Tango Peeps: What's Your Favorite Milonga, And Why?

[HelaineT]

On my various visits stays in BA, I've made the rounds of different circuits of milongas. Though no experience I've had in North America or Europe matches tango here, I still feel like Goldilocks, looking for her milongas that are "just right". I'm a tango veteran, very skilled, and I can figure this out myself over time, but I would love to hear insights from from other tanguistas (?) in this forum's community. Thanks in advance!

 

[EricLovesBA]

Perhaps you should state a few more details about what would be just right, and what you liked or didn't like about the places you already went to.

 

[HelaineT]

Perhaps you should state a few more details about what would be just right, and what you liked or didn't like about the places you already went to.

That's an idea, EricLovesBA. But that would give me less of a chance to get to know individuals in the BA Expat tango community. I can enjoy and respect everyone's preferences, and even want to try an environment that is not right up my alley. For example, I'm happy to have danced at Nuevo Chique as well as at El Yeite - two opposite extremes, though neither is for me. Also, it might help me discover interesting environments for my students, who have different needs than I do.

So what are your favorites? . . . and why?

(If the thread catches on, I'll reveal my current favorites.)

 

[jamila]

I think i like canning ( Milonga Parakultural) specifically mondays or tuesdays the best... because it is a little mix of everything depending on what time you go especially on tuesdays.

I like La Viruta not because it's the best milonga... just because it's La Viruta,

I go to El Yeite because i have friends there and i also like Milonga 10 sometimes... depends ....

P.S. You should add your opinions of the milongas you visit to our website http://quesigalamilonga.com/ it's a milonga review site designed for this very reason... to provide a place for people to review their favorite milongas and help others find a good fit for them when they are traveling to a new city.

 

[HelaineT]

Thanks, Jamila. I'll bet you're a few decades younger than I am! I had a student here last month who's 29, and she had the same favorites (plus Malcolm). In fact, she stayed in Palermo for that reason, rather than Balvanera where I am, and another cluster of milongas.

Thanks for the link to your website! I may comment there when I am more settled and think my opinions can help others.

I'm looking for a high level of dancing, but also for partners with whom I can dialog emotionally as well as musically. So I don't have much fun dancing with most guys under 30, no matter how skilled they are. I also like a warm atmosphere, where people are open to dancing with others who are not their regulars. I'm pretty new here.

In the older, traditional milongas that I got to know well on my 2-month visit earlier this year, I get invited nonstop, and after I'm seen dancing, attract invitations from the best in the room. But am looking for more trained dancers, longer steps, more artistry (musical interpretation) . . . even in the intimacy of social tango. I prefer an age group probably halfway between Lo de Celia and El Yeite, though it's also nice when there's a varied age range.

Why I don't love Parakultural in Canning is that it's so big and attracts - it feels like - 50% foreigners. (There is a difference in their embrace and musicality that I'm not seeking here.) And I don't find it very warm! Canning on Sunday and Wednesday is warmer, and quite a different crowd, but haven't been back there in ages.

Cachirulo is known for being "mui serrado". That's been my own experience so far too. I don't love the atmosphere.

I find Yira Yira on Fridays at La Nacional wonderful. Many good dancers and a very warm environment. I find the music rather chaotic - but I deal with it because of the wonderful dancing I get there. I want to try it on Tuesdays.

Both Fruto Dulce (so far Wednesdays) and Viva la Pepa (Sundays) at Villa Malcolm usually have many excellent dancers. I'm impressed! Regardless of the quality of my dancing, I have the challenge of getting known and welcomed in those places, while at Yira Yira I felt immediately "in".

I hope to hear other comments, not only in answer to my thoughts, but just to hear what other expat tangueros and tangueras like.

BTW, does anyone attend classes before the milongas? Is it helpful in getting to know people in that milonga's community?

 

[Bajo_cero2]

Well, what you are looking for sounds like El Beso but not on Tuesdays (Cachirulo).
Sundays are great for women.

However, if you don t want to be invited for a coffe, you have to follow the etiquet. If not, you get the vulpures.

If you want to be known, go to the same milonga, early and with reservation. Nicely ask for a table on the first line. If invited by cabeceo, wait for him sat on your chair. Etc, etc.

cachirulo is not close, the level of the milongueros is outstanding and, of course, they are picky.

However, you asserted that the level abroad and here is the same. I disagree.

Longer steps? Sorry, at BA people knows to dance and milongas are crewed.

I suggest you look for a taxi dancer. The do longer steps because they are trained on scenario.

 

[La Fleur]

Buy Sallycat's Guide to Happy Tango in Buenos Aires (2nd ed) - it is available (here - http://pirottapress.com/happytango) in paper book or e-book form. The whole book is designed around what the reader likes and where to find it, with some excellent advice on how to have a good time dancing in BsAs no matter what style you prefer. You may recognise La Glorieta on the cover of the book, and you may even run into Sally at a milonga - I think she is in BsAs at the moment.
La Fleur

 

[Farenheit]

I like Milonga de los consagrados at the old Nino Bien venue, Centro Region Leonesa on Humberto Primo (old-fashioned respectability). And Milonga del Resurgimiento in Paternal (very at-home kind of place, sofas and book shelves stuffed with books and a nice bar). I've still never made it to Sunderland, but that's top on my list.

 

[HelaineT]

Well, what you are looking for sounds like El Beso but not on Tuesdays (Cachirulo).
Sundays are great for women.

However, if you don t want to be invited for a coffe, you have to follow the etiquet. If not, you get the vulpures.

If you want to be known, go to the same milonga, early and with reservation. Nicely ask for a table on the first line. If invited by cabeceo, wait for him sat on your chair. Etc, etc.

cachirulo is not close, the level of the milongueros is outstanding and, of course, they are picky.

However, you asserted that the level abroad and here is the same. I disagree.

Longer steps? Sorry, at BA people knows to dance and milongas are crewed.

I suggest you look for a taxi dancer. The do longer steps because they are trained on scenario.

Thanks for your reply, Bajo_cero2!

El Beso on Sundays too, you say! Good. I'll try it sometime. So many good milongas on Sundays! I like also like Lujos in Plaza Bohemia on Sundays. Lujos is also at El Beso on Thursdays, which I have yet to try, and it's early.

Lujos is a good example with milongueros who are traditional (some of them go to Cachirulo as well), but they dance Tango Salon style rather than "apilado" ("Milonguero Style"). In Lujos, for example, I have observed older men taking longer steps, and very dynamic in their turns. I love it. In their musicality, they observe pauses and not only compas, while many milongueros dance rhythmically straight through the pauses. These dynamic milongueros are obviously not from escenario.

> If you want to be known, go to the same milonga, early and with reservation. Nicely ask for a table on the first line.
This sounds like good, practical advice that I needed.

Thanks also for the advice about codigos and coffee. I am good with the codigos after many years (though before 2013, I hadn't been back to BA for 10 years). Vultures no longer approach me as they did 15 years ago on my first visit. I dance with no one who comes to my table to invite.

> However, you asserted that the level abroad and here is the same. I disagree.
Whoa! I didn't say that. I disagree too! Were you interpreting this?:
> . . . Parakultural . . . attracts - it feels like - 50% foreigners. (There is a difference in their embrace and musicality that I'm not seeking here.)
I'm saying that I don't come to Buenos Aires looking to dance with foreigners, for the reason I wrote in parentheses.
In my work, I create programs and write articles to help tangueros from North America, Europe, etc. dance more like Porteños, because most don't have a clue.

Taxi dancers? I see no reason to pay a man to dance with me.

I'm just trying to find the milongas where i can enjoy myself the most.

So are you, Bajo_cero2, a young milonguero who takes short steps in crowded milongas?
P.S. Are you angry with my post?

 

[HelaineT]

Buy Sallycat's Guide to Happy Tango in Buenos Aires (2nd ed) - it is available (here - http://pirottapress.com/happytango) in paper book or e-book form. The whole book is designed around what the reader likes and where to find it, with some excellent advice on how to have a good time dancing in BsAs no matter what style you prefer. You may recognise La Glorieta on the cover of the book, and you may even run into Sally at a milonga - I think she is in BsAs at the moment.
La Fleur

Thanks for the book recommendation, La Fleur. I'll check it out!