My students went to El Beso several times for the afternoon milongas, and had a good time. The crowd is definitely smaller than three years ago: the economic downturn was most evident at milongas.
However, that meant that there was a friendly atmosphere, as everyone danced with everyone. I saw more people taking risks and asking new people to dance.
I found it interesting to see how cabeceo is disintegrating as a custom at tourist milongas. The locals understand that the foreigners don’t get the rules. One lady even asked my friend Nilande for permission to dance with her partner!
The impressive person of one afternoon: a lady done up in makeup, nice outfit and great attitude who danced and chatted and made my students feel at home. She had to be helped down the stairs (no elevator) because she was frail, but being over 80 was not going to stop her from coming dancing!
