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!