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All Tango, All Day!

Yesterday I went to an afternoon milonga on the same day I had my first lesson with my new tango teacher—what was I thinking? Today my whole lower body aches! But never mind, it felt good.

The milonga was interesting. I feel a bit frustrated with my dancing, because of course I’m rusty after all this time. But I reminded myself that the guys are rusty too, so they might not be leading quite as well as usual, making it more difficult to follow. But it was good to dance anyway, and I’m sure we’ll all be back to normal soon.

New Teacher(s)

Unfortunately, Alejandro hasn’t gone back to teaching after the pandemia, so I needed to find someone else. At a friend’s recommendation, I’m going with a couple. One week I work with Beto, which is a conventional tango lesson, but the other week I work with Lis, and that focuses on technique. I had my first lesson with Lis last night and it was fascinating—no dancing at all! She did a lot of explaining about the mechanics of the foot and leg and hip and all the way up to the top of the head. With all that in mind, we practiced walking! It feels strange to be breaking down and concentrating on something you normally do automatically, but the tango walk is different and if you get it right it makes such a big difference to your dancing.

Lis has beautiful footwork, so I’m hoping some of that will rub off on me! I’m looking forward to my lesson with Beto next Tuesday—and I won’t be going to the milonga first!

I thought you might enjoy watching them dance together—I think you’ll agree with me that they are beautiful! And by the way, that bit at the beginning is them asking the audience for a favourite orchestra and tune, which tells you that none of this is choreographed. The fact that real Argentine tango is always spontaneous is just one of the things I love about it.

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Merienda with Lola

Today I had merienda, or afternoon snack, with my friend Lola at Caffe Tabac, one of the Bares Notables of Buenos Aires. We started at an outside table, because it was a lovely spring day, but the place is on a very busy corner and it was noisy, so we moved inside.

Lola introduced me to a wine she likes called Malbec rosada. It is, of course, made with Malbec grapes but with other varieties as well and the result is a very nice, crisp rosé, perfect for sipping in the sun. I think it might become a favourite in the upcoming summer months. Salud!

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Great Pizza Last Night

Yesterday, Sunday, I went with some girlfriends to a new pizza place Venetia discovered. It’s called Cosi Mi Piace — yes, it’s authentic Italian! It was great. The pizza was thin crust, which we all love and which is less common here. I found an actual vegan option, and with the addition of my own sprinkles of nutritional yeast (which adds a cheesiness without cheese), it was delicious. Photo attached. Definitely a go-backer.

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Maskless — again!

Well this time it’s true! The Buenos Aires city government confirmed that we would now join most of the rest of the country and be able to go without masks outside — yayy!

Today was quite chilly, but bright and sunny. I went up to the feria, the artesanal fair, not because I wanted to go there but just for the pleasure of walking without a mask! It was interesting. It looks as if some people hadn’t heard the news as there were a lot of people still wearing them. Others were apparently still a little apprehensive, or maybe just so used to masks that they kept them on — I saw several couples, one with and one without!

Anyway, I enjoyed the feeling of freedom very much — I hope it was a taste of things to come!

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Spring Is Coming, Tango Is Back—All’s Right with the World!

This morning’s BA Times had a story that lit up my day, so I thought I’d share it with you. As you know from my constant complaining, the tango scene in Buenos Aires has been shut down for 18 months because of the plague. Now, the milongas are opening up just in time for the arrival of spring. Here’s the complete text of this morning’s report.

Milongas reopen, bringing embraces back to Buenos Aires
Tango begins ringing out across the capital after 18 months of abstinence due to the coronavirus pandemic
In an old patio in the traditional neighbourhood of San Telmo, the first chords of a tango make themselves heard and several couples hit the floor. In Buenos Aires, a milonga starts the revival of tango’s embrace after 18 months of abstinence due to the coronavirus pandemic.”
Today tango is back. That is related to less contagion, most people being vaccinted and the world beginning to breathe again. Bringing back tango somehow starts to bring us closer to normality, although there’s still a long way to go,” says Orlando Espósito, one of those who would not miss the reopening of Milonga Parakultural for anything in the world.
Espósito, 75, is a relative novice in the dance, having only started to take classes seven years ago when challenged by a friend who took him to different milongas across the City. It was there that he met María Cristina and the tango embrace of his dancing partner became transformed into marriage.
They are two of the 125 dancers who reserved places to participate in the reopening of the milonga now transferred to the patio of a formerly Jesuit 18th century building, which then became a women’s prison. Today it houses the Centro Cultural Mercedes Sosa, in tribute to the late Argentine singer.
“During the period of apprenticeship you learn a lot about the steps and the combinations, but then the moment arrives when all that moves to one side and tango becomes the music, the rhythm and the silences. It’s the only dance in the world where you can be standing without moving and still be dancing,” Espósito explains.
In the starry and cool late winter night, a live orchestra breaks into sound – a plus offered by this milonga in which musicians and dancers, professionals and amateurs all mix.
“You hear one chord, one note of the bandoneon and you know it’s tango. The lyrics, the rhythms of tango set the entire stage for your life, the life of Buenos Aires,” says Espósito.

A sea of embraces

“Milonga, a sea of embraces. Milonga, the sculptor of forms which last as long as a tango,” invites the doorway of Milonga Parakultural.
Mentor of the Parakultural – an iconic holdout of the ‘underground’ culture of the Buenos Aires of the 1980s – Omar Viola considers that the milonga “is a way of healing everything, a healthy form of encounter and dialogue not only through words but also embrace and exchange.”
For the reencounter, which ran almost parallel to last week’s Tango World Cup, Viola chose this open-air space, permitting anti-Covid measures to be respected. Meanwhile, around 100 indoor milongas in Buenos Aires are preparing to reopen their doors, closed by the pandemic since March 11, 2020.
At the milonga different partners hit the floor. The most sought after are those who dance best, over and above their age and physique. But the current coronavirus protocols hinder the exchange of partners and take away part of the magic.
“The milonga is the place where couples meet to dance, where music and the poetry is. It’s the here and now, if it weren’t for the milonga, tango would be stored in some cultural warehouse. Milonga brings people together, those who want to dance. It’s the place to embrace, to improvise, to play erotic games,” says Viola.
Let’s dance!

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Lovely dinner in a lovely place

Last night I went to dinner with Jayne and Venetia at a favourite place, La Olla de Felix. It has several rooms, all of which are nice, but this is the most beautiful. It has old plates and other artwork, and a lovely fireplace, all contributing to the feeling you’re in someone’s cosy but elegant home instead of a restaurant.

And although they don’t have any vegan options on the menu, they are happy to give me a plate of lovely grilled veggies and some roast potatoes—so I don’t even envy the others their steaks!

These photos will give you an idea of the place.

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First Food Fair of the Season

One fun feature of spring and summer in Buenos Aires is the number of street fairs that take place on weekends. Sometimes they are around regions of the country, or themes such as culture or types of music. But the overarching theme is food!

Yesterday, what they called a “Gourmet Fair” took place near Plaza San Martin, and Venetia and I went along to enjoy this first food fair of the season. Honestly, I wouldn’t have called it gourmet, but they did have some nice things. As usual, I went straight for the sweet stuff! I bought something called cane honey tablet. It looked and felt like the tablet we have in Scotland, except that instead of condensed milk, this one was made from honey. That suited my vegan food choices, but it was toooooooo sweet, even for me!

Anyway, here are a few pictures of the fair, us and the honey tablet.

 

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Goodbye masks — well, kind of!

Good news this morning about loosening of several restrictions in Argentina, the most exciting of which is that masks are no longer mandatory outside – yayy! Well, we still have to wear them where there are large crowds of people and on the buses, but just walking along the street breathing the air without a mask will be wonderful! I wasn’t going to go out today, but I will now just to see how it feels!

Milongas are all free to open now (those that haven’t gone out of business of course), but with protocols. Lesser capacity and still with masks — and proof of vaccination, which cuts me out until I can get the elusive second dose!

But it’s all very promising — maybe there is an end to this plague after all.

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You Have to Look Up

Buenos Aires has a plethora of amazingly beautiful buildings, many of which are landmarks. But there are also many buildings that are just apartments or offices that are also beautiful or unusual, but to see them you have to look up. Here’s one example. It’s not particularly beautiful, but definitely interesting—if you look up!

I pass this building every morning on my way to one of my local cafes for breakfast. This morning I just happened to look up — and saw this funny little tower structure on the top. I wonder what it must be like to live up there!

This gave me an idea. I’m going to try to remember to look up more and take photos, which I can then publish as a “Look Up” series in a future post. Stay tuned!