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 _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list Tango-L@mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l