Tango

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Saturday Afternoon Tango with Gustavo!

On Saturday afternoon a few of us went up to our favourite people-watching haunt, La Biela. As on other occasions, there was a professional tango dancing couple doing their thing. I asked the guy, Gustavo, if he was willing to dance with us and he said of course. So Lina and I had a go.

A word of explanation. The word milonga has two meanings. It’s the place where you go to dance tango, but it’s also a dance in its own right, or at least a variation of tango. While tango tends to be quite slow and dramatic, and usually melancholy, milonga is a faster happier dance. It’s also quite tricky. When I asked Gustavo if we could dance milonga, he suggested we dance a tango first—Lina and I agreed that he wanted to be sure I could keep up first before he risked milonga! Anyway, I must have passed his test, because he was happy to lead me in a fun, upbeat milonga too.

As I told him Lina was a better dancer than I am, having danced tango much longer, he just went straight into the milonga with her.

We were both ecstatic about the whole thing. We are missing tango so desperately we are considering going up there every weekend and giving him a big tip just to dance with us!

I hope you enjoy our videos—thanks to Jayne for taking them!


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Milonga!

Finally, tango is back! Actually, most of the milongas that are operating are open air ones, and I only know of one traditional indoor one that’s open again. That’s because it’s big, and can support a crowd of a third of the usual capacity. You have to make a reservation in advance, but fortunately, they have taken off the restriction of only being able to dance with one person. Of course, you have to wear your mask when dancing, and there are spray bottles of alcohol to use each time you come off the dance floor — a small price to pay!

I went with my friend Susan to one of the open air milongas and it was delightful. It was in one small corner of Plaza Congreso, and I think there were only about 25-30 people there. It was a mixed age crowd, and very informal. My knees can only take dancing on a terrazza floor for a certain time, but we packed a lot of tango into that time!

There are some who say this is too dangerous, and they could be right. But the government has decided to allow the milongas to open as long as they follow the protocols, and so far I feel OK being there. And oh, it feels so-o-o-o good to be dancing tango again!

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Couldn’t Resist!

I can’t believe I haven’t posted since Cecilia’s fiesta! Pure laziness, but I couldn’t resist posting this one.

Yesterday I went out for brunch with Sally and Venetia, and we ended up on the terrace at La Biela. On the weekends there’s usually a couple dancing tango, and they were there yesterday. When the woman came round with the hat, on impulse I asked if I could dance with the guy, and she said yes!

I wasn’t dressed for it at all. My long skirt made it hard to move my legs and I had on my ugly walking sandals, but given all that and the fact that I haven’t danced for months, I think I did all right. I told the guy I was out of practice, but he didn’t make any allowances!

When I came back to my table, the waiter said I danced tango like an Argentine!

Here’s the video Venetia shot — thanks Venetia! I hope you enjoy it.

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A Tango Legend at 93!

I’m missing tango more than I can say. So much so that I was a naughty girl and broke the rules!

A friend who lives close by invited me to lunch, together with two male friends of hers who also dance. Just the four of us. We all work at home so don’t have to go on buses or be close to others regularly, we all wear our masks and take as much care as possible. Although the others didn’t wear masks, I wound a long chiffon scarf round my face just to be on the safe side. So we mitigated the risk as much as possible, and it felt wonderful to be dancing again!

Wouldn’t you know, just as we were getting into the swing and planning to dance every couple of weeks, the government clamped down again! Shops and hairdressers etc. are still open, but we’re not allowed any gatherings in homes at all, not even with family. So back down in the dumps again.

Here’s a video that cheered me up to no end. This woman is called Blanquita, and at 93 still dancing as you’ll see. In this video she’s dancing milonga, which is a faster form of tango with intricate footwork — I love dancing it. Her footwork is still impressive — and so is the fact that she’s still able to wear tango shoes! I hope you enjoy it.

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Day 2, Wednesday — later that night

I was tired after my tour and had eaten dinner in town so that I could stay home for the rest of the evening. However … I was walking down the main street on my way home when I saw a sandwich board on the sidewalk outside a bar announcing a milonga at 10 pm! I groaned inwardly because I really was tired, but of course I was curious.

A young woman from the bar told me the milonga was only held on Wednesdays and I should definitely come. I kind of thought I wouldn’t, but as I walked along I realized that if I didn’t go, later I would be sorry I hadn’t. Decision made, I hurried home and got changed. I didn’t wear actual tango clothes, as it looked like a casual kind of place, but I did take my tango shoes of course.

I took a taxi and arrived about 10.15 pm. It was a simple bar, with a small space at the end for dancing — mirrors all around made it look a little larger! There were a few people at the tables, and two young men took pity on me and invited me to join them. They told me there was no table service and if I wanted a drink I would have to get it at the bar. I changed into my shoes and headed over.

I asked for a glass of red wine. After conferring with her boss, the bartender said she couldn’t open a bottle(!) I asked for a glass of champagne. Another conference brought the news that they had small bottles, so I settled for that. In Buenos Aires milongas, I get a glass of champagne for 100 pesos including tip. Here, it was only slightly more than a glass for 225 pesos before the tip! Bariloche is expensive.

Anyway, I took my champagne back to the table and sat down. Before I could even pour my glass, I looked up to find a young man inviting me to dance. Most of the people there were young, and I wasn’t sure I would be asked to dance, but this young man was in charge of the music and it was nice of him to take a chance. He was a great dancer, so he showcased me and I had several lovely tandas in the hour I stayed.

All in all, I’m glad I sampled the tango in Bariloche!

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Liz’s First Tango Lesson!

Recently I wrote about taking new friend Liz shopping for tango shoes, and last night she had her first tango lesson. As she was a tad nervous, I went with her, and Alejandro and I did a few demo dances.

Liz did amazingly well! Check out her video, and remember this was her first time dancing tango! (Due credit to Alejandro as he is an amazing teacher.)

Before you watch the videos, I wanted to say something people often ask me about. Every time I post one of my tango videos, someone usually wonders how I can remember all the steps and sequences. The answer is that I don’t. You don’t need to remember, because you dance according to where you’re being led, and as you contribute to the co-creation of the dance, the steps evolve naturally. None of these videos, including Liz’s, is choreographed in any way. It’s all about connection with the music, between the dancers and with the floor.

We did three demo dances. The first was a traditional tango with music from the thirties or forties, then we did a lighthearted, playful one, and the last one was dramatic and passionate — Liz said she couldn’t breathe as she watched it!

Anyway, I’ve included just the first and second ones for you to see the different ways you can dance tango.  I love tango — can you tell?

Liz’s debut!

Traditional style

A more playful approach

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Fun Photo Shoot for My Book

I wanted to do a second edition of Rare Steak, Red Wine, Hot Tango to keep it active, and Amazon says you have to make substantive changes or additions for a new edition. So I added a chapter about my stay in hospital and a fourth chapter about tango, this one about the clothes.

Venetia did a whole fashion shoot with several of my outfits (and shoes of course!) on the roof of her building. We chose early evening for the light, but it was still sweltering hot in stretch velvet!

It was lots of fun, and given the raw material she had to work with I think Venetia did a great job! I’m going to tell my fellow tangueras about her services, and hopefully she’ll get some business from this.

Here are just a few. Now I have to choose which ones to put in the book!

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Tango Music at Cafe de los Angelitos

I’ve been to Cafe de los Angelitos a couple of times already, as it is a Bar Notable and there will be a chapter about it in my book. The reason for this visit was quite specific.

I belong to a worldwide expat organization called InterNations, and in Buenos Aires it has a tango group. They organized a little gathering where a professional tango pianist would come along and tell us something about the history and styles of tango music, and a we would be treated to some bandoneon music.

There couldn’t be a more appropriate setting than Cafe de los Angelitos, which is steeped in the history of tango. Photographs of the great tango orchestra leaders adorn the walls, and even the stained glass panels are tango themed.

The bandoneonista was a young woman, and apparently there’s a trend for more women playing the bandoneon. I think that’s interesting, as it may well add yet another nuance to the ever evolving music of tango.

She played on a little balcony over the bar, and told us to go ahead and chat and she would just play in the background. I find it very hard to sit when tango music is playing, and I might have invited one of the men in the group to dance, but there just wasn’t any space between the tables. In any case, it was a lovely interlude.

I hope you enjoy this little bitesized taste of Buenos Aires.

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The Devil Made Me Do It!

This week a lovely young woman from South Africa arrived in Buenos Aires. Liz is a friend of a friend of Venetia, and has quickly become one of our group of badass women! On her first night here, Venetia, Sasha, Liz and I went for drinks on the terrace at La Biela and we told her all about Buenos Aires. She immediately latched onto the tango idea and said she wanted a lesson. Of course, I said I’d connect her with Alejandro.

However, nothing would do but she had to have the right shoes before she goes for a lesson! So today I took her for the quintessential tango shoe shopping experience at Comme Il Faut. Did I really think I could go there and not buy shoes? Of course not! Here’s the evidence.

I love these shoes! If I wasn’t going out already tonight I would go dancing in them. But since I’ve been to milonga three times already this week and I have my lesson tomorrow, maybe it’s just as well! They can wait!

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Tango in the Open Air!

Wow, last night I went somewhere I have been wanting to go to for a very long time. It’s called La Glorieta, and it’s an open-air milonga. I went with two of my tanguera friends, Lina and Lola.

The dance space is in a pergola in a park in the barrio of Belgrano, which takes ten minutes or so by train from the main railway station. When we arrived, a class was just finishing, and there was also some kind of film crew setting up. A few couples were dancing — in silence. Yes, no music. It turned out there was some sort of power cut and they couldn’t work the sound system, but they said it would start in an hour when it began to get dark and the generator-powered lights came on. This being Buenos Aires, nobody complained and everyone just sat on the steps, changed their shoes and began to chat with other people.

Sure enough, as darkness fell, the music started and the milonga was soon in full swing. The crowd had people from twenties to eighties, which was delightful. It does my heart good to see how many young people are dancing tango, because that will keep it alive. All three of us danced quite a lot, which always makes it fun.

There are a few differences between La Glorieta and the traditional milongas. First, it’s free to go in, although they do pass a hat once the dancing is well underway. You put in whatever you like — here this is called paying a la gorra.

There’s nowhere to put your bag, so you hang it on a hook on the side railing. Sounded a bit iffy to me, but everyone does it and mine came to no harm.

There’s no food or drink, and I have to admit I enjoy a glass of champagne at the usual milongas. Still, it’s probably just as well as there are no washrooms either!

The one thing that did bother me was that there are no chairs. So you are either dancing or standing, and don’t get the chance to rest your legs between tandas as you do in regular milongas. And the floor is terrazza, which is hard on the knees anyway. So we just stayed about 90 minutes and our legs had had enough. (I’m resting up today so that I’ll be ready for my regular milonga tonight!)

I didn’t take any photos as I was too busy dancing, but these stock photos will give you an idea how it looks. I’ll definitely be going back!