[Tango-L] Gricel

[Deby Novitz]

I was in Gricel the night Michael was there.  It was crowded.  This is a 
milonga well attended by locals and by regulars.  It is rare to see 
people who normally do not come to this milonga.  While some of us may 
not come every week, we know each other.

There is navigation on this floor.  Perhaps at times it may not be the 
best but it is there.  This is Buenos Aires at its best.  A tightly 
packed floor of dancers with hardly any room to move.  There are several 
"lines of dance" and if you dance here regularly you know where to find 
them.  If you are new to Buenos Aires and our milongas, I am sure it 
would seem like chaos.  The center of the floor is for newbies.  The 
outside is for more experienced dancers, the rest dance in the middle.  
When the floor is very crowded it sometimes seems impossible, but 
somehow the dancers always seem to find their way.  The best dancers 
wait until the floor clears.  They rarely dance before this. Only if a 
favorite dancer is going to leave or a favorite tanda is played.

There were no fights at Gricel.  I have no idea what he was talking 
about.  In my 9 years in the milongas here I have only seen 1 actual 
fight and that was in Niño Bien when a tourist got really drunk and 
started throwing chairs.  Sometimes men purposely bump into each other 
and fake a disgruntled attitude,  They always smile and hug afterwards.  
Even when they do bump into each other and there are "some faces" and 
maybe an exchange of words there is never a "fight".  Perhaps Michael's 
lack of the language is the reason he thought the men were fighting.  I 
have no idea how he could come to this conclusion.  Fight in my opinion 
would mean loud yelling and fists and there was nothing like this at 
all. Nothing.

For the record, Michael actually came to my table and asked me to 
dance.  So much for his recognizing me and doing the cabaceo.  He was 
shocked when I turned him down. He was actually dazed when I had to say 
no twice to him. He would not give up.  I don't accept dances at the 
table from strangers.  From my friends who know I want to dance with 
them yes.

 Of course Argentine women danced with him, where is he? It does not 
mean he is a good dancer, it only means he danced with Argentine women. 
We have lots of new people in our milongas and they will dance with 
foreigners.  It is not like the old days or even when I first came 
here.  People are interested in dancing with new people.  Not all of us, 
but some of us.  It depends on the milonga.

It does not matter how many years one has danced.  There are plenty of 
people here who have danced for 40 years that do not dance well.  There 
are others who have danced for less than 5 who dance very nicely.  I do 
think though it is very arrogant for someone to come here and judge the 
milongas based on North American criteria. I think it is also sad that 
he only went to a few milongas rather than to go others outside his 
barrio.  I don't know what he was so afraid of.  He was more at risk 
walking in his barrio late at night than taking a taxi.  The worst thing 
that could have happened is that he would have been overcharged by 5 
pesos - a whole whopping $1.35 USD. 

To come here and not experience the culture - the food - pizza, 
empanadas, parilla, and the many other things that Buenos Aires has to 
offer is sort of sad.  This is a city that has so much.  Buenos Aires is 
tango.  When people say they think that North Americans dance better 
than Argentines?  What your little feet are pointing better?  You have 
more figures?  The one thing you do not have is that you do not 
understand the music, the soul of tango.  North Americans, generally 
speaking are so concentrated on being the best technically they dance 
without soul. 

Perhaps if Michael had come to Gricel and tried to enjoy himself instead 
of judging us on his North American values, he would have had a better time.