Stompin’ at the Milonga

When my in-laws were visiting they of course wanted to check out the Tango scene. So one night we went to the Maldita Milonga, a dance that takes place Wednesdays in the Buenos Aires Club in San Telmo. Why did we choose that tango venue from all the numerous tango venues in Buenos Aires? Because we had stumbled over a street performance of the El Afronte Ochesta Tipica at the Sunday Street market of San Telmo and read in a flyer that they performed live at the Maldita Milonga. Hey, a free tango class, a milonga and a live act all rolled into one … we just had to go.

When we got to the Buenos Aires Club shortly before 21:00 (when the class was supposed to begin), the place was almost deserted except for two guys playing table foosball in one of the side rooms. But when we came back after a drink in a nearby bar the gratis tango lesson was already in full swing and we had missed the first explanations. We joined in nonetheless and shuffled around the dance floor for one hour, realizing that even the simple basic steps are not that easy to coordinate. So after the lesson we were pretty exhausted and in need of a drink so we happily made room for the experienced milonga participants who quickly took over the dance floor.

It was a friendly mixed crowd with some very good dancers (at least for us as laymen) and some not so experienced, and one brave couple from the introductory class actually dared to enter the fray and try out a few of the just learned steps. Kudos to them!

We weren’t that adventurous and stayed at the sidelines, sipping a cool drink and watching not only the dancers but also the show outside the floor. A milonga is really a world of its own with certain rituals and rules how to behave, how the men circle the room and invite the women, how the ladies accept, decline or desperately avoid eye contact … it’s a show of its own.

At eleven, the musician came on stage, and their name El Afronte Ochesta Tipica is far from being a misnomer. The band is not your little Tango combo, no, the musicians are indeed a small orchestra with no less than 4 bandeons, 3 violins, 1 violoncello, 1 piano, 1 contrabass and a singer with a great voice. I don’t know much about tango music, but their music definitely did not sound like the melancholic old-school pieces that we know from the scratchy slightly wobbly recordings from the older generation. El Afronte sounded fresh and enthusiastic, a bit crazy and bombastic, and they absolutely rocked the place. And the best part was that people actually danced to their music.

We are glad we went because we finally heard some live tango music, we witnessed a real Buenos Aires Milonga and – most importantly – we took our first tango class. After living in the Tango Capital for two years we had felt a bit stupid for not having tried it and were running out of excuses. But we finally did it and imagine our surprise when we realized that this was fun and that we wanted to learn more. Since we liked the two teachers at the Milonga and their not at all cheesy approach we took the bull by the horns and asked them if they gave private lessons. Hey, why not kick-start this thing with intensive tutoring and make up for lost time, right?

Our first class is scheduled. I will keep you posted.