Floor gets crowded quickly so standing in one place is not advised.
One night, an Argentine pushed another Argentine to shut up and start
dancing.

2. El Arranque
I haven´t figured out the seating arrangement. Women are on the sides
but then there are other women in the same column as men. You have to
look around. To paraphrase the safety exercise on airlines "Your
closest partner may be behind you." Excellent lighting for cabeceo.
Floor is sloped so ochos can be a problem going downhill because the
woman will pick up speed with each pivot. Floor is rectangular but
almost passes for being a square. There are raffle drawings for
champagne and CDs.

3. Milonga de los Consagrados @ central region leonesa (This is the
same location for Mi Refugio and Nino Bien

The floor is rectangular and the lighting is good. Tables are
perpendicular to the floor. I was there one night. It looks like the
tables alternate between men and women. The vortex is a struggle
because the floor gets jammed at the ends.

4. Gricel
I´ve already written about.

5. Miscellaneous
DJs seem to follow the 2-1-2-1 approach to music. 2 tandas of tango, 1
tanda waltz, 2 tandas tango, 1 tanda of milonga. In the States, the
pattern seems to be
4-1-4-1.

6.Milonga hopping
I don´t see any value to going to different milongas during a short
stay. When you keep returning to the same milongas, people will
recognize you after a while. If you keep going to a new milonga every
night, you´ll be a stranger every night. It´s completely different
when you go with a partner versus going alone.

7: Identity
Not a single Argentine woman I danced with thought I was an Argentine
until they said something in Spanish and I said I´m not Argentine.

********************************************************************************************
Not related to tango
Bring a camera and walk throughout the city. There are free walking
tours (www.bafreetour.com) My friend, Gail from Florida, suggested I
buy a digital camera. I´m glad I finished.

Tomorrow is my last full day in the city. I fly home Wednesday,
leaving the house @4:30 PM for my 8:25 pm flight to Miami arriving
4:30 AM. After going through customs and immigration, my connecting
flight leaves at 8:40 for Washington, DC National Airport, arriving
11:05 AM. I should be home by 12:30 with my luggage and fond memories.

I didn´t come to BA to eat, but to dance.

I´ll post my summary tomorrow. I appreciate the public confirmation of
what I´m writing. I´m not making this stuff up.

And now a word about dancing. Two highly skilled dancers may not like
dancing with each other. While skill is a big part, so is passion and
musicality. Everybody has their own style. If somebody doesn´t like
dancing with me, it can be because of my skill level or they don´t
like my style. It´s the same about women. I melt with some women and
for others it´s a cold experience. Some women can dance milonga and
others have problems. I don´t what good it does to complain about
somebody´s dancing on the list. There will NEVER be universal
agreement on who is a good dancer.

I don´t remember writing anything negative about the dancing skill of
the women. My only complaint has been navigation.

Reporting from Buenos Aires
Michael Ditkoff
Washington, DC


I'd rather be dancing Argentine Tango