Bikes in Buenos Aires

It is striking how much pro-bicycle change has happened in the past two years. I was amazed to see a bike lane on CORRIENTES! Wow!

Areas in downtown have bike lights and green boxes, just like in Portland:

This one is on Suipacha, at Diagonal Norte.

I talked to a few of the taxi drivers. The general view is that one must get accustomed to the idea, but that it is snarling traffic because of street size. For example, on a two-lane, one-way street with parking, no other changes were made. Cars are still trying to fit into two lanes, and people are still parking their cars on one side. No adjustments have been made, except to drive closer together and closer to parked cars. Eek! Eventually, I think some streets will either lose parking or be reduced to single lanes, but it is not clear to anyone if the government of the city has considered this carefully.

I saw a lot more bikers than ever before (and a lot of motorcycles in the bike lane). I also saw one crazy rollerblader going down the middle of Corrientes, in between the cars. That guy must have a death wish!

Rude people on the dance floor

When annoying men try to teach on the dance floor (and yes, I know women do this too), I have found I have a limit to my politeness.  When one French man informed me that I had anticipated a step, I said nothing, but when he REPEATED it at the end of the tanda: "You anticipated one step."  One step in the tanda!!  I am afraid I told him that it was rude to criticize on the dance floor, and that I had not said anything about his mistakes, but rather, had fixed them. Grrr.

The other rude man--as opposed to those who are trying to be helpful--was at Nino Bien.  An awful Argentine dancer hauled me around the floor, and then suggested I go to La Viruta to learn that style of dance.  It was obvious he didn't care whether I was enjoying the dance, and he didn't bother try to adjust at all: he just pulled me in tighter and higher, until I could barely keep my feet on the floor.  I smiled at him and told him that good technique works with everyone, and walked away. Grrr.

I have taught dance for 25 years, and I would never dream of saying things like that to another dancer while dancing socially!!! Shame on them.

We really shouldn't go back to the shoestore . . .

Street fairs: San Telmo, Recoleta, and the non-existent Plaza Italia fair

After seventeen years in Eugene, I feel pretty much "done" with Saturday Market artesanal fair and street fairs in general. However, on a sunny day, wandering around the city by perusing blocks and blocks of street vendors is a nice way to spend some time.

San Telmo

Our first Sunday was sunny and warm: perfect for going to the street fair.The fair is a combination of artesanal objects for sale (clothing, jewelry, art), antiques, tourist gear (magnets, Tshirts, tango CDs)  and made-in-China things sold by Bolivians.

I didn't end up buying anything, but Gayle had a lot of fun with artwork. In fact, we had an epic search for a bank machine, as the only one I knew in the area (at Plaza de Mayo) was down for repairs. Even the sellers had no idea where to go for money, as they didn't live in the area. In the end, we identified several in walking distance of the fair with help from Gayle's iPhone; got money; and made several artists happy.

My favorite was Oscar Divito, from whom Gayle bought a beautiful painting (acrylic on canvas). Check out his work on his link. Warmhearted, gracious, nice person AND art. He is usually at Defensa and Alsina (a bit towards the Casa Rosada from Alsina).

This street fair is huge compared to ten years ago: it used to stretch a few blocks in all directions from Plaza Dorrego at Defensa and Humberto Primo. Now, it starts at Defensa where it meets the Plaza de Mayo in front of the Casa Rosada (the equivalent of the White House, but it's pink), and continues all the way to Plaza Dorrego. Wow!

Recoleta

Recoleta street fair is at Plaza Francia: it's not actually on a street. Instead, booths are set on winding paths starting in front of Recoleta Cemetary and stretching down the hill. This fair reminds me a lot of Saturday Market in Portland and Eugene: there were Brazilian drummers, a smell of pot, hippie girls, etc.

The offerings are similar to Saturday Market, too. I saw a LOT of crocheted tops, leather handbags, ceramic mugs and jewelry. However, there were some very beautiful handcrafts. The most beautiful were the handcrafted marionettes, which I would have bought to take home if I had had any money left by that time; after the bank search the weekend before, I didn't want to repeat the forced march around the neighborhood.

Sublime Cueros had a nice selection of leather boxes and knickknacks. They also very fun jewelry boxes shaped like mini chests of drawers in bright colors. Pretty! There were many other leather workers as well.

Plaza Italia

Ten years ago, Plaza Italia had a big street fair. I hadn't checked it out for ten years, so we hopped in a taxi and went across town to check it out. The other street fairs have decimated the population of this fair. Can you call something a street fair when there are only ten booths, and only five are populated? Very disappointing.

There is a street fair here, but it is only used books. If you are interested in used books, you could probably spend all afternoon wandering through the booths. It strikes me as much smaller than the book fair along the Seine in Paris, and it is not nearly as picturesque. However, if you want used books, there they are. Personally, I would choose to hit the used bookstores around the Corrientes and Callao area.

My friend Alejandro from college recommended a huge bookstore, El Ateneo for my buying pleasure, but as I found out about it Saturday night, and it was closed Sunday, and Monday was a holiday, I don't think I'm going to make it over there today :-(

Thanksgiving 2011: The best night I've ever had in Bs As

Ok, that was the best night of dancing I've ever had in Buenos Aires, perhaps in my entire life in tango!!!  And at Niño Bien (Humberto 1, 1462)! We arrived at the beginning, right at 10:30. We didn't get good seats, but it didn't matter! Oh, dear, too many exclamation points, but that's how I feel: the good dancers finally found me! For Thanksgiving, I am thankful that people made up this awesome dance and spread it around the world.

I danced with a man with whom I had a great tanda of Pugliese the night before, plus a DiSarli set last night. I have no idea what we danced tonight, but we danced even better together. Then another guy in a suit grabbed me. He had only danced nine years, but nine years in Buenos Aires is like dog years are to human years. Then two younger guys who had been intently watching me asked me to dance over the course of the next few tandas, and they were great! I think I've forgoteen another good dancer who helped make my night.

It's not that I didn't have mediocre tandas: I did boy scout tandas with a few foreigners and one Argentine man. However, they didn't get in the way of the really good sets. No one was horrible; even the foreigners for the most part were musical, if beginners. Also, having led in Niño Bien myself, I know how crazy it gets to navigate between the old guard being pushy and the foreigners being clueless. I think that the fact that even this milonga is less crowded, made it danceable all night, whereas it used to become impossible for about an hour in the middle of the evening.

What made tonight memorable was musicality. All the good tandas were led with very few complex steps, but with high affinity for the music and intimate knowledge of the songs. One guy complimented me, saying that it was unusual for a woman to know the music (he apologized and said people, but I think he meant that people who don't lead don't listen to the music sometimes). The old milongueros called out "Esa!" when I nailed an ending right in front of a bunch of them (YES!).

It's almost 4 am and I need to go to sleep because I have a massage at 10 am, but I'm so jazzed up that I don't know if I can sleep. Happy, happy, happy.

Milongas: finishing out the first week

Things are different this year in Buenos Aires. The high inflation rate has made everyone tighten their belt a bit, especially the elderly. A few men who I danced with last year have told me this year that they no longer go out nightly. They now go out two or three times a week instead. The difference is obvious in some of the milongas that had been preserves of the older guys. There are more women per male dancer than before. There is a higher percentage of foreigners than before. Also, there are simply gaps in the ranks: empty tables at places that never had empty tables.

Monday

Monday at "Maipu" (La Nacional, Alsina 1465) was packed full, more than any other milonga so far. I have been used to all milongas looking like this. The organizers said that tons of tourists are here right now, making it difficult to seat everyone. We were seated way in the back because we got there late, but one of the organizers, Dany, took a liking to me and made sure that some guys headed our way. Over the course of the night, we got to dance more and more, and ended up dancing continously by the end of the evening. Still, the ratio of foreigners to locals was high, especially later in the evening.

The organizer took a picture of me posing with one of his friends. He told the guy that he was going to cut that part of the picture out and keep the part with me in it. His friend told him that the camera was going to break and other stuff like that. I like it when the guys get silly together.

Tuesday

Tuesday at El Beso (Riobamba 416) was a workout in terms of cabeceo. Again, we were put in the last row, with two rows of women in front of us; mostly foreigners. Luckily a few guys we knew already saw us, and came to get us to dance, because the male:female ratio was off. I think it is due to the higher cost of going dancing because the bar area was almost empty, and it used to be where all the guys stood who could not get tables; it used to be standing room only.

A little old Argentine guy got stuck back in the corner, and spent a lot of time mumbling about "how dare they do that to me, when they put the young guys up in front?" but the waiter told me he knew the guy couldn't dance. Ouch! Does that mean he thought WE couldn't dance? I'll show him.

I had a really special tanda with a guy called Eugenio. I had danced with him Saturday night. He is not an advanced dancer by any means, but has a really good sense of rhythm, nice musicality--and awful floorcraft. He asked me if I had a husband, and I told him I had a son and a boyfriend; and asked him the same questions. He said he had two grown children, but that his wife had passed away after 35 years of marriage. He told me that was ten years ago, and then pulled out his phone and showed me her picture: the wallpaper on his phone. I tried to tell him how lucky he was to have had the love of his life married to him for that long, and he answered, "Lucky? Lucky? She died!!" The next song of the set was really emotional, and so was our dance. It felt completely different from the other songs in the tanda. I almost burst into tears myself, and I could tell he was struggling. Wow.

I had seen a guy from California walk in, and had avoided a cabeceo because we didn't do well on the dance floor the night before. However, when the rock 'n roll set came on, he was standing up, bouncing around, so I figured he could dance that. Yes! We did a good swing, and then an awesome salsa. It felt good to cut loose a bit and shake it! Much as I love tango, I don't think I could ever abandon my other dancing because it gives me other things that tango does not.

Just before we left, Gayle had changed her shoes, and I was walking over to change my shoes, when a few guys gave us grief about leaving before the end of the milonga. After all, we hadn't even looked at them! I told them we'd been sitting there all night, and they hadn't invited us to dance. "That's not our fault! It's the woman's fault! You didn't look at us at all!" True: I hadn't seen them at all. He handed my shoes to Gayle and dragged me out on the dance floor for a tanda. Strange, but fun.

Wednesday

Wednesday at "Mi Refugio" (La Nacional, Alsina 1465), there were a quarter of the people who went last year. Last year, this was our favorite night at La Nacional. This time, we had danced with all the men who were not in partners by midnight and were on to repeating ourselves, but we waited for the exhibition. Most of the men left before the exhibition, too, leaving only the young kids (mostly beginners) at one table, some tourists, couples, and maybe six available men.

The woman next to me danced one dance the whole night, and I never saw her friend get up from the table. Gayle and I danced most of the time, but that included accepting a cabeceo from the not-very-good Argentine boy after he stalked me for part of a tanda; it's hard to say no when all the women around you are poking you, saying, "He's looking at YOU."

Our amusement for the evening was a young German girl who was seated with us. While I was dancing, she announced to Gayle that it was hard to find a teacher because she was "a very good dancer!" She preferred the awful dancer to good dancers, but sat most of the night because she was not a very good dancer. Young, yes. Skinny, yes. Beautiful, yes. Good dancer? Not yet.

For my foodies (you know who you are!)

Friday night, we ate at La Americana (Bartolome Mitre y Callao), an empanada and pizza place. Arriving around 1 am, the place was PACKED with noisy friends and family groups. I ordered one of my favorites (veggie) Pascualina tart. Traditionally eaten during Lent (thus the name), this swiss chard and egg wrapped in pastry, has been a favorite of mine since my first day in Buenos Aires in 1999, when my friend Silvana made this for dinner. Gayle had a Gallego de atun, a tuna, tomatoes and onion pie. We both had a glass of wine and finished off dinner with a flan mixto, my favorite dessert of all time: flan custard covered with whipped cream and dulce de leche. That might explain why it is 2 am and I am still awake: sugar! Dinner tonight was more reasonable than last night: 80 pesos for two people, or around $10 each.

This restaurant would work for vegetarians if they eat eggs and cheese. There were many pizzas available without meat, and some empanadas as well. One empanada was a veggie medley, but I was set on the Pascualina tart, so I didn't try it.

Saturday lunch, we ate at Punta Cuore, 2000 Rivadavia (Rivadavia y Ayacucho). Gayle liked this one the best so far. I had grilled fish with steamed veggies (carrots, zucchini, winter squash and baby potatoes): 33 pesos. She had a big Caprese salad (tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil with black olives): 35 pesos. Trapiche malbec cost the same as the house red, so she ordered that: 16 pesos. With bottled water, 120 pesos for 2 people, plus tip. Nice service, nice and quiet, nearby . . . we will be back!

Sunday lunch, we went to the San Telmo street fair and ate at The Puerto Rico Cafe, Alsina 416, in San Telmo. They have a little tango show there in the afternoons which we did not stay for (free, I think they said). We had broccoli and mushroom tart, and ham/cheese tart, and coffee. The broccoli was amazingly good. The coffee was also really good.

After dancing Sunday night, we tried to go to La Espanol (Alsina y Rincon) in Congreso, but it was closing for the night at 12:30!! I had never noticed that a lot of places close early on Sundays before. Ten years ago, I used to go to La Espanol a lot because it was one of the few places my boyfriend could afford (Argentine men don't usually like women to pay for dates). It is the place where he and his friends dared me to eat various meat things, and afterwards told me what body part I was eating. Ugh.

SO, we wandered over to Cafe de los Angelitos (Av. Rivadavia 2100 (esq. Rincón). The kitchen was closed, but we were able to order a tostado mixto (toasted ham and cheese), a small bottle of wine and mineral water. The waiter told us about the tango show that happens every evening and gave us cards with reservation information on them. 80 pesos including tip.

I have abandoned my attempt to remain gluten-free in Buenos Aires, and I am enjoying the pastries!

Day three: Shopping, dancing and cab drivers

Shopping

Today we wandered over to Zival's (Corrientes y Callao). I wanted "Noche de Cabaret" with Varela's orchestra, which I found on a nice double CD. Gayle wanted Donato's "El Gato" milonga, which was not there. The guy at the information counter said, "It's not our fault we don't have it! If it isn't produced, it's not available." I already had the Donato CD that was there, and so did Gayle. No Lomuto at all :-(  We agreed today was not the day to browse in the store: we will save that for a rainy day when we have nothing to do.

We dropped our shoes off at the shoe repair to get cromo (suede) on the soles on two pair a piece. I have some plain and some with cromo, so if I go somewhere where the floor is sticky, I take leather soles, and for slippery floors, cromo. We will get them back by Tuesday, which is way better than the place I found last year that took a week. I forgot to photograph them before they were dropped off, but I promise to do that ASAP Tuesday.

Grr...I wrote six more paragraphs, and the internet went down when I pressed save.  Grr.

I bought practice shoes at Fabio Shoes for leading. My old men's ballroom shoes have finally worn through the leather after about fifteen years of use. These have a Cuban-style heel, but a bit higher than a man's Cuban heel. I am not sure if I like them; I may sell them. I am so used to using men's shoes for leading, that these seem a little frivolous!

Dancing

Tonight we went to Cachirulo, but in a new location. Last year, it was a short shot down Corrientes to get to Maipu. Now, it's a twenty-minute taxi ride (30 pesos) to the Villa Malcom Sports Club (Cordoba 5064). Since it was pouring rain, we abandoned our walk to the subte and grabbed a taxi.

When we arrived, the ration of men to women was perhaps 1:15 or 1:20, and it did not improve much. We were seated in the second row and on the end, where it was almost impossible to see the men for cabeceo. Given those odds, it's probably a miracle that we each danced six or seven tandas. There were a lot of women who we never saw get on the dance floor, and who left early, only to be replaced with more women.

The level of dancing was higher than at Nino Bien or Entre Tango y Tango. It wasn't that there were better dancers per se, because a lot of the same guys were at Friday and Saturday dances. However, there were fewer lower-level dancers, both male and female, so the entire room looked good dancing (apart from some scary dresses, but that's another story). The musicality was more evident because the whole room moved better together. A few guys crashed in the middle, but most danced competently in two rows around the outside.

When we left, a guy teased us about leaving early. Gayle decided to give him a hard time back, and made me tell him she had waited all night to dance with him. He promised to dance with us tomorrow, as we are going to the same place. Then, a salsa came on, and I danced in my street shoes right there in the back of the room with him. I needed that! I often play hooky from tango in Bs As and go salsa dancing one night while I'm here (Azucar Club is good).

Cab drivers in Bs As

I am fond of cab drivers here in Buenos Aires. I don't know if they are as well-spoken and educated in other places because I usually walk places or take the bus when I'm out of Portland. Here, get them talking, and watch them go!

On the way to the dance, we got a cab driver who talked about the traffic and how it's changed in the past ten years. On the way back, we hit a gold mine of economic information. It's amazing how commenting on the weather, or the traffic, or the temperature morphs into an interesting discussion.

On the way home, the cabbie sat in front of our destination for about five minutes, still talking about the past twenty years in Argentina. I tried valiantly to keep up the translation for Gayle while listening and converting it to English in my head. Here are the salient points for thought:

• Because of recent events in Argentine history, Argentines are realists. They don't live in a bubble that is going to explode and make them face reality, as he feels folks do in Europe and the USA.
• Since so many bad things happened to individuals in Argentina during the dictatorships, everyone knows that you need to work in solidarity with friends and family and other Argentines to fight for rights. He feels that Americans are concerned only with themselves, and can't work together like this because we haven't experienced enough crisis for us to mature yet.
• With the hyperinflation in the 1980s of 300-400% per month, the current 10-15% is nothing. He said they can get through this with no problem because everyone remembers how much worse it was before.
• He told us about how money was not circulating at all at one point, and people went to fairs and bartered goods in order to eat. He said only six people had work on his block, and each would get a different product and share, in order to survive.
• In 2008, the government took steps to inject money into the local economy. He feels that they have been "immunized" to withstand the current global slide, and suggested that if Argentina took a leadership role, we could reduce the global crisis.

I find this impressive, as an "immature" American who does not know statistics for my own country's economic state during my lifetime. It's time to get educated!

Day Two: Shoes!

Thanks for all the comments on FB about what you all want to hear. I've made a list. Alisan gets first dibs because we went shoe shopping. Between the two of us, we bought seven pairs of shoes today.

Neotango (Sarmiento 1938) is near where we are staying, so we went there first. In 2010, they didn't have any shoes that fit me the whole time I was here, so I tried on a bunch and bought two pair (the pewter ones to replace the same ones I had already), and turquoise, which was NOT on my list, but fit perfectly. Last year, shoes cost about 420 pesos a pair. This year? 590 pesos a pair. Oy!

What a clusteryouknowwhat! There were a dozen people all trying to buy shoes at the same time, but then it cleared out and we had the salesman to ourselves. They were helpful and friendly (not the case in 2010). I'm going back before I leave to buy at least one more pair.

Artesanal (Anchorena 537) near the Abasto, appeared to have fewer shoes than last year, but they said they had merely rearranged the shop. I only found one pair that fit with the heel I prefer: black patent leather with polkadots on the front. I'm not a polkadot girl, but when things fit this well, I go shopping for outfits after I get the shoes! There, Gayle found a pair on sale for 380 pesos, but my new models cost me 620 pesos for the pair; I forget if that was the cash discount or not.

The saleslady remembered me and my quest for shoes for wide feet last year; it's nice to be recognized, even if it's for fat feet.

So, shoes are around $130/pair, instead of $110/pair like last year. Sigh. Perhaps I will buy fewer pair than I had intended.

We are going to photograph our shoes tomorrow, and post them with another round on shopping, so stay tuned! I danced my lesson in my new pewter shoes, and went to the milonga in the turquoise ones. I am going to buy more shoes!!!!!

Day Two: Dancing

Another day spent with: "Come on, Ely! You used to know this!" and gentle scolding about not taking enough time to practice. It's nice when your teachers want you to become a better person as well as a better dancer ("Take time for yourself!"), so I am not complaining. I know that, by the time I leave, my dance will be better than ever before; but it's hard to do the tune-up part sometimes.

The focus today: finding just the right amount of stretch in the body while keeping the knees softer, so that all my pivots land on balance and don't ever lean toward the leader or move away. This is harder than it sounds, but I could feel the rightness of what they said, even though it took an hour and a half to really nail it. When I went to the milonga in the evening, I managed to dance correctly for about four tandas before I could no longer feel what was right. After that, it came and went for the rest of the evening.

I don't think it's cheating to go to the same place two nights in a row, especially when different folks inhabit the space. We went back to the Centro Cultural Leonesa (Humberto 1, 1462) for the late afternoon to evening milonga. Arriving at 8 PM, we missed the opportunity to sit across from most of the guys, and got put in a corner. However, as the guys had to walk past our corner if they wanted to get to the rest of the room, we were in a good space compared to where most tourists were stuck. I only sat out one tanda for the evening. After a lesson and 4.5 hours of dancing, my feet are tired, but I did all that in brand new shoes (more on that next post), so no complaints there.

Tonight made up for last night: mostly great dances, with the only not great dances being with folks from the USA and Europe. Another goal of mine: make North Americans dance musically!!! It was SO frustrating to feel more competent dancing than many of the old milongueros, but off the music. I prefer dancing the milongueros 4-5 steps, but really, really on the music.

My best musical tanda tonight was with a guy who kept grinning and saying, "Fun!" in between songs (kind of a goofball). However, we had danced one set before, and he told me he wanted to dance again. The music started, and I looked up, accepted his cabeceo from a distance far enough away that I could have said no, and got up to dance. It was Varela! I only started listening to Varela in the past few months (thanks, Vadym!), and I LOVED this tanda!

1. 1. Fueron Tres Años
2. Noche De Cabaret
3. Y Todavía Te Quiero
4. Y Te Parece Todavia

This made me feel wonderful because I knew what the orchestra was, and the old milonguero had no idea. Also, I played a set of Varela this summer when I was Djing, and I played two of these, so I really nailed the musicality for those. I had an amazingly musical set with an OK dancer who got into the energy/feeling of what I was feeling: wow again! I went up to the DJ when I left, and asked what he had played in the Varela set, because I had never heard #2 in the set. I think I like this better than Pugliese right now. I am going to buy some albums!

I missed out on chacarera because I forgot they played it at this milonga, and so did not set up a partner for it. However, I got a partner for part of the tropical set, and merengued my little heart out. I wish we played sets of salsa/cumbia/merengue and "rock 'n roll" (swing) at our milongas. Hmm.

A lovely evening out dancing!

Day One, Round Five

People kept asking me if I was excited about going to Buenos Aires, and I kept saying, "Not really." I had so much else going on in my life, plus the added tasks to get ready to be gone for a few weeks, that I really only got excited when I walked out the door of the airport into warm, humid sunshine, and thought, "I'm home!" I felt that way the first time I came here, and I still feel that way.

Luis picked us up at the airport and sang us tangos all the way into the city.  Then he said, "Your turn!" and I ended up singing some opera because I don't know any tangos by heart.  HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE??? OK, new goal: learn a few tangos to sing. If some middle-aged guy can do it, so can I!

Call home, unpack, nap #1.

Landed at 10 am, and in the studio dancing by 5 PM. After an hour and a half lesson, I once again feel that I'm never going to get good at this dance. This happens every time, but I don't usually have a lesson the first day, so in a way, the "maybe I should quit teaching this dance and become something else" moment is good to get over right away. I have new things to think about that Oscar and Georgina assure me I used to know, but must have forgotten. Luckily, I am a kinesthetic learner, so by the end of the lesson, I could feel what I was doing wrong and correct it most of the time.

Main problem today (because you KNOW it's going to change each day): I need to turn my feet out just a teensy bit more, and suddenly, my turns work better. Also, I've gotten lazy with having the precise amount of flexion needed at the knees to keep my hips aligned, and I am supposed to be able to lift my abdominals even more at all times, while breathing and fixing my feet, knees and hips. A note to my students: I told you they were going to work on my basics, didn't I?

After that, nap #2.

We headed out and had dinner at Café Victoria: Entre Ríos 114, Congreso. Gayle had a chicken breast with steamed vegetables (squash, carrots, zucchini, etc.). I had tortilla espanol, which I love, and a portion of faina, a gluten-free, garbanzo-based flatbread, and a glass of wine. Prices have shot up in the past 1.5 years, with that kind of meal costing almost double what it did in 2010: 100 pesos this time, compared to about 50-60 pesos in 2010. Inflation here is insane at the moment.

Nino Bien, Humberto 1 (Humberto Primo) 1462, is an old mainstay of a milonga. There were fewer people than in 2010, but still a nice crowd. I saw a lot of familiar faces from before, and we both had some nice tandas. It was Luis' birthday; he's been the maitre d' there since I don't know when, but I remember him in 1999 when he wore jeans, not a suit like now. The entrance cost was 20 pesos in 2010, and is now 30 pesos: another example of price jumps.

My feet and legs are still swollen from the flight, despite getting some exercise and some rest. We agreed to leave early (1 am), grabbed a taxi home despite being teased at the door about going home early by a guy who looked familiar and was just arriving.

That's all until tomorrow, folks. Oh, I mean today, don't I? Time to call my nene (my kiddo) and say goodnight.

Weighing in on the cabeceo

I have strong feelings about the cabeceo: I LOVE THE CABECEO! I always teach it in my beginning classes, and make my private students practice it. As a cultural anthropologist, I can't imagine teaching people to do a dance without also teaching the appropriate cultural rules that go with the dance.

When I first encountered the cabeceo in Argentina, it took me a while to feel comfortable with it. I am quite shy with people I don't know (yes, I know I hide it well, but there it is), so the experience of making eye contact for a seemingly long time made me feel uncomfortable. I forced myself to look at stranger's faces, willing them to invite me to dance.

At first, I danced with anyone who was willing to look at me. As I got to know the other dancers, I found there were folks I did not want to dance with; and I could avoid them politely by not looking at them. Having been trained as a nice North American girl, I have difficulty refusing a dance partner who walks up and asks me to dance. Cabeceo gave me a sense of control over partner-picking that I never experienced in North America.

This is not to say that the cabeceo is fool-proof. This past February in Buenos Aires, I enjoyed going to La Nacional on Wednesday nights, as well as the Centro Leonese (Nino Bien) on Friday evenings: women were seated on one side, men on the other. We all had our glasses on to see, but you could see almost all the potential dance partners and angle for a cabeceo better. At one point, a guy smiled at our table, and all six women (sitting three deep) pointed to themselves and mouthed, "Yo?" He made an apologetic gesture, pointed at the one he wanted, and she got up to dance. The other five laughed and readjusted to look for another partner. That sounds chaotic, but I prefer that to being accosted by someone I've tried to avoid by not looking at their face all evening!

With patience, the cabeceo becomes easy to use and provides a lot of control for both partners to choose a dance couple for a tanda.

Someone on the listserve mentioned that it was inappropriate for a woman to cabeceo another woman. I don't think I agree with that. I wouldn't cabeceo another woman in Buenos Aires at a traditional dance, but I would at a gay milonga, where the rules are more relaxed.  With women who are my friends, we use the cabeceo. In Portland, I rarely use the cabeceo women (or men) who I don't already know.

As a teacher, I have always felt that I need to be the model forcorrect behavior in the community. Because I know beginners get better much faster if more experienced dancers dance with them, I have always interpreted that as needing to dance with anyone who asks me (short of those whose grip hurts my body). However, perhaps I will do more good as a model of correct cabeceo! Remember, if I don't have my glasses on, I might not have ignored you: I may have just not seen you looking! Try again!

Buenos Aires basics (Popular tango moves 3)

This is the third (of three) reviews for the moves we worked on in my intermediate tango class these last six weeks. As I have said before, we learned moves that were led on me hundreds or thousands of times on my most recent Buenos Aires trip. All of them are moves that are simple in concept, work in small spaces, can be done in closed or open embrace, and and are fun to do; but that have subtle tricks to make them work better.

Left turn with rebound step

Although I commonly think of this as two separate patterns, they were often combined in Buenos Aires to make a nice, compact turn with a quick, quick, slow; quick, quick, slow pattern in the music. 

Leaders:

• Lead a rebound, forward on left, back on right for yourself; back on right, forward on left.
• The traditional timing is quick, quick BUT make sure you are using the rebound! Don't truncate it to be on time. Remember, to adjust the follower's step size works much better. The magic "la marca" allows you to reduce the size of the follower's step by keeping her/his foot more under the body.
• Lead a left turn. Make sure you rotate in place and keep the the spiral in your torso so that the follower keeps doing a grapevine.
• The traditional timing on the turn is slow, quick, quick, slow.

A lot of leaders in Buenos Aires did two rounds of this before exiting, even though we usually  made it all the way around in one set. Of course, traffic didn't move very much on the dance floor. Here in Portland, with leaders zooming down the room, you might want to only do one set so as not to get run over!

Followers:

• Do a back on right, front on left rebound. Make sure you complete this movement before beginning the turn around the leader (don't make a triangular movement; return to original spot!).
• In your turn, make sure that each step is completed by finishing the push off with your toes the way we've practiced. This allows you to arrive on balance so that you can slow down or speed up as the leader asks.
• For your back cross step, use those hips! This is a swivel and then push off move--don't swing your feet for momentum.
• Traditional move: four step turn, side step with right, back cross with left, side step with right, front cross with left.
• Traditional timing: slow, quick, quick, slow. When you add it to the rebound, the entire pattern is: quick, quick, slow; quick, quick, slow.
• In Buenos Aires, I was expected to deliver this timing. If I waited to be told the timing, dancers felt I was going too slowly. Here, where many leaders lead all-slow versions of turns, it may take some adjusting of this traditional timing.

Adorno for right and left turns for followers

• Between the back cross and the next open step in a turn (right or left), allow your knees to rebound against each other as your legs pass under you. If you are doing a right turn (clockwise), the free leg doing the adorno is the left; to the left, it is the right leg.
• This LOOKS like you are doing an ankle adornment, with the free foot sliding in front of the support leg, and then going into the side step, but if you concentrate on the ankles, you may trip yourself (ask me how I know this!).
• This adorno has the added bonus that it helps you arrive on axis better during your back cross steps in the turn.
• Remember to keep your hips back while you do the adorno. If you lock your knees while your dance, or bring your hips forwards, you will not be able to make this move look as good, and may trip the leader (luckily, I do not know this from my own experience!).

Walking circles clockwise

Of course, you can do these the other direction as well. And in crossed system. However, the clockwise, parallel version was the one that guys in Buenos Aires tended to lead.

For those of you also in my milonga class that I co-teach with Robert Hauk, this should look familiar: we did it in the winter session of the milonga class! Here in Portland, Robert, as well as Steven Payne,  lead very sweet circles like this, but no one else really seems to. In Buenos Aires, I had this led on me more frequently.

There's only walk technique involved here. Doing the porteno walk (see the Tango Fundamentals review sheet in the right column, top page under PAGES), simply walk in a big enough circle that the follower walks backwards instead of pivoting in place on the dance floor.

Simple way to get going: Take a side step as if doing a salida, and then walk forward. This gets you into the nice, connected twist that will keep the follower from stepping in front of you. Keep herding the follower towards the center of the circle; go all the way around; continue line of dance.

Buenos Aires basics (Popular tango moves 2)

Ocho cortado turn

Because ocho cortado has two distinguishable parts (rebound bk/fd and step; rebound sd/sd and step), it  lends itself to endless variations of the type that I call fillings: imagine the ocho cortado as really yummy bread with various things in the middle. A favorite is inserting a right turn into the ocho cortado:

1. Execute the first rebound (bk/fd for follower, fd/bk for leader) and the step (fd for follower, bk for leader), so that the follower steps to the leader's right/inside track.
2. Turn is follower's open, back, open, front steps. The traditional timing, which I advocate, is slow, quick, quick, slow.
3. End with terminal rebound and close of ocho cortado (sd/sd rebound, with circular component): follower rebounds left/right and closes in front with left, like going to the cross; leader rebounds right/left with a VERY SMALL step, focusing more on making the rebound circular for the follower in order to aid in closing into the cross. If you want to exit in parallel, the leader shifts weight onto the right while leading the cross.

Ocho cortado with sacada

The step above can have a leader's sacada (displacement/replacement) through the first open, or side step, of the turn in step #2 above. This makes the turn have a more dynamic feeling. It may be sacrilege to suggest this, but I think that a lot of milongueros with whom I danced this move in Buenos Aires, did this move by accident! Some of the older dancers did not have very much flexibility, and instead of twisting to the right to initiate my turn, they stepped through my first step to build momentum :-)

• The leader can do this with either foot, but it is easier to use right foot because it's already free.
• Remember that you are leading a turn, and your torso needs to continue to tell the follower to travel around the perimeter of the circle; do NOT abandon the follower to move yourself.
• The leader's step needs to go towards where the follower had been: towards the follower's right foot placement of the open step. 
• Once you land in the new location, remember to remain upright! If your axis tilts, this makes the turn very hard for the follower to complete elegantly.
• Followers: this version of the turn is a bit harder than a completely stationary turn because the center of the turn moves while you turn around it. Keep your own axis upright, and everything will go better.
• End with the standard second half of the ocho cortado.
• If sacadas are new to you, look at my posts about sacadas.

My favorite variation to end ocho cortado turns

If you are bored with the turn above, try removing the second half of the ocho cortado (rebound sd/sd and step) from the pattern, and exit the turn a different way. This is the step we've been working on perfecting in the Portland intermediate class recently. This truncates the follower's turn to the first two steps, open and back, and exits linearly

Exit on follower's back cross step

1. As the follower lands on the back cross step of the turn, LIGHTLY (remember la marca?) lift so that the follower stays on that foot (her/his right).
2. Allow the follower's hips to unwind. Followers: this is a fun place to play with an adorno!
3. Release the lift.
4. Exit.  I prefer walking to the cross in crossed system because as a follower, twisting back the other way is not very comfortable.

Trouble-shooting this move

As I watched the class learn this move, I realized that many people try to follow the steps exactly, even if the weight distribution and balance are not working. It is much more important to be on balance here than to remain perfectly in place. May I suggest:

• Followers: Make sure your turn has strong, balanced hip movement. If you swing your leg to make turns, don't! Your hips are the motor of the turn, allowing you to keep a tight, elegant, on-balance giro around the leader. This will  keep you the same distance away from the leader, helping both of you balance.
• Leaders: If you don't twist easily or you tend to fall over when you twist your torso, consider taking an extra step--or two, or three! When the follower lands on the back step and you lift lightly, move over in front of them (a baby calesita), rotating around the fixed point of the follower's axis, until both people are on balance and facing down the line of dance to exit.

Good luck and have fun!

Buenos Aires basics (Popular tango moves 1)

The advantage to both leading AND following tango, is that I can steal moves from folks I danced with in Buenos Aires, and bring them home to YOU! My intermediate tango class on Wednesdays at the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center (5340 N. Interstate, Portland, OR) will be learning these moves during this six-week session. We'll do a new one each week, so feel free to come drop in and dance!

Ocho cortado

There are many ways to do ocho cortado, but there are some fundamental elements that must exist for the ocho cortado (or ocho milonguero) to happen:

1. Follower is led in a back-front rebound step (R foot back, L forward). This is ONE movement, like a basketball hitting the ground and returning. Does the ball stop for a moment at the ground? No! It flexes and returns (just like the follower's body).
2. Follower is led to step through to the leader's outside track (leader's right) with the right foot.
3. Follower is led in a side-side rebound step (left-right), ending in a front cross/close. This should have some circular motion around the leader to make the move easier for the follower and conserve space.

Notice that the ocho cortado is based on the follower's footwork! As the leader, I could hop up and down, as long as the follower gets these messages: rebound, step through, rebound, close. However, most of us prefer a bit more structure, so here are the leader's steps for the linear ocho cortado:

1. Leader does a forward back rebound (left, right).
2. Leader steps backwards with the left, while leading the follower through to leader's right side.
3. Leader does a tiny rebound side-side, but most of the movement is circular, so that the follower's rebound goes around the leader, not away, out into space.
4. Leader completes move by stepping in place (or near there, depending on the variation) with the right foot, ready to begin another pattern in parallel system (or doesn't switch and is in crossed system).

Most of the arguing about how to do the ocho cortado here in Portland centers around whether the ocho cortado should be circular or linear. THERE IS NO CORRECT VERSION; linear vs circular is a decision made on the dance floor, depending on the space available.

Common mistakes in performing an ocho cortado:

1. Abandoning the follower's first rebound step to "make room for the follower" by tucking your free foot behind yourself. Your follower doesn't need you to get out of the way, s/he needs you to lead clearly.  Easy Fix: If you are going to make a circular ocho cortado, make sure the follower is completing the rebound (i.e., headed back towards you) before you pivot. No fix is needed for the linear version: if you were walking correctly, your foot is already behind your other foot, ready to receive the rebound.
2. Pulling the follower to your side to make sure they know this is a forward step after the rebound. Your follower needs to stay connected to your center, not your shoulder, so this pulls the couple off balance.  Easy Fix: Check your first rebound. You get the momentum to carry the follower forward by completing the rebound. Don't think rock step; don't think check step: think REBOUND. Stay connected with your energy, but allow the follower's body to rotate against yours if she needs more room for her hips.
3. Stepping open to catch the follower and send her back to the other direction to close. This usually makes the follower's "rebound" step into a yee-haw cowgirl, knees locked attempt to finish the step.  Easy fix: Make your own rebound step TINY (if you tend to fall over here, stand on both feet and just rotate!), and focus on making the follower's side-side rebound have a slight circular quality to it, around your center. Use the follower's momentum from the rebound to catch him/her and reverse direction.
4. The enormous, yee-haw! version of the ocho cortado seems to start from a big, enthusiastic first rebound. A lot of guys have complained to me that they feel the followers charge through the middle (creating the "on the shoulder" orientation of the couple), and that they are forced to take a big step to catch the follower, in order to save the move. Yes, sometimes it is definitely the follower's auto-ocho-cortado that creates problems. But if you are leading, you get to choose to fix that!  Easy fix: take a small first rebound step. This should make the follower's forward step through smaller, AND result in a smaller side-side rebound. Whatever the energy of the beginning of the ocho cortado, the rest will mirror that. YOU are in charge, leaders!

Linear ocho cortado

Having said there is no correct version, full disclosure time. I prefer the linear version of this move as a follower. Too many folks have abandoned me in the middle of my first rebound in order to tuck their right foot behind and start turning, without having told me what to do! Yes, I can SEE where they want me to go. Am I being difficult in requesting that the leader LEADS me to dance? I don't think so. When I follow, I want to feel clarity, not see it :-)

As a leader, I don't even think what shape I need. I focus on making the first rebound the right size for my space on the dance floor, and then only move circularly when I have no space behind me. I rarely plan ahead for more moves, but let the end of the ocho cortado dictate what comes next (and yes, fourteen years ago, there was often a pause there because I couldn't figure out what to do next!). The energy of the dance makes the choreography, adjusted for space.

Where to find more information

An excellent source of review of some basic variations on ocho cortado is Oscar Mandagaran and Georgina Vargas' Rhythmic tango DVD. I like their explanation of the basic ocho cortado as well.  I think it's Chapter 11 on changes of direction, traspie timing and the ocho milonguero; and several chapters after that for the variations.

If you are coming to my class April 4th in Eugene, we'll learn three to five new variations to add to your dance. I just realized today that I'm teaching on Easter. Hope some of you show up anyway!

More cool places to go and stuff to do in Buenos Aires!

I keep thinking of information about Buenos Aires and adding it to my blog. Here is another installment.

Shows

As I never seem to have money available for tango shows (and prefer dancing to watching), I had never been to a tango show in Buenos Aires before this year. However, my main teachers, Oscar Mandagaran and Georgina Vargas, are kick-ass stage performers, along with being fabulous dancers in the milongas. I went to the show at Esquina Carlos Gardel to see them. Most of the sweet young things (SYTs) were pretty to watch. Oscar and Georgina were amazing--ever think you saw fire and smoke sizzle off of performers? I think I did!--and Pocho Pizarro did his famous broom dance, which was even better than on YouTube. He had as much stage presence as all the SYTs put together! If you like to watch show tango, or if you have non-dancing friends headed for Buenos Aires, this is a classy place to have dinner and enjoy the show, and other folks told me that they consider this the best show in town.

If you are going to be in Buenos Aires for long enough to contemplate taking nights off to do things other than dancing, check out the great programs at the Centro Cultural Borges, Viamonte, esq. San Martin. There are great shows there (and tango classes, etc.). I didn't get to see the entire flamenco show featured in January and February, but I was lucky enough to see some of the performers from Entre Mi Sangre Y Mi Tierra when they showed up at TangoQueer to promote their show. WOW! Some of the best flamenco dancing I have seen. Centro Cultural Torcuato Tasso, on Defensa, also has shows and classes, again quite reasonable in price.

Food

My favorite place to eat in Buenos Aires is Pedro Telmo, Bolivar 962, in San Telmo. It has good pizza, empanadas, baked pasta, etc. It is inexpensive and filling. However, the reason it is my FAVORITE place is because of La Negra, the proprietor. She's getting up there in years (no idea, but she reminds me of my grandmother), and she is everyone's Mama. I spent three months eating lunch there almost every day (close to my dive hotel, cheap, warm) about ten years ago. La Negra bossed me around, fussed if I didn't eat all of it, and generally made me feel happy and cared for during two cold winters.

Confiteria La Opera, Av. Corrientes 1789 (Corrientes y Callao) was the closest cafe to where we stayed this time. I remembered their yummy coffee from my other visits, and they have free Wi-Fi (email downloads!), so we made this our standard breakfast coffee place. They happily adjusted their omelettes to my traveling companions request (combining the ham and cheese omelet with the omelet with verduras), and got used to seeing us at all strange, random hours of the day and night. On our last night in Bs As, we told the waiter they wouldn't be seeing us until our next visit, and he refused our tip and brought us each a free glass of wine. Very unexpected, as they are nice, correct waiters and stayed out of our hair for the most part.

Chiquilín, Sarmiento 1599, esp. Montevideo, is open from noon to 2 am every day. It is more expensive than the other places we went, but it was nice to play hooky from tango for a night and pig out. I had the bife de lomo, medium rare; a salad; wine; and flan (my usual). I can't remember how much it cost, but it was above budget, and worth it! My travel companion happily checked email, as there is free Wi-Fi.

Gijon, Chile 1402 (Chile y San Jose), is a neighborhood parrilla. It was stuffed full of folks from the neighborhood, watching the football game and eating. The price is right (MUCH lower than the other parrillas we went to) for good food. The wine sucked, but we ordered the house wine, so . . .  The flan was delicious, as was the salad and steak I had. Warning: closed on Sundays!

Chan Chan, Hipólito Yrigoyen 1390, is a neighborhood Peruvian restaurant. The food was cheap and delicious. It's just around the corner from La Nacional, and we went after dancing. Our friends had been there many times, and the entire wait staff kindly served us and waited until we were done (the absolute last to come in and order) with patience and friendly smiles. I had amazing fish stew. If you like Peruvian food, you will love this place!

Quorum, Combate de los Pozos 61, is right behind the Congreso building, and has an all-you-can-eat format, including salads, cold cuts, veggies, a dessert bar (flan oh my god), and a HUGE grill at the back. Phone for reservations: 4951-0855. Prices are reasonable but not cheap (32-43 pesos a person, depending on day of the week and whether it's lunch or dinner, with reduced prices for kids) and the food is very good.

Is it OK to write about restaurants that I wish I had visited? Sarkis, Thames 1101, is a WONDERFUL Arab and Armenian restaurant that I visited years ago with an Argentine friend. We debated going there this time, but ended up at a different place due to time constraints (see next). It is not super cheap, but you will end up eating so much that you hurt, if you like this kind of food. Yummy yummy yummy!!!!

Bodega Campo, Rodríguez Peña 264, was our chosen spot to meet this year because it was between our houses and both of us had appointments afterwards. This was not amazing, but the food was good and the price was, too. It has a western feeling to the decor, a tango show in the evenings (a strange combo), and a good wine cellar. The empanadas were not on the menu, but were produced when we requested them (very good!), along with salad. My friend says that the locro is very good here (a bean stew with unmentionable cow innards in it that tastes wonderful and looks a bit strange to this ex-vegetarian).

Music

I admit it: I love Zival's, on the corner of Corrientes and Callao (subte stop: Callao). It didn't help that I was staying a block away. I'm still impressed with myself for limiting the number of CDs I bought!

What I love about Zival's is the knowledgeable staff. I walked up to ask questions about good milonga CDs, and the counter person called for another guy to come over. I told him what I already had, and he made some suggestions to augment my collection. He could tell me what CDs they had, whether the sound quality was good or not, and was able to find them for me in about a minute. Wow!

I also like their system (installed since my last visit) that allows you to listen to every cut on most of their available music. This really helped in selecting music for my sweetie, who prefers electronic tango music (not my strong point). I listened to ten albums before choosing two. I now hear those two albums daily ;-)

I wandered into several other stores and bought music, but only Zival's had someone who knew tango well (I'm sure other stores do, too, but not the ones I went to!). You can order from Zival's online (see link above).

Books

If you are looking for something to read, and don't read Spanish, toddle over to one of these two bookstores that stocked with English books:

Rincon 9 and Junin 74 (both named after their addresses)

They appear to cater to teachers of English, English and American literature (and also current fiction) and children's books. I found some nice books on Buenos Aires architecture and social history for my sweetie. The store personnel speak at least some English, and are VERY helpful.

Ways to get from the airport to the city

Vicky Ayer's friend, Luis, arranged for our transport to and from the airport. I don't have his phone number, but Vicky can set you up with him. His son took us back to the airport, and was very chatty and nice.  Luis' friend, Graciela Guido, picked us up; she also runs her own airport pickup and rents an apartment in Palermo Soho to visitors. She seemed really nice, although we did not see the apartment. I don't think she speaks any English, but we had a rolicking conversation in Spanish. You can contact her at ipedeargentina @ hotmail.com or 1540639799 (mobile) or 4573-5597 (land line).

Street Art

One of the artists displaying their wares along Humberto Primo in San Telmo, caught the eye of my traveling companion. You could see that the artist had talent (which I can't say for all of the artists selling there). Mirtha Ruix paints and does india ink and paint works. She is also a teacher. I couldn't find any pictures of her work online, but if you go to the street fair, look for her portly husband selling paintings/india ink work that involves pretty cats, women, etc.

Luggage

If you buy too many pairs of shoes, you may find yourself shopping for luggage (in the end, we fitted everything in, but it was close). Pinco Pinco, Av. Corrientes 2250, was your standard Once retail/wholesale kinda place, but the owner was both helpful and funny ("Buy some luggage, feed my children! Stimulate the economy!"). He gave honest opinions about the quality of the available bags (if you want super cheap, this is it; if you want something that will last, this medium price bag is better made than the one you are looking at, etc.).

Cheap pants and Tshirts

Basicos, Rivadavia 2297, had pants, skirts and shirts for very reasonable prices (30 pesos for a Tshirt, with 3.8 pesos to the dollar). They were not very friendly, but if you need some more clothes, there they are. I really like the harem-style pants I bought there. They do NOT have a changing room, but you can exchange sizes (they looked at us, handed us clothes, and the clothes fit--no need to exchange).

The gay milongas and the shifting of tango practice in Buenos Aires

Looking at my list of milongas, I thought I had remembered all the places I had visited. Then, last night, someone at the milonga asked me if I had led in Buenos Aires, and I realized that I had forgotten a venue: Tango Queer. 

For those of you who have read my thesis on gender roles and leading in Buenos Aires, you will understand both my excitement and my frustration at finding the Bs As tango scene changed. I studied the phenomenon of women leading in milongas, and wrote my thesis about dancers' views on gender roles, masculinity, femininity, and why women braved a lot of resentment to lead in traditional milongas.

What I found after studying the milongas in 1999, 2000 and 2001, was that a small percentage of women led in the milongas in order to attract foreign business possibilities; as the Argentine economy tanked, they needed a way out that was offered by tango. Couples had the upper hand, as foreigners assumed that both lead and follow roles could be taught; men had second place, as most people assumed that, if you could lead tango, you could teach how to follow it. Single women had to fight very hard to get invited to teach abroad on the merits of their tango technique because many dancers assumed that a woman would not be able to teach how to lead tango.

Now, in 2010, I saw NO women leading at traditional milongas. True, I did not visit ALL the milongas that exist. However, I attended several of the same milongas that used to have women leaders (1-2% in most milongas). Where did all those (fabulous) women leaders go? As far as I can tell they moved to a less stressful environment: the gay milonga.

A gay milonga in Buenos Aires means a gay-friendly milonga, but it might be more accurate to say a milonga with relaxed gender roles. Women lead women; women lead men; men lead men; and men lead women. Although I used to lead everywhere (and got in trouble with Tete for dancing with his girlfriend, Sylvia, at El Beso), I found that this time, I only led at Tango Queer.

If you are just learning to lead, you might consider attending the gay milongas: everyone is friendly, many dancers who are leading are not leading well, and there is an air of learning/experimentation that feels non-judgmental. One of my female friends from the USA who enjoys leading, attends many gay milongas because she feels that she gets to dance with a higher level of dancer than she does in the regular milongas. She also says the dancers at the gay milongas are more willing to dance with an older woman (and one who can lead well) than at other milongas.

Peru 571 was marked incorrectly in the milonga guide as Peru 71, so make sure you show up at the correct address! It's upstairs in San Telmo, with a pretty rugged floor (not as bad as La Catedral used to be--no actual holes), variable music quality/danceability, and a clientele that varies from raw beginners to BEAUTIFUL couples (one couple really stood out, with the best male follower I've seen out dancing in Bs As ever). This is a seat-yourself venue, so make sure the chairs you possess are not already claimed (I had to get mine back from an enterprising couple after a tanda).

Unless you are actually uncomfortable around same-sex tango dancing, go check out some of the gay milongas. Along with afternoon dances, the late night meat market scene, and neighborhood clubs, these are definitely a distinctive flavor of Buenos Aires tango.

Buenos Aires milongas, tips for 2010

I meant to blog from Buenos Aires, but forgot my blog password (so much for automatically logging in from a different computer).

Although this was my fourth trip to Buenos Aires, it had been a long time since #3. I was eager to spend more time in one of my favorite cities. I was excited about getting to dance seven days a week. I was scheduled for a bunch of private lessons with my favorite teachers, Oscar Mandagaran and Georgina Vargas, and I felt ready to bite off a new chunk of technique.

I accompanied a friend on this trip, so our choice of milongas was a combination of looking for high quality dancing, low numbers of tourists, and an older clientele who would ask women to dance who were older than twenty ;-) 

My choices for milonga attendance were also based on looking for the older dancers who started to dance before dance classes were popular. So many of my teachers have died in the past ten years (this year, Omar Vega and Tete, as well as a few of the milongueros I like to dance with), that I wanted to learn as many steps, tricks, and personal style details as I could by dancing with "the geezers" while they were still around to dance with me.

As the popularity of milongas changes constantly, we relied on advice from our teachers, friends and other dancers to decide where to dance each night. What follows is a synopsis of where we danced and what I liked/disliked about those venues.

Porteno y Bailarin, Riobamba 345, 11 PM to 3 AM

(Tuesday)

Porteno y Bailarin is only a half block away from Avenida Corrientes and 1.5 blocks from the Callao subte (subway) stop, tons of bus lines and millions of taxis, as far as I can tell.  It's centrally located and easy to get to. Cost: 18 or 20 pesos (sorry, I forget!).

Why we went there: I knew that this would not be the crowd we were looking for, but Jose Garafolo (the organizer of P y B) was one of my first teachers, and I wanted to say hello. II enjoyed catching up on the last few years and dancing a VERY fun tanda with him; I wish I had had time to go back and dance there again.

Who was there: This crowd had more foreigners than most of the places we went; perhaps 40-50%. It was a mixed bag of ages, from very young to tottering. There were a few hotshots doing open embrace, many close embrace dancers (square and V embraces), and a few who combined both styles as space permitted. The floor was not very crowded, but it still took navigational skills to dance there because of the small floor size.

How did the evening go: It helped to be greeted with enthusiasm by the host: we started dancing almost immediately. A few men thought I looked familiar and invited me to dance. After I danced a set with Jose later in the night, I didn't sit down much until we left.

Notes: The space was small enough to see almost everyone in order to cabeceo(for those of you who don't invited others to dance with this eye contact and nonverbal invitation: you aren't going to dance very much in Bs As unless you practice!). It was a bit dark, compared to many of the other milongas we attended, so I needed to put my glasses on each time I sat down to make eye contact ;-)

Other places to dance on Tuesdays (recommended by my teachers): Maipu 444, from 7 PM to 1 AM (see review below).

Maipu 444, 7 PM to 1 AM

(Tuesday)

Maipu 444 is close to the Florida subte stop, or the Pellegrini/Diagonal Norte/etc. stop at the Obelisco. It is of course bus and taxi friendly as well. Right downtown, you can go shopping on Calle Florida just a block away if you get there early.

Why we went there: Several friends recommended Maipu 444, and I was curious, as this milonga had not been open the other years I had gone to Bs As.

Who was there: This crowd had some foreigners, but was mostly Argentine, most from age forty on up.

How did the evening go: We had been advised to go early (I suggest reservations here for sure), so we showed up before 8 PM and got decent seats along the front edge. Both of us danced a lot that evening, despite the challenge of a few "pods" of men who would look at us, and then look away for the first few hours. The floor is small enough to be able to cabecear almost anyone in the room (we were at the opposite end from the bar, and there were a few tables at that far end where we could barely see the occupants enough to tell if they were asking us to dance). The lighting is good. The people were nice. The level of dance was variable, and we found that many of the men were at a lower dance level than we were! I'm not used to Argentine men apologizing for their lack of dance level--this was new to me.

Notes: Go early, or you won't get a table.  Also, there is a very yummy pizzeria nearby, on Corrientes as you head towards the obelisk (Palacio de Pizza?) with delicious baked things and flan to die for.

La Nacional, Alsina 1465, 8 PM to 2 AM

(Wednesday)

La Nacional recently reopened, and it was great to see how much nicer they have made this space, especially given the lovely (but slippery, so beware!) floor. This milonga is in the Congreso area, walkable from San Telmo or the Corrientes corridor; near the Congreso subte line and, of course, buses and taxis.

Why we went there: Oscar and Georgina recommended this milonga as a place with good dance level, good floorcraft, and good manners. Also, the seating is men on one side, women on the other, with mixed tables for couples and groups on the ends. This makes it easier to see potential partners, and makes for more possibilities for dancing.

Who was there: This crowd had foreigners mixed in, but I danced almost exclusively with Argentine men. One or two dancers opened up into bigger moves when there was room, but almost everyone stuck to close embrace dancing (both square and V embraces).

How did the evening go: This was one of the most enjoyable places I danced. Even the first night, I didn't sit out very much. We were placed in the third row back of chairs, but both of us are experienced at cabeceo, and managed to get invitations even when being blocked by the ladies in front. Some of the men who invited me to dance that night frequented many of the other places we danced, so I began to build my dance card.

Notes: The floor is quite long, and it is harder to catch the eye of men on the ends of the space if you are in the middle. HOWEVER, being in the middle of the long sides of the room is much better than being stuck in a corner. The floor is slippery, so bring your shoes with suede bottoms! Even with shoes wetted with water, you will slide here if you are not careful. Make reservations with Atilio Veron, the organizer, if you want a nice seat: 15-5963-1924.

Other Wednesday night milongas that came well-recommended: La Milonga, Humberto Primo 1462 (where Nino Bien is on Thursday nights), 6 PM to 2 AM; Sueno Porteno, San Juan 3330, from 7 PM to 3 AM.

Lujos, Riobamba 416 (El Beso)

(Thursday)

Even though the name of the milonga on Thursdays is Lujos, almost everyone just called the space El Beso.  It is a few doorways away from Avenida Corrientes and 1.5 blocks from the Callao subte (subway) stop, tons of bus lines taxis.  It's centrally located and easy to get to.

Why we went there: My teachers said that the level of dance on Thursdays was very high. Years ago, I frequented El Beso with Tete's vals class (we ate dinner after class and went to El Beso each week). In addition, my friend had heard of El Beso, and it was on her list of places she wanted to dance.

Who was there: Tons of Italians, and a lot of portenos, with a sprinkling of a few other foreigners. Mostly the forty to seventy year old crowd showed up, although with face lifts, I figured out ages from the wrinkles on women's backs!

How did the evening go: I felt like a piece of wallpaper. We got stuck in the back row, against the back wall. Because of the shape of El Beso, there is NO space for the tango sharks to circle, looking for partners, except near the entrance and the bar (the other side of the room). Men who happily danced with me at other venues looked right through me at El Beso: not a regular? Forget it. I got some mercy dances from nice guys I already knew, but apart from that, I had to wait until the second or third song of a tanda to get invited to dance. When I described the evening to friends, they said, "Si, El Beso, es un lugar MUY exclusivo" and explained that it was important to be seen there dancing well, so folks didn't take as many risks inviting unknown partners to dance.

Notes: El Beso was the darkest place we danced, and it was difficult to make eye contact across the floor, even though the floor is not large. Take a group with you, or be pushy and try to get a front row seat. I didn't notice that the level of dance was higher than elsewhere, but El Beso has that reputation.

Other recommended places to go on Thursdays: Nino Bien, Humberto Primo 1462 (see review below), from 10:30 PM to 4 AM; and La Cachila, La Rioja 1180 (Club Gricel), from 8 PM to 3 AM (see review below).

La Cachila, La Rioja 1180 (Club Gricel), 8 PM to 3 AM

(Thursday)

Go to Gricel on the bus or by taxi. It's a bit further out than some of the more central milongas, but it should not run you more than 12-20 pesos, unless you are way out in Palermo or Recoleta.

Why we went there: We promised to meet friends, and so went back to Gricel, despite mediocre experiences there the week before (on another night).

Who was there: This was mostly an older crowd (I'd say 50+), with some foreigners, but mostly Argentines out in force.

How did the evening go: This was one of my few experiences in Bs As of becoming one with my chair. We were placed in the back row of a front table, despite the protestations of the Argentine woman in the front row, who had hoped to keep the seats for friends, despite not having made reservations. We had a chilly reception at best. We could see five or six men from where we were seated, most of whom were foreigners also relegated to the corner. After dancing with them, we pretty much sat until giving up. Our friends didn't show by 9:30, so we left for Nino Bien (see below), which happily made up for this early evening experience as a piece of sculpture.

Notes: Gricel is not my favorite venue. It is a bit dark sometimes, and it's hard to see down the sides of the floor due to the pillars between tables. It's easy to see across the room, but not with dancing couples, so you have about one minute to score a dance at the beginning of the tanda, and then you will probably sit until the next tanda.

Nino Bien, Humberto Primo 1462, 10:30 PM to 4 AM

(Thursday)

Nino Bien is a long-running, famous milonga. It has been my choice for Thursday evenings for all of my trips to Bs As; so it was wonderful to walk in on a Thursday evening, greet Luis (the organizer, who looks exactly like he did when I first went there in 1999), and settle in for an evening of dancing.

Why we went there: We tried Gricel earlier in the evening, and had been seated in a horrible place, with almost no men in sight. I looked at my friend and said, "Let's go to Nino Bien" and off we went. We wanted to DANCE! and I knew we would at NB.

Who was there: Everyone was there, old, young, foreigners, regulars, even a camera crew who were filming for something (it was not explained, nor was it obvious).

How did the evening go: Great! We both recognized a lot of people from other milongas, and danced with them. However, we also got invited to dance by men we'd never seen before. By the time we left (right before a milonga set), I'd been asked to save the next milonga set for a specific guy--by four different men! If my feet hadn't been done (too much shopping and milonga #2 for the night), I would have stayed to figure out who to dance with.

Notes: Order dinner at Nino Bien! I had the best calabaza torta (squash quiche-like thingie) that I have EVER tasted. There weren't many choices, but we noticed that many early comers had ordered dinner, and so were encouraged to give the menu a try. Lovely! The difference between dancing at this venue in the "afternoon" and "evening" mainly seemed to be the steering skills of the dancers. Almost no one crashed in the afternoon milonga, but in the evening, I had several people run into me, and had one partner run into another couple. The level of correct manners is higher in the earlier dancers, too.

Entre Tango y Tango, Humberto Primo 1462, 6 PM to 2 AM

(Friday)

Entre Tango y Tango is at the same place that Nino Bien is held Thursday nights. It is walkable from San Telmo or Congreso, but be aware that I saw streetwalkers in pretty much every direction from the building after the sun went down; you may prefer to take a taxi! It's easy to get to by bus or taxi, and the subte is not far away.

Why we went there: I had heard from many of the men I danced with, that this was the best place to go on Fridays. As my friend had stomach flu (I succumbed a day later), I went by myself. I wanted to dance where my teachers said the best level of dance and floor craft were.

Who was there: I was one of the youngest people at this milonga, but there was a fair mix of 30- to 70- (or 80-) somethings. Many were from Bs As, although I saw the Italians from the night before, a few Japanese, and two Oregon guys there.

How did the evening go: I had been told to go early to get a good seat, so I arrived around 6:30 or 7 PM. I was given a front row seat at a table halfway down the room--choice territory. I danced almost every single tanda the entire evening. I was joined by three French ladies at some point, and gamely tried to keep my Spanish and French segregated into separate languages, one for dancing, and one for my table. I left around 11:30 only because I had promised to meet a friend at another dance; otherwise, I would have stayed until it closed. This was one of my most enjoyable evenings of the trip.

Notes: I love Nino Bien's dance space. I know it by heart from months of dancing there, so it feels like home to me. The floorcraft is great, if you avoid the middle row, who play chicken with the oncoming traffic. The floor is one of the best in Buenos Aires, the room is elegant, and the clientele polite but not snooty. I owe a debt of gratitude to the kind waitress who gave me change for the taxi (I tipped her well at the other milongas where I saw her after that).

Paracultural Salon Canning, Scalabrini Ortiz 1331, 11 PM to 5 AM

(Friday)

Salon Canning is only a few blocks off of Avenida Cordoba. It's almost a 20 peso taxi ride from San Telmo/Congreso, but there are many buses that can take you across the city for much cheaper (1.10 pesos at this moment).

Why we went there: I was meeting a friend I had not seen for ten years. Since I had elected not to get a local cell phone, our communication had been spotty, but I figured I'd look for him and dance for a bit if he didn't show up.

Who was there: This crowd was quite different from the one at my usual milongas (a friend had labeled my choices "the geezer milongas"). Many of the crowd were 20- or 30- something, mixed in with the regular up to 80-somethings. There were a LOT of foreigners. There were people trying to dance open embrace in a space designed for close embrace, and there were quite a few traffic issues on the dance floor at any given time.

How did the evening go: The air conditioning was broken that night (someone told me it had burned up?), and it was HOT and HUMID. It was so humid that pivoting one's shoe on the dance floor was difficult--and this is one of my favorite dance floors in Bs As! I came back from my first tanda to find my friend seated at the next table, by coincidence, so I was able to catch up with him and continue to dance with other men. This was the only place I danced where most of the people who invited me to dance were foreigners.

Notes: The evening milongas are a different beast than the "afternoon" milongas that usually end around midnight.  I've done the evening thing for a few visits to Bs As, and decided not to follow that route this time, in order to focus more attention on my private lessons. It felt good to be back in my old routine for an evening, but I found that I prefer dance with the "geezers" more than with beginner- to intermediate-level Europeans.

Other places to dance Fridays that are recommended by friends/teachers: Lo de Celia Tango Club, Humberto Primo 1783, 10 PM on; Sin Rumbo, Jose Tamborini 6157, 10 PM to 4 AM (out in Villa Urquiza, "nice for a group or a couple"); and La Baldosa, Ramon L. Falcon 2750.

La Nacional, Alsina 1465, 8 PM to ? (brand new milonga)

(Saturday)

As I mentioned above, La Nacional is easy to get to on foot, by bus or taxi, and relatively near the subte.

Why we went there: I was out of commission with the 24-hour version of a stomach flu our first Saturday night, but my friend attended La Nacional with some other friends of ours. Despite having a less than stellar night the first time (she estimated that it was 3- or 4- to 1 ratio of women to men), we chose to go back the next weekend, in order to meet friends and go out to eat afterwards.

Who was there: The Saturday I attended, many of the dancers were Argentine, sprinkled with a few French and Italians, as well as a few Americans (mostly us and our friends). The age range probably started at 30- or 40-, but most dancers were probably in the 50-70 range, with an enthusiatic 80-something pointed out to our table.

How did the evening go: I was not in the mood to put myself out and invite dances that night, so I sat in the back row of our table with three Argentine women, and gossiped until they huffily left for other milongas ("Why should we pay 18 pesos to get in, and then not get to dance?!" exclaimed one of them as she left). The male-female ratio was much closer to 50-50 than the week before, and many dancers were now familiar, so my friend danced a lot, and I danced when I felt like dancing.

Notes: Again, beware of the slippery floor! This is a good place to use small steps, even if it is big enough to have space to really MOVE. At no time was the dance floor so crowded that it made dancing difficult, but one foreigner told me he felt intimidated by the lack of space, so take or leave my opinion. They have good empanadas and tostados if you get hungry.

Other places to dance Saturdays: Saturday is traditionally date night, so you often see folks you thought were single, showing up with wives and husbands, or dates. When I was spending longer periods of time in Bs As before, I usually chose to go salsa dancing on Saturday nights, or to go out for dinner with non-tango friends. However, if you are on a short timeline, or just can't stop for an evening, have no fear, dance is still available: Cachirulo, Maipu 444, from 6 PM to 3 AM (according to books, but at 7:30 PM, there was still no music playing when we stopped by to check it out before going to La Nacional); Milonga de las Morochas, Riobamba 416, from 10:30 PM on (I used to go to this in years past); or Lo de Celia Tango Club, Humberto Primo 1783, from 11 PM to 4 AM.

Torcuato Tasso, Defensa 1575, 10 PM to 3 AM

(Sunday)

Torcuato Tasso was my old stomping grounds, being the nearest milonga to where I used to stay in San Telmo, back in the old days. This milonga is no longer free on Sundays, as of a few months ago :-(  but our teachers said they were going there, so we joined them.

Who was there: This was the most mixed group we encountered, all the way from non-dancers who were goggling at the dance floor from their tables, to teenagers in jeans, to full suits and spiffy shoes on older dancers, to tables of foreigners. The level of the dancers also varied from pitiful to amazing.

How did the evening go: This was a very uneven evening. I danced with a young Canadian who was a very new dancer; some Argentines who had danced for many years, but were definitely intermediate; and my teacher, who is one of the best dancers I've ever encountered (maybe the best). I had never encountered an Argentine who yells one's name across tables to dance because of being situated BEHIND me--I ended up ignoring him because it annoyed me, but accepted a very fun chacarera set with him later.

Notes: Torcuato Tasso's floor has not improved over the years: it is still rock or polished cement, or some other surface that gets nasty when wet and makes your feet hurt (funny, I never cared about that ten years ago!). I still like the space because it has so many memories for me. I once danced right next to Shakira on this dance floor, and one of my two witnessed fights on tango dance floors happened here, too. If you are looking for a good dance experience, this is not a sure bet.

Other places to dance on Sundays: A Puro Tango, Scalabrini Ortiz 1331, from 6 PM to 1 AM (see review below); La Milonga de Susana, Ramon L. Falcon 2750, from 6 PM on; El Beso, Riobamba 416, from 10 PM on; and Porteno y Bailarin, Riobamba 345, later on.

A Puro Tango, Scalabrini Ortiz 1331, 6 PM to 1 AM

(Sunday)

Again, Salon Canning is easy to get to by taxi or bus, but it's a walk from the subway.

Why we went there: My friend had not come with me to Salon Canning the Friday before, and she wanted to see the famous milonga. It was our last night in Bs As, and I thought we would be able to get some good dancing in.

Who was there: This crowd seemed to be almost completely Argentine, apart from the gorgeous Brazilian girl and her boyfriend who came in to watch and got dragged onto the floor to try tango (for the first time, I would guess). The age of my dance partners averaged around 60+ and most of the folks there were dressed nicely and started to clear out around midnight to go home.

How did the evening go: This was one of my best dancing nights in Bs As. I had one of the best Pugliese tandas of my entire Bs As career that night, with a quiet, older man who seemed either embarrassed or taken aback when I told him that. The level of dance was better than many of the places we had gone, but the level of "pickup" was higher: in several cases, I considered ending the tanda early because of the deep interest my partner was displaying in me (and not my dance, I don't think). I also had a great chacarera set (three! not two! three chacareras!), which is always a highlight for me, the former crazed international folk dancer.

Notes: This was one of my favorite places to go to "afternoon" dances when I frequented Bs As in the early 2000s, and it still is. Even sitting in the last row before the shark circling area, we barely sat down the entire evening. If you can dance well, you will get to dance here. Over and over and over.

Lunes de Tango, La Rioja 1180 (Club Gricel)

(Monday)

Lunes de Tango is at Club Gricel, which is a bit further out than the other milongas we attended (up to Plaza Miserere and hang a left). It is reachable by bus or taxi, but I wouldn't walk it if I were you.

Why we went there: Mondays are a day with fewer milongas, but we still had two possibilities that were suggested. We agreed to meet our teachers there, but ended up sitting at a women's table, while they sat together at a couple's table.

Who was there: This crowd was mostly Argentine, with a few Americans, Italians, French and one Spanish guy who kept appearing wherever we danced (nice dancer, actually!). The age range was pretty much on the older side, with most folks looking 50-70ish.

How did the evening go: This was not our best evening, but we had pleasant women at our table (Argentines), a table of guys on each side who ended up dancing a lot with us, and a position at one of the entry/exit points for the floor, so the men who wanted to dance with us knew where we were.

Notes: Gricel is long and skinny, with pillars around the edge of the dance floor. This makes it much harder to make eye contact with about half the tables, so, unless you are strategically placed, you have to make so with those you can see. There is space to circulate between the floor edge tables and the ones along the wall, so some men do the shark circling thang, but I still had no idea who was at the other end of the room.

Other places to dance on Mondays: Parakultural Canning, Scalabrini Ortiz 1331, from 11 PM to 4 AM.