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Argentine tango blog
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Tango in Buenos Aires
Jun. 30, 2005 - If picture is worth a thousand of words...
"The man who sets out to carry a cat by its tail learns something that will always be useful and which never will grow dim or doubtful."
Mark Twain...than a movie can make you a billionaire? Here is clip from milonga at Maipu 444, Buenos Aires.
This is how most people dance at most downtown milongas in Buenos Aires. I call this style milonguero. Someone might call it grilled cheese on a stick. It does not matter really. This is also prevalent style at major milongas in Villa Urquiza (Sin Rumbo, Sunderland (one of my favorite milongas in Buenos Aires) and Imagen).
Don't you wish someone would take similar movie of milonga in the fourties or in the beginning of twentieth century to take a glimpse at how people danced at the time (not staged movie but documentary)?
Sep. 20-27, 2004 - Impressions from the first tango trip to Buenos Aires. Monday to Monday.
The city
OK, here I go like so many people before me: “Me Buenos Aires queridooooo…”
Where to start… Buenos Aires fits like an old expensive shoe – both shabby and lush, bustling with people, taxis and people in the taxis. It reminded me post-soviet Kyiv with some ostentatious architecture, multistory apartment buildings, tenuous traffic rules, protest demonstrations, street kiosks, street vendors, great coffee and food, and Food! Atkins would feel at home in the city. Since my Spanish was lacking I resorted to simple solution – I would order the most expensive dish on the menu and not a single time did I go wrong. The most expensive would equal about 15 pesos or about $5 at nearby restaurant. My Franklin electronic dictionary also came to be very handy at the restaurants.
Ladies, one word: shoes.
Move around on feet or in taxi. The furthest milonga I went to (Salon Canning) is 9 pesos taxi ride from downtown. You need to know street addresses of milongas to get to them in taxi. Get Tango Map for that.
The music
Tango is heard all over the city. At milongas golden era orchestras are played: D’Arienzo, Troilo, Calo, Di Sarli, D'Agostino and Canaro are the most popular as far as I can tell. I didn’t use to have D’Arienzo played at milongas here. Not anymore. CDs are 16-18 pesos ($6) here and you can listen to all of them at Zivals
music store (one block from El Beso and seven blocks from my hotel). So I spent three hours per day for three days rummaging through the store's collection. The beauty of living in the place like BsAs is that you could dance to a lovely tune at night and get it the very next day at Zivals. On fifth day of my stay as I dropped in to get "Corazon de Oro" by Canaro I was greeted with "como estas" by clerk in the store.
Incidentally "Corazon de Oro" makes perfect soundtrack to BsAs sidewalks. I put it on repeat in my CD player and walked seven blocks back to my hotel via some of the busiest streets in the Buenos Aires. I know I looked dorky with headphones in my ears and CD player clutched in my hand but this was one of the more memorable city experiences for me.
The lessons
Private lesson with Maria Plazaola. I went to El Beso on Monday evening where Maria from La Academia was teaching beginner lesson and scheduled a private for Tuesday. The lesson was good: I have learned the step I wanted to learn (I walk on double beat and lead the follower into back ochos to single beat), plus two variations I wasn’t aware of; Maria learned two new English words: “cute” – the way she walks and “stubborn” – I am in general. Maria told me that I do too much with my feet and that of all milongueros only Gavito does something similar with his feet. I countered in my usual manner that as long as I maintain connection, dance to the music and lead well my footwork is icing on the cake, belongs to my personal style (I have danced with another, assistant instructor from La Academia later at Milonga de las Morochas and she told me she likes the way I dance, other local dancer at Lo de Celia told me that I dance like porteno).
I expected that private lessons in BsAs would be three times cheaper than in the US like anything else. Not so. 150 pesos per hour. This particular lesson was worth it even though the price quenched my desire to take more than one private lesson.
I also took group lesson with Maria at El Beso. Here country discounts do apply (10 pesos per lesson). There were four instructors working with a group of 40 students (intermediate and advanced). First we did some stretching exercises then instructor showed a sequence of steps and everyone has repeated it with partner rotation. After a five minute break the class was divided into two groups: advanced and intermediate. I was labeled advanced. New sequence of steps was introduced and worked on. At some point leaders and followers were separated to work out their respective patterns. What can I say about the group class? I do not like learning and teaching sequences especially since Maria insisted on doing them exactly as shown. Neither do I like to separate leaders and followers because every step should be lead and improvised according to specific partner and to music.
The milongas
My primary goal for this trip was to go as many milongas as possible. So I went to two/three milongas per day. In the retrospect one or two milongas per day is better paced ratio.
Overall impressions.
- I saw open embrace dancers on three occasions: one tourist couple at Club Espanol, one guy at El Beso switched to open embrace when he danced with a tourist from Spain, one guy late at Nino Bien after the floor cleared, this one could have been local dancer. Besides these three exceptions people dance chest to chest at all milongas I went to. Everyday milongas are as crowded as those at crowded Denver festival with about as many or more people. The level of dancing is naturally more uniform and rather high. I have not seen any beginners (the way we have them in Colorado Springs or in Denver), either they take lessons for couple years before starting to dance or there are special beginner milongas??
- The most popular steps are ocho cortado and wide variety of turns. No leg wraps. Some dancers do not do self-ganchos and prefer to have no leg or feet contact at all.
- After each song within tanda couples simply stand on the floor and chat for half or full minute into the next song. Only every forth/fifth local dancer speaks conversational English. So if you do not speak Spanish the pauses will feel rather cumbersome. This is another reason why tourists do not get invited often. Tourists do speak English usually.
- After each tanda the floor is cleared, people return to their tables.
- At some milongas a tanda of salsa/merengue is played (at some rock-n-roll is played too). As far as salsa dancing is concerned BsAs is very far from Miami, Denver, Boston, San Diego or San Juan. In fact the level of salsa dancing at milongas is downright pitiful (it may be better in salsa clubs, I didn’t go to those in BsAs). Also a tanda of local country line dance is often played. Cute to see the first couple times but in general I do not like line dances of any kind – limited improvisation.
- Many milongas have presentations by professional performance dancers. The best I saw was at Porteno y Bailarin by Pibe (?), stocky guy with black crew cut – excellent close embrace dancing not limited by line of dance and space. The worst was one of several performances at Salon Canning – the guy routinely threw follower in the air, there was virtually no dancing with each other – if I want to see figure skating I’ll buy TV, there is no need to do it to tango music and on the dance floor too.
- Same place hosts different quality milongas on different days of the week.
- People do smoke but it is not that bad – the ceilings are high and ventilation is good. Also I used to smoke too so it is not something entirely new to me.
- If you do not drink wine be ready to make the crucial choice: “Sin or con gas?” (bottled water).
- see cabeceo below
Listed below are some of milongas I went to. For more complete and informed list see: Dancing in Buenos Aires by Jenny DeBouzek (do not forget to copy street addresses for milongas) and Tango postcard by Bibi Wong.
Monday
Matinee at Confiteria Ideal. My first milonga. Straight from the plane. I told so the hostess and she kindly put me in the middle of the first row. It was a bit stressful, I stared too much but I did get to dance a bit.
Lo de Celia. The best and the most thoughtful placement of dancers by the host. Older crowd especially on Monday. Again I was placed right in the midst of milogueros. Here I have met D. rather luckily. Still stressed and clumsy with cabeceo. Had very different and good experience at Saturday matinee. Got to dance with some exceptionally good dancers both local and from New York (clandestine “I am local” New Yorker who visits BsAs twice a year). Lo de Celia is the best place to go to on Saturday considering that this day of the week is mostly couples night elsewhere.
Salon Canning. Mixed crowd (mostly younger, the most touristy place of all). Los Cosos de al Lao quartet was playing. Original violin player. Very crowded. I watched mostly (danced only four tandas).Tuesday (everything within walking distance of hotel)
Matinee at El Arranque. Older crowd. Still somewhat uncomfortable with cabeceo. Danced with D. again. Left early to get some CDs at Zivals.
Un Monton de Tango at El Beso. Relatively small milonga. The best music selection and the best overall quality of dancing. A bit dark for cabeceo especially if you are not very good at it. People tend to know each other and to dance within the circle of friends and acquaintances. Very friendly bar personnel. Order cafe con leche separado. Also here is where I was seated next to two hardcore milongueros – a lot of false invitations. One of attendees confided me that this milonga is where middle to upper middle class of BsAs goes to dance to. Certainly the most dressed up crowd. Most of the dancers migrate to Porteno y Bailarin after 1 am.
Porteno y Bailarin. Down the street from El Beso. Mixed crowd. Two small elongated floors. A chance to observe old milongueros presiding over one of the floors. Occasionally they abandon presiding part for a bit of dancing with eager followers. I am getting better at cabeceo.Wednesday
Fattomano custom shoes are just couple blocks from Salon Canning matinee and reachable by subte (subway). This matinee is not too crowded. Left early to go to group class with La Academia at El Beso. The class was followed by a small milonga. Took a chance to dance with fellow students.
La Nacional. Diverse crowd. Older, younger, locals, tourists. Elongated and sizable floor. I had a lot of fun with D. at this milonga. I came late (at midnight) and luckily she happened to have an empty seat at her table. She has the best deadpan sense of humor I have encountered in years. Keen eye, sharp tongue and no qualms whatsoever about using it. What a relief this milonga was. This is where I truly have started to feel comfortable at BsAs milongas.Thursday
Matinee at Club Espanol. The most ornate/posh building of all. Due to apparent absence of hardcore milongueros I got to be a minor star at this particular milonga. In fact I had to hide my eyes for a bit of break from dancing.
Salon Canning. Me and D. went here to avoid crowds. The place was fairly empty since everyone is at Nino Bien on Thursdays. This again gave me a chance to be a minor star. A lot of dancing with different people including “Japanese tigress, grrr” (D., animal print dress, very animated footwork).
Nino Bien past 2 am. Elongated floor large enough to accommodate everyone you have heard of plus some tourists before 3 am. Reasonably empty past 3 am.Friday
Salon Canning. Friday was very crowded. A lot of performances.
La Estrella is couple beautiful shady streets away from Salon Canning. Free entrance past 3:30 am. Also large floor. Mostly younger crowd. Tandas routinely have six songs in them at this milonga. Last tanda at 5:50 am is danced with lights off. Try it. Ride to hotel at six in the morning was memorable too – BsAs waking up, going to bed in the morning twilight.Saturday
Matinee at Lo de Celia. The place to dance on Saturday if you are single. I managed to get into tango zone within one tango with one exceptional local dancer at this milonga – I did not have to lead her since she always was able to be in front of me, amazing skill.
El Beso. I started to really dance at El Beso at this milonga. Danced with daughter of Picasso (yep, the painter). She is from Spain of course, dances tango for one year and has that easygoing cocktail parlor demeanor which is so difficult to imitate without years of practice. What would be a clever retort to “Oleh, Oleh” said to a bull fight motive? Charge?
La Viruta (same place as La Estrella). I went to this milonga after El Beso to drink some wine and to watch only – the floor is raised at the entrance, nice vantage point.Sunday
El Beso – Went to Plaza Dorrego and decided to walk to El Beso instead of riding cab to Tasso. A mistake in retrospect.
Porteno y Bailarin – this was my last milonga and I danced a lot at this oneThe intricate art of cabeceo
Cabeceo is ritual used at Buenos Aires milongas to invite a partner to dance. For some time I absentmindedly called cabeceo cabesito, which if you think about it is altogether very different thing. It took me three full days to work out proper ritual for cabeceo. Not that I wasn’t dancing but I am sure I have missed some opportunities to dance simply because I would be staring at inappropriate time or simply staring. Borges has wasted his talent writing that tango poem (about knifes and other silly things). It would have been much better spent attempting to describe refined rules of invitation to dance at milongas. As for any complex social system there are exceptions from the rules and exceptions from exceptions. Also the rules vary from milonga to milonga and depend on how early or late you arrive to a particular milonga, and on how good a dancer you are. See, Borges would have loved to write about it. Well everything is not lost as yet - I saw a guy at Salon Canning and a girl at El Beso doing nothing but writing fervently throughout milonga. Tango Borgeses in the making?
Milonga floors are rectangle. Since dance invitations in Buenos Aires occur via eye contact it is the best to separate men and women and place their tables at perpendicular sides of the floor (the best example of this kind of placement as well as the best environment (floor size, light) can be found at Lo de Celia). As you enter the milonga a host usually greets you and escorts you to your table. The best tables located in the middle of the front row are usually reserved for hard core milongueros. It makes sense since these are the guys who will be looked on the most and often dance the most. Tourists and couples are placed at the back row. Again makes sense since these are the people who are not going to use cabeceo much. Couples dance with themselves. If you are a couple but wish to dance with other people sit at separate tables. It is very easy to spot tourists at milonga especially in Salon Canning: they form the islands of people among empty tables still sitting during third song in the tanda.
You can call ahead and reserve a front table. However I would advice against it if you do not dance well, since you might feel lonely sitting there while everyone except you has left their tables to dance. Also it could be very stressful for your neck and needless to say to your psyche to node in response to all the glances addressed to some really good dancer sitting right next to you. If you happened to find yourself in this predicament (sitting next to a popular dancer) you will be well advised to wait until he gets up to dance and then start scanning the tables for remaining potential partners.
So the host has placed you at your table (or if you arrived late or to Salon Canning you found an empty chair somewhere). Cortina is played. Look at the floor, the ceiling, the table, your neighbor - anywhere but the followers; you never know what kind of music will be played during the upcoming tanda. Tanda has started. Let those popular guys get up. Now start to glance casually along the follower’s row. If you have just arrived to Buenos Aires at your first visit and not a Prince Charming on white horse and in full armor chances are no one is looking your way. At some point at this introductory stage you might encounter three kind of glances: 1) quick glance and look elsewhere – no interest; 2) about three second stare and look elsewhere – too late, you have just missed your chance to invite someone for a dance, node after the first or second second to invite – these are the potential dances I have missed a lot initially; 3) constant stare – your fellow tourist.
Start dancing and hope that your partner is good (this is why some sage tourists hide from compatriots). If you are good and needless to say close embrace dancer magic begins to happen: after couple tandas heads begin to turn your way. First from the table with the follower with whom you have just finished a tanda. Gradually from all around the room. Now even local dancers might begin to stare. At this point anything goes and you can also start to stare at someone you consider to be an interesting to dance with.
I didn’t do it but I saw some great local dancer who would stare at followers all the time simply because he would hate to miss a tanda.
You know that you are accepted as a quality dancer when you come to Porteno y Bailarin for your second milonga and a good follower sitting in front of you and with whom you have not danced as yet turns her chair around almost putting her back to the floor to face you. Naturally native milongueros are surrounded by this kind of attention all the time. In fact it is very illuminating as well as entertaining to stand behind milonguero’s row at Porteno y Bailarin (bar is conveniently located right behind this row) and to observe the lengths some of the followers go into to dance with the old tigers.
More on social etiquette at BsAs milongas from El Firulete: Girl Talk and Esta Solita?.
Summary
When can I visit again?
September 7, 2006 - The way I have danced yesterday
I have reached another steady level in my tango dancing and have realized that I significantly change my dance style about every one or two years. So, yesterday Jani, Betsy and I took video camera and went to Soda Springs park to record the way we dance at the moment for future reference.
I have uploaded video clips from the shoot to YouTube (too bad the site wasn’t around couple years ago, for comparison). The site does have some interesting clips though, which are not available at your local TV station. For example, in addition to the footage of ‘El Beso’ milonga, I have found some video of ‘Porteño y Bailarin’ milonga – the two are one block apart in Buenos Aires. ‘Porteño’ has more tourists. Well, both are rather touristy.
Tango medley from the shoot (September 2006):
More recent (October 2007) video with Cristina in Cleveland:
Jun. 16, 2005 - Pictures from Buenos Aires
Here are some pics from the last trip to Buenos Aires:
Carlos Rojas has asked on Tango-L:
"At El Beso en BA, there are a couple of corners in the dance floor where most couples enter the dance floor, sometimes there are so many people trying to enter the dance floor that it takes almost an entire song, sometimes one is unlucky to be right behind, then what does one do?"
The El Beso navigational problem is solved simply: since it happens in the beginning of the tanda the middle of the floor is fairly empty so if you wish to progress you simply move into the second lane. However if you dance at Wednesday matinee in Salon Canning where by the third song of the tanda couples progress approximately one meter per minute because it's so crowded (the most tightly packed yet orderly milonga I have ever been to) - now there you really need to hone your turns-on-the-spot skills. By the way not all milongas in BsAs are crowded especially in winter.
July 29, 2006 - Taxi dancers in Buenos Aires
Another insight from the voluptious Deby Novitz, directly from Buenos Aires:
There are taxi dancers here in Buenos Aires. Some of the older guys who dance well but are on pensions will accompany a woman to the milonga. There are also some younger guys who do this as well. I have found the younger guys to be very nice, courteous, and not always the best dancers, but probably better than the dancers of where the lady came from. There are guys who dance well who need to make some extra money, they are also nice, courteous, and with honorable intentions. Some of the professional dancers also hire themselves out but at very high rates as they really do not want to do it.
These guys except for the professionals charge 25 pesos per hour. They have a 100 peso minimum. The professionals charge 200 pesos an hour with a 2 hour minimum. (Yes, women pay it.) They usually do not work past 1 am. The clock begins when you meet your dancer. The person paying assumes ALL the expenses. This means that if you want him to pick you up in a taxi you pay for the taxi. If you want to have dinner you pay not only for both dinners, but also for his time. You pay for the milonga entrances, and also for any drinks. One women got angry when she found out she had to pay all the expenses. I told her it is a business transaction not a date.
There are women taxi dancers as well. I have on occasion been asked to accompany someone to the milonga and dance with them. I know other women who do this as well. With the taxi dancers I know, male or female, they are NOT prostitutes. They provide a service to people who would like to be accompanied to the milonga. It is very important to understand this. It is insulting to be expected to provide these additional requests whether you are male or female. The people who do this professionally do not even think of selling themselves as prostitutes. They have reputations and want them to remain good.
The dancers I know do not ask for money at the milongas. They may see a woman who is not dancing, invite her to dance. He may dance several tandas with her. During this time he mentions that if she would like to have him accompany her sometime, he is available. The men I know arrange to do this at a later time, not at the same milonga. There are some that offer their services on the spot. You should never feel pressured. You pay after the services are rendered.
Aug. 16, 2004 - Planning trip to Buenos Aires
I have been writing to Tango-L mailing list quite a bit lately, so I decided to write a tango blog. The scope could be a bit broader and I would not annoy the rest of the list with irrelevant random comments. And when is the best day to start writing if not today - I have just bought tickets for my first visit to Buenos Aires! After all if one is serious about this dance he has to commit to pilgrimage to the roots. Besides I just got my passport, have not made any solid plans for upcoming vacation in September and feel strong urge to get out of the country to experience different cultures. My command of Spanish advances by leaps and bounds - I've got to test it.
There is oodles of info on Buenos Aires on the web and beyond. Here are some useful links:
Buy map of Buenos Aires milongas here - very useful map, buy it before you make any reservations - it let's you decide where exactly to stay. $10 well spent. Apparently you can get similar map in BA for free.
Tango Journals by Alex Krebs - milongas and instructors, an entertaining read
Notes from underground - another fascinating read on tango culture in BA from Rick McGarrey, somewhat wordy and certainly censored
On social etiquette at BsAs milongas from El Firulete: Girl Talk and Esta Solita?
Tango postcard by Bibi Wong - includes many pictures of BA and milongas
Collection of BA travel stories from BootsNAll website - there are some tango inspired diaries too #1 and #2
BA info - all kind of cultural info
Interactive map of Buenos Aires (Flash)
Milongas, shows and tango classes in BA - mostly addresses and phone numbers
Interactive map of milongas in BA (Flash) and useful BA info
MapQuest has map of Buenos Aires tooJan. 29, 2005 - Situation with milongas in Buenos Aires
After recent fire at a disco club in BsAs all dance venues in the city center has been closed for a while. A month later the situation with milongas improves. Here is updated info: a web page by Shahrukh Merchant and recent email by Julio C.
Before you pack your bags to travel to Buenos Aires you would be well advised to read these excellent insights from Deby Novitz.
I would like to add another perspective to this topic that is a little bit outside the world of tango. It speaks more to the culture in Argentina as a whole rather than just looking at one slice of the life here, which is tango.
I live here in Buenos Aires. I have been a permanent resident for more than a year. I can assure you that living here is significantly different than visiting here or even staying here for a length of time. I know, because I used to come here so much before I moved here, that people thought I lived here. One of the things that surprised me was how the relationships between men and women actually worked. I don't want to go into detail here but let it suffice to say , that there have been many surprises.
When I lived in Belgrano I knew most of the shopkeepers by name. Every day when I would walk by either alone or with my dog, the men would call out to me. I would also greet them. Sometimes I would stop to chat before walking on. Imagine my shock the first time I walked down the street with the man I was dating at the time and not one man would greet me or talk to me. They would look at me, look at him, and turn away. Even the young man in the hardware store whose dog played with mine turned away.
It was explained to me that this was out of respect to my friend. If you want to dig deeper, some say that this is because there is an unspoken belief that women and children are property. It would not have been polite for these men to address me when I was with another man. I have had this happen to me in other circumstances. Here, very few men have women friends, and very few women have men friends. (The operative word being friend.) While many times one needs a score card to figure out who is having affairs with who; on the surface there is possesiveness and jealousy, and a conduct code that went out with B-Hive hairdos. (Except they don't open doors for us here...)
What does this have to do with tango? If you understand the culture, you understand some of the codigos in the milonga. When a man enters with a woman, and they sit together at a table, everyone assumes they are together. No one will invite that woman to dance. It is being respectful. If the man roams the room looking for other women, more often than not, people are confused by this behavior. Does this mean he can dance and she cannot? Others see it as disrespect to her. Rather than create a "situation" most will ignore the couple and assume they are together.
While this might not present as much of a problem in the tourist milongas such as Niqo Bien, Porteqo y Bailarin, it will hold true in the traditional milongas where the better dancers are. One of the men I dance with is a professional dancer. When he started to show up at the milongas I go to and would plunk himself down at my table, the men stopped inviting me to dance. Even when he wasn't there they stopped inviting me. Everyone assumed we were a couple. (God forbid..) One man told me he didn't want Roberto to be angry with him because he was dancing with me. It took me two weeks to convince people that I was still single and I had no boyfriend. Many times just the fact that a woman is married, will keep some men from inviting her.(Yeah Yeah, well how do think I feel? I am from California!)
There are other sitiuations as well. There are men who dance Sun - Fri and wear no wedding band. Then on Saturday they show up with a wedding band and their seqora. Even if they had a wedding band on during the week, they will not acknowledge you when they are with their wife. They see right through you. You do not exist. The only exception is if the wife knows you. The you may approach to say hello. I know one married couple who come to the milongas together. I met them about 5 years ago. They are delightful. She allows her husband to dance with me. Yes, allows is the word. He even comes to my table and says to me that his Seqora says that he may invite me to dance. I always look to her for confirmation. She never dances with other men.
Keeping all this in mind, if you are married and you come to Buenos Aries and you want to dance with other people, here are my suggestions: Enter the milonga separate and sit separately. Lots of married couples do this in BA, even if they eventually dance together. Sit in a group. But don't sit with another couple, that is just as bad. Sometimes I have groups of 5 people with me. 2 men and 3 women. If they are 2 couples, I have them sit random so we look more like a group of friends. I try to introduce them around. Try to meet people so you can sit with them. Classes which were mentioned here are good way. Many of the teachers take their classes to a milonga afterwards where they all sit together.
Yes, I suppose you can do as people on this list have recommended "ignore the codigos", but why would you want to do that? You are coming here to experience the richness of this culture. Why would you want to thumb your nose at it? This is something I will never understand. You are in another country, continent, culture. Enjoy it, but dont try to make it where you came from, because it is not. It is disrespectful whether you agree with it or not.
Dec. 23, 2004 - So, how long do you dance?
Neil Liveakos, the Godfather of the Memphis Argentine Tango Society reports from Buenos Aires:
Sylvia, porteña, asked how long I had been dancing. I said six years. She said that she didn't believe me. She said it felt more like six months.
Goes to show that how long you dance is not as important as where and how you dance.
Dec. 19, 2004 - The way we dance... (in Argentina and in the US)
From Buenos Aires travelogue by a couple from Houston:
"Rick and I danced several times but we are not able to easily negotiate on a crowded dance floor. We like and are accustomed to taking big steps which isn't possible in Buenos Aires. I danced a few times with Osvaldo too which was interesting since he dances a different style than we are accustomed to."
No kidding...
Jul. 10, 2005 - Randy does Rio or why do people need tango tourism services.
Randy went to Rio de Janeiro and had a few tango tourist mishaps (and part II). Admitedly some of the misadventures have happened only in his head. Still there is a grain of wisdom in his observations. Here is quote:
There is a reason why people hire tour guides and travel in packs when they are in foreign countries. It isn't because they can't find their way around by themselves. A decent guide book and the help of locals could get them most of what they want. Nor is it fear of getting shortchanged or robbed. Common sense precautions, such as not flashing wads of money around in public, will prevent most crimes of opportunity. Nor is it because they can't speak the language. People everywhere want to help travelers. They will find ways to communicate no matter what the linguistic obstacles.
No, the reason people don't usually travel alone to foreign countries is because they don't like feeling stupid. And even if you've been there before and speak a little of the language, it is guaranteed that you will do and say many more stupid things than usual.
Needless to say tango culture in Buenos Aires is more elaborate than in Rio. Less adventerous tango tourists would be well advised to use a tour guide.
Jun. 15, 2005 - Quality of dancing, navigation and show festivals
Burak "El Turco" wrote on Tango-L:
"Imagine everybody does ocho cortado's or gyros in same way. Since if you learned how to dance close embrace the different ways of doing the same move is quite a bit limited. Therefore, you will see an uniformed dance floor. Which might be so satisfying some people, this makes me sad."
There is no reason for your sadness, cheer up, El Turco: in my dancing in BsAs I have not encountered two followers who would feel as if they are doing ocho cortado or giro in the same way (notice that I am not talking about sequence of their footsteps).
and
"They [opininated instructors or friends who suffered in BsAs milongas] don't want to see other styles in the same dance floor because they think other style dancers causes problem in Ronda formation."
Several obvious questions:
Would you like to elaborate why this desire to maintain ronda flow and therefore not to bump into other dancers is wrong? A follow up question: in this case who creates the conflict on the dance floor? Related line of questions: being an instructor do you have an opinion on this subject? If you do does it make you an "opinionated instructor" by any chance?
and
On festival division: If there is a market for people who wish to learn show tango the show festivals should be organized. To my knowledge there are quite a few show tango oriented festivals in this country already (the festival in Austin comes to mind). It would be useful for attendees if these festivals were clearly defined as such. Milonguero weekends in Denver are clearly defined as social tango oriented festivals. Hence show dancers know that they would experience conflict of style and do not come to these festivals. Hence the conflict of styles is avoided once more. Why even bring it up?
.October 18, 2006 - Dance style clarificationI got interesting comment about my Buenos Aires experience entry to this blog:
I wanted to ask you something related to your blog on your BA trip, b/c it is kind of important to me. You said that when you took a private lesson with Maria, "Maria told me that I do too much with my feet and that of all milongueros only Gavito does something similar with his feet." I always thought that late Gavito (my hero, BTW) was the one who did the least with his feet, i.e., the least amount of steps comparing to any other dancer, while you seem to do much more with your feet than others (you almost turn any dance into milonga). I like your style- it is more challenging, even though I prefer (and dance) more Gavito's style. But my point is - what did Maria mean saying that?
To tell you the truth I do not remember what exactly I did with my feet at the time. As far as I recall Maria's point was that our feet should never come into contact (one of Gavito's steps is built around foot drag). I took that particular advise to heart even though I have changed my dance style significantly since that lesson.
I think you are mistaken in your milonga comment ("you almost turn any dance into milonga"). I do not turn almost every dance into milonga for one simple, stylistic reason: milonga is danced in parallel foot system. I dance tango in cross-feet system most of the time. As far as tempo is concerned, I do not invent the beats, I express and dance the rhythms the music gives me.
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