[Tango-L] Milongas de barrio - where are they?

[Valerie Dark]

I had a private reply to my post asking about my mention of milongas
de barrio. I'm not an authority, and I'm sure other listeros can give
much better guidance than me.

Milonga de barrio isn't a formal classification. It just means
neighborhood parties instead of the parties in the city center. It's
kind of your own opinion just how far away something has to be before
you call it that. People also seem to be referring to a particular
atmosphere. Often, these milongas are in social clubs where people
bring out their whole families on weekends.

It's fun going to Sin Rumbo in Villa Urquiza. It has a lot of history.
It was closed down for a long time, but later it was renovated and
revived. I've had a good time at Club Fulgor. Those are just for
starters. You can look in the tango guides and consult a map and see
just how far out you want to go. Friends of mine have taken me to
places that could have been on the moon. Frankly, I don't even know
where I went sometimes, but I know it was always an adventure.

I've seen some pretty inventive dancing that came from people that
probably never stepped foot in a tango academy. They were always
pretty serious and dedicated about their dancing when I talked to
them, but it also was in a context of being really a lot of fun and
part of their family life. I can't explain it exactly. It didn't seem
to have that separate compartment of "formal study" that we North
Americans often put it in, probably since we're usually coming to it
new in adulthood.

It was always pretty interesting and surprising. By contrast, I don't
imagine going to a bar in a North American rural area and discovering
a full-blown, living, sophisticated art form. Well, the people I've
talked to in Argentina don't seem to think of it exactly in terms of
an "art form" either since its ends aren't primarily to entertain
audiences and generate remuneration for the practitioners. (That's
another area that can be different about the milongas in El Centro.)

Valerie

-- 
Cryptic Ember
Tango stories by pseudonymous author Valerie Dark
http://crypticember.blogspot.com