Do you Tango?

[BaltRochGirl]

Hello,

I've been in BA for 5 months and recently got into Tango, I'm not bad but I am looking for reliable nice partners to practice with regularly so I can continue to get better. If you're looking for a regular partner 1 or 2 times a week please contact me so we can meet up and see if we'd be a good fit.

Thanks!
Beth

 

[Macanudo]

I started writing a Tango Blog three months ago and posted an article about BAexpats, claiming that there isn't much interest in Tango on this site. I guess the fact that no one has responded to your post confirms that. I highly recommend taking beginner level classes at El Beso on Monday and Friday nights. Try to find a practice partner there. Try Craigslist strictly platonic section also. http://lamilongadel126.blogspot.com/

Looks like there is some interest in Tango on this site after all.

 

[jantango]

Find a copy of El Tangauta magazine and check the listing of practicas. There is probably one in your neighborhood.

You can't go to a milonga until you know the codes and know how to dance.

 

[Bajo_cero2]

I highly recommend taking beginner level classes at El Beso on Monday and Friday nights./

This is an excellent advice. Clases are monday, wednesday friday and sundays at 8 pm.

As a girl, try to take technical classes instead of regular ones. Otherwise you are going to be a taxi dancer for beginners guys without even note this. If you practice technique like Rocky Balboa, you will be ready for dancing at the Milonga very fast, I really mean it.

One of the best is given at the Sunderland on Monday and Wednesdays at 8 pm by Rosa Perez.

Yuyu is another excellent teacher. Claude Murga is the best for me. She teaches at Centro Cultural Borges (escuela argentina de tango).

Forget the idea about finding a partner, this is a mistake. You have to dance with several different people in order to learn about following, Tango has nothing to do with figures or choreography. You should try to dance with better dancers than yourself, never with guys of your same level or you will suffer.

On the other hand, try to dance with argentinians and about us, we dance for flirting so forget the idea about a platonic tango partner.

NEVER take classes at La Viruta, Villa Malcolm or La Catedral.
Never Dance with El "Gordo Quique" (Banned!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!).
Never dance more that one tanda at the time or 2 during the night. 3 tandas means there is something else.

If you understand some spanish, read this blog:
http://milongueraquejonayque.blogspot.com
Is written by a milonguera, she explains very well how the milonga really is.

Try to undertand what the cabeceo is about. If somebody cabecea you, you answer him and waits until he comes to your table, then smile and if he is looking at your eyes, ONLY then you stand up.

Recomended milongas to start:
La Glorieta de Belgrano. Saturdays and Sundays at 8. Milongas are very close, if the good milongueros don´t know you is difficult thet they invite you to dance. La Glorieta is the only place where if they don´t know you everybody invites you to dance.

Plaza Dorrego on Sundays. Same as Glorieta but smaller.

Milonga 10 on Thuesdays. This place is full of argentinian vultures so they will probably invite you to dance ... and a coffe later at 3.30 am.

Cochabamba 444 on Thursdays from 23 hs. Nice place, very bohemian.

La Milonga del Gordo at Maipu 444 on Fridays.

Lulu Milonga on Fridays. Lucia Villagra is an excellent teacher too and they have a practica after class gringo free.

Don´t go to La Viruta ever before 3.30 on Fridays or Satudays.
Don´t go to Maldita or Bendita Milonga unless you want to dance with other tourist or expats (makes no sense). Same with Villa Malcolm.

Leave Canning, El Beso or Cachirulo for when you feel confortable dancing at those places, the dance floor is a cruel place and those places are more traditional.

This is me, so just say hello if you see me, regards

 

[toccatango]

Dancing with other people makes you learn faster and adapt, and it also keeps you from forming bad habits that are hard to break. But I think having a regular dance partner helps, as long as that person has decent technique and buena onda Mostly it´s just about putting the time in to practice and learn as much as you can. The only way you can work out a problem is to dance it out, and with time, it will be corrected. I work with my friend and mentor Pedro, who has been dancing tango for over 60 years, and he always says that tango is 20% technique and 80% emotion.

If you go to classes and prácticas, you will eventually meet someone that you connect with and that will be interested in practicing -- not all the guys there have ¨one thing¨ on their mind, some really do just want to dance -- friendship between men and women is hard, especially in tango, but it´s not impossible.

Another milonga that I know of that Pedro often recommends to his students who are at a comfortable dance-level & want to get dances is Lo de Celia (though I forget exactly which days). I´ve heard good feedback, especially from leads -- the people are on the older side, so they dance well and they tend to be more open to new people.

 

[Bajo_cero2]

Bajo_Cero2 nailed it on its head!!!
Well done!
But I found that La Viruta is a fun place to go.

Yes, but not for girls. Specially early. The old fashion codes about tango are all about to respect and protect the girls. My grandpa used to say that you dance nice if the girl can close her eyes and feel that you are alone at the dance floor.

To be a milonguero is all about to know and respect the rules of the dance floor, the way you dance going only forward and straight, respecting other couples, respecting girls, behaving as a gentelman. That´s the way the best milongueras and dancers accepts to dance with you. Some girls I dance with, it toke me like 3 years before they accept to dance with me, and It has nothing to do with dancing, it was all related to the behaviour I probe to have in long terms with other girls. If they banned you, then you are a pariah who go to La Viruta after 12 pm.

At a traditional milonga cabeceo rules and this is awesome because if a girl is not interested she may pretend she didn´t see you, this is very polite.

At La Viruta there are many experience bad dancers who pretends to be milongueros but they are simple stalkers and they don´t accept a no as an answer, they insist, this is unacceptable.

After 3.30 the entrance is for free but nobody talks about it because this a privilege for people who know.

Anyway, there are too many taxidancers and pro dancers and I don´t like what I call fake milongas, I rather places where people just go to dance.

Regards

 

[toccatango]

I´ve gone to La Viruta several times, and I think it´s one of those places where it´s best to go late with a group of friends and have your own table. Personally I would never go there by myself, after this experience I had when one of my non-tango friends (a girl) and I went earlier by ourselves... there were just too many sharks! One guy in particular came off as really aggressive -- he stood right in front of me and asked me to dance, and when I said no thanks, he asked me ¨But why?¨ and then he sat down right at the table beside me, watching over me like a babysitter

I think if you´re going to ask someone to dance, you have to be prepared to hear a ¨no¨ and walk away. But the best way to invite someone is definitely the cabaceo!!! I love it! I think the tango begins there, with the mirada.

As a girl, you really do have to watch out and bide your time at a milonga -- it is a test where you have to prove yourself in the long term in order to gain acceptance (as the previous post points out). Patience, patience, patience.

 

[toccatango]

My grandpa used to say that you dance nice if the girl can close her eyes and feel that you are alone at the dance floor.

I like that

 

[Stephy_li]

I started writing a Tango Blog three months ago and posted an article about BAexpats, claiming that there isn't interest in Tango on this site. I guess the fact that noone has responded to post confirms that. I recommend taking beginner level classes at El Beso on Monday and Friday nights. Try find a practice partner there. Try Craigslist strictly platonic section also.

Looks like there is some interest in Tango on this site after all.

Oh thats a really good idea to look on Craigslist I
dont know why I never thought of it!!

Very nice blog too!