Guest blog: Miguelon on street art and Buenos Aires

We had two Michaels on our tour to Buenos Aires in December 2019. Both use their full name, so we needed a way to tell them apart. We ended up with a Miguelito (little Michael) and a Miguelon (big Michael). Miguelon took to the streets with his camera, and here is guest blog.

Miguelon’s Buenos Aires

Our first day was a pleasant surprise, even after the seemingly endless flight. We were warmly greeted by our driver, Luis, who serenaded us during our ride with tango songs crooned in an astonishing voice. Everyone should experience the taxi tango!

Our new home was just across the street from a wonderful coffee roaster and brewery, akin to PDX.  My initial impression of our neighborhood, Palermo, was that it was a quaint, friendly, painted village.  I later realized that the architecture as well as the street art, are expressions of the Argentine soul, not held to our small corner of the city.

I realized that I had a ‘problem’ with Buenos Aires on our second day. I crossed the street in the morning for coffee, then stepped outside to take a photo. Another immediately caught my eye and my imagination, and then and again and again, after that. This went on for about three hours, before I decided that I should eat. By then, I was miles from home and each direction looked the same. The Argentine soul captured my eyes and attention so much so, that I was thoroughly disoriented.  (Thanks be to the techs, for GPS.)

I discovered a free-flowing expression of the heart and soul of the community and culture of Buenos Aires, entwined and painted everywhere. The passion of Argentina flows throughout the veins of the city and seems to find expression in every aspect of their lives. I believe that this is the same passion and need for expression, which gave birth to the music, the movement, the expression, and the beauty of Tango.

Thank you, Argentina; Let’s dance.

The importance of good teachers: Jose Garofalo is coming back!

I am very excited to announce that Jose Garofalo will be back in Portland soon! I worked with him while I was in Buenos Aires in December, and we have cooked up some fun for all of you! Registration will be open soon, but in the meantime, here is the schedule so you can block out time to come to group classes and private lessons. There will be a progressive discount on private lessons, based on the number of group lessons you attend, too!

More info very soon!

Musicality questions

When I teach tango, I ask people to let go of the idea of stepping on the beat. Moving with the music is SO much more than being on the beat. Connecting with the music asks you to step outside the box and look at the whole thing that is tango, including the music; but not just the beat.

Flavors of the dance

Each song has it’s own flavor. It is unique—or else why would we have another song? Like ice cream, vanilla is great, but it can only go so far! “What flavor does this song have?” I ask students. Some answer with musical terms (staccato, legato), some answer in less musical ways (stretchy, sharp, smooth), and some have their own, culinary approach: “Lemon curd!” exclaimed my 11-year-old student! “Because you have to stir it slowly, and then it has a sharp taste!”

I think it is more important to explore that “flavor” than to dance on the beat. How YOU express the tango through your interpretation, it always going to be more interesting than thump-thump-thump for three minutes.

Musical choices

“But Elizabeth,” you say, “Do you remember x who can’t dance on the beat and how annoying that is????” Yes, of course I remember. It’s not that I am saying dancing to the beat is not important; it is just much less important than a lot of other elements of dancing. First, you insist your partner dance around for years, stepping on the beat, and then you complain to me that his dance is boring! Let’s look at ways to make our dances more fun!

What can I do with tango music?

• Tiempo (dancing on the beat)

• Dobletiempo (double time, like “Quick Quick Slow”)

• Half time (step, pause, step pause; like the graduation walk)

• Pausas (pauses, let’s say 1-8 seconds)

• Slow motion (as slow as you can go/as slow as the music goes)

All of these elements are in all tango songs if you listen for them. Try paying attention to the melody instead of the beat. How does it make you feel? There is no wrong way to interpret the music! YOU are feeling the music and moving to it, so that is YOUR interpretation!

Some songs have more of less of one aspect of what can happen; some songs scream what to do “SLOW! NOW FAST!” and others whisper ideas to you. None of them are just about pounding around on the beat.

Help the song stay alive!

Just stepping on the beat makes the song flatline and die. Any time you explore the other musical options, even for a step or two, returning to dancing “tiempo” (on the beat) suddenly feels exciting! Experiment! Be brave! Play!

I would rather dance with someone trying out the feeling of the dance and failing, than dancing the whole tanda on each beat. One of the best feelings in the world is to dance with someone and find something new in a song I think I know well. They heard something I didn’t, and offered it to me! That is exciting. Even after almost 25 years of tango, there are songs I don’t know well. Even after almost 25 years of tango, I don’t know everything about a song from someone else’s point of view. Sometimes I think, “Wow…that’s int-er-est-ing….” but usually we can work out the musicality between us.

Let the follower have a say in musicality

The follower can make or break a dance. As a follower, I try to stay with the leader, tuned into their intentions and suggestions re: musicality. However, I also adjust the dance to make it as rich as I can. One of my former teachers said it was “inspiring the leader” to do a move. I CAN drop my chi and make the leader do what I want most of the time, but I only use it to give a slight spin to what the leader suggested, unless their suggestion was dangerous. I am playing along, suggesting ideas, following up on the leader’s suggestions—it’s a musical conversation with give and take on both sides.

Most people name adornos as the place where the follower gets their say. To me, the adorno is another place where a conversation is going on. I like having moments where the leader basically says, “What do YOU think?” and gives me room to play; but that can happen on every move of the dance :-)

What do YOU do?

Comment and let me know how YOU let your leader or follower interact with you and the music! I am sure there are tons of great ideas out there.

Guest blog: Don Santiago on cabeceo and biking

I invited each member of my tour to put up a blog entry on anything they liked. Here is another one: Buenos Aires from the eyes of an engineer :-)

Tango: A lot harder than it looks

Virtuoso pianists perform difficult pieces and make some these pieces seem nearly effortless to
play. It takes many years of practice to play with such ease. And so it is with tango. When I
watch dancers in the milongas of Buenos Aires, moving with ease and grace, I know that many
of them have spent years perfecting their dance. With this level of perfection, they make
dancing look so deceptively easy.

There is, however, one aspect of tango in Buenos Aires that seems to defy improvement
through practice, at least for some North Americans. This is the “cabeceo”, the signaling used
by a man to ask a woman to dance. It is -- I think -- some synchronized combination of eye
movement and head nodding. The porteños have it down but we from the north, particularly
engineers, can’t quite figure it out.

A few months ago, I went backpacking with a friend of mine, Mortimer, whom I have known for many years. Mortimer is a crack robotics engineer in Silicon Valley, and he just could not grasp the concept of cabeceo. He was utterly perplexed. They do that!? However, we both concluded that cabeceo facilitates natural selection and efficiency in the milongas, thus improving the dance. It is all for the good.

Biking: a lot easier in Buenos Aires than it looks

The bike lanes in Buenos Aires are awesome! They are well marked and sometimes have
concrete barriers that keep the autos from spilling over into the lane. I was able to ride around
town with ease, and it didn’t take the years of practice required by tango. There is a lot of
biking occurring in Buenos Aires as well as a lot of running and walking. It is all inspiring and I
wish this level of activity could be imported to the United States.

Dancing at Los Consagrados milonga

Well-engineered bike lane in Buenos Aires

Running and Riding in Buenos Aires. Extremely low carbon footprint.

Guest blog: Tanya's take on Buenos Aires

So much more than tango…

The initial draw to Buenos Aires for me was of course…Argentine Tango.  Although we are "Tango-toddlers" as Elizabeth sometimes would say, my husband, Michael, and I thought the exposure to Tango where it all started would be an incredibly interesting experience.

Of the ten days in Buenos Aires, Michael and I were physically able to only attend 4 or 5 milongas (exhaustion from other activities overtook us)!  All the milongas were different and provided wonderful observations, experiences and introspection.  Not all were positive, but even then, they provided great learning moments for me.  These milongas were so much more than fancy moves and complex sequences. They gave me an opportunity to understand and appreciate the true meaning of what a great tango can possibly look/feel like.  Even the simplest of dancers were an awe to watch because of their connections to their partners and the music.  It's all about the connection!

However, Buenos Aires is so much more than just tango.  I found the people so incredibly genuine, helpful, nice, friendly and unpretentious.  Everywhere we went, be it the Padres Café, the ice cream shop, La Boca, San Telmo Street Fair, Recoleta cemetery, the milongas – everyone was ready and willing to help us even with our next-to-none Spanish skills!  (Google Translate was our close companion with a few memorable and comical moments.)  Michael and I spent many of our non-scheduled tours/dance time wandering Palermo and the Buenos Aires surrounding area enjoying the sights, sounds, and scenes.  As much as my senses could bear, I breathed in all that was Buenos Aires.

Elizabeth was so great providing much needed information, knowledge, guidance, friendship and support.  The group Elizabeth put together was incredibly laid-back, self-sufficient, and cohesive.  There was such a great balance between doing things with the group and doing things by ourselves.  We started the trip as 'acquaintances' with the people in the group, but we left as friends.  These friends added so much more to our entire experience in Buenos Aires.

Michael and I did so much in our ten days there, and yet we felt like there was still so much we didn't get to do.  We left vowing to ourselves that we WILL be back.  Next time we will arm ourselves with some passable Spanish to make our trip that much better! 

San Telmo street fair

Caminito in La Boca

Dancing at El Beso

Recoleta Cemetary

Milonga review: Nuevo Gricel and Peleando Variaciones competition (La Rioja 1180)

This was not a regular night at Gricel, so I am not sure how much Gricel has changed from before. In the past, I danced at Gricel several times each visit to Buenos Aires, but I never stay in that neighborhood and it’s not my favorite milonga. The lighting and the long, narrow room, can make cabeceo tricky. Also, people sit in long tables, so many couples sit together, or groups of friends. If you are a new dancer, it could be a light night of dancing.

My happy moment: when someone who looked vaguely familiar asked me to dance. We did one dance and he said, “Wow! You have onda!” and I told him I was sure we had danced before. He told me his name—Juan—and I suddenly knew: La Nacional in 2010, 2011, 2012! He was a perfume salesman, and he had a huge fan that he flirted and used to cabeceo. I told him about a discussion we had on the dance floor about how life is a road with huge boulders on it, and he said, “You remember that??” and we danced two more tandas. It was a joy to reconnect after all these years. The sad moment: he told me he is almost 80, and I hope he’s still there when I go back to dance again.

The night we attended, there was a live band, Romantica Milonguera, and a competition. Oliver Kolker organized the Peleando Variacion competition, which features very short choreographies for the last burst of music/energy at the end of a tango. You don’t dance the entire tango: just those few seconds of a dance. It’s like watching fireworks. There were two or three couples who were really connected, giving a great dance as well as the more typical gymnastic, high-speed (tango?) routine. In particular, there was a male-male couple who were really THERE. I tried to find names and who won on Oliver’s page, but it’s not there yet.

The band was great, but we left after the first set because it was VERY late, and we were all very tired. Check out their music on Spotify: it’s very dance-worthy!

Buenos Aires eats 8: Lobo Cafe (Honduras 4730)

This cafe was a standby last visit, as it was outside the hotel where I stayed. This time, I ate breakfast there the last day that Michael, Tanya and Jim were in town. It was very yummy, although a bit pricy for the amount of food. Also, I told them I was celiac (which is easier than trying to describe being gluten-sensitive) and they brought me my meal with bread balanced on top of the entire plate. Sigh.

We had breakfasts, orange juice and coffee. The entire bill for four was under $40.

Buenos Aires eats 7: La Continental (Av. de Mayo 1389)

This is another old haunt of mine, back when I stayed in Congreso and could eat gluten. This is NOT the place for a gluten-free individual to eat. I got glutened despite eating food without wheat and taking my enzymes. However, it’s cheap and if you are a gluten-eating human, you will love this place.

FAINA! This is my place for faina, the chickpea (garbanzo bean) flatbread that most traditional pizzerias serve here. I had faina and a huge salad and a glass of wine. My buddies shared a pizza, slices of faina, more slices of pizza, a few glasses of beer, and finished my salad. All that for under $30, so about $6/person!

I went here with my friends Kent, Sara and Peter after an evening at Los Consagrados. It has become a tradition to do this when I am in Buenos Aires, and it was great to stroll over from the milonga, about 1.5 km, and have a bite with friends.

La Continental is a chain now, so you don’t have to be in Congreso to eat there. It’s soooo much easier now that Google Maps works better in Buenos Aires :-)

The big fiesta: BBQ on the roof!

I hosted a party for my tour group at Las Malevas Thanks, Jose Garofalo, for making this happen! We had the absolute best food of the entire trip, and attended the class and practica at Las Malevas afterwards.

Jesus Pietropaulo is an absolute god of food! He even found gluten-free provoleta so that I could have some; and everything on the menu was gluten-free. There were options for the vegans, lots of meat for the meat lovers, and by the time dessert arrived we were almost too full to eat the lovely fruit salad! Thank you!

Hungry anyone?

Milonga review: El Obelisco (Entre Rios 1056)

Senor Kent on the dance floor!

I had never been to El Obelisco before, but it’s a favorite place to dance for some of my friends, so I tried it out. I really like it (I went three times in two weeks). I would recommend it to anyone who likes more traditional style milongas.

Try out the zamba class! I am a big fan of Argentine folk dancing, and I was happy to find a very good teacher, Juan Enriquez, running the class. It was fun to practice a dance I’ve been doing for twenty years. I got to dance with the teacher in the zamba set during the milonga, and it was my best tanda of the entire trip! I promised Peter Esser that I will teach a zamba class in Portland, so stay tuned!

El Obelisco is very friendly, relaxed and laid back. I was happy to see a lot of my friends from Los Consagrados, plus some folks I had never met before. One of my favorite new dancers was here. He is very shy, so I won’t name him, but the most musical, tuned-in-to-his-partner new favorite to add to my dance card—is here.

My students did not have a hard time dancing here, apart from adjusting to working their cabeceo :-) The distance between sides of the room made it easier to cabeceo than in the bigger venues like Los Consagrados.

Another plus: it’s less than two blocks from the subway, so it’s very easy and cheap to get there!

Buenos Aires shopping 2: All the shoes!

I personally spent very little time shopping for shoes this visit: I replaced my worn out pairs with exactly the same colors and styles. I would have bought more, but there weren’t any more in my model and my size! I have worn Neotango for over a decade, and I will keep wearing the same model that fits me well until they discontinue it!

Shoes for the ladies

That didn’t stop the other tour members, as they were on their first Buenos Aires shoe shopping extravaganza. We hit Comme Il Faut (Arenales 1239) and Neotango (Sarmiento 1938) on the same day. Tanya and Heidi teamed up and went to a bunch more shoes stores, so I will let them add in if they wish.

Good news: Neotango recently made it possible to order directly from their website to be shipped to the USA. Ariel, my favorite salesperson there, told me it currently costs about $50 to mail a pair up here; but that is still cheaper than a lot of shoes at festivals, if you know your size and model.

It’s hard to find the 2 x 4 Al Pie store: this is the totality of their outside signage!!

Shoes for the guys

Except for the shopping day, the only extra shoe shopping I did was to go with Santiago to get his first pair of tango shoes. Santiago bought his first pair of tango shoes, and the other guys bought new shoes at Neotango and at 2 x 4 Al Pie (Aráoz 1973). I took Santiago (ok, I dragged him to the store) on his own, and he fell in love with some pretty cool shoes!

I had not been to 2 x 4 before, and I liked their sales team: friendly, helpful, but not pushy. They determined his shoe size and what model he wanted, and they brought out ALL the pairs in his size so he could make a good decision.

Tucked into a residential street, 2 x 4 can be easy to miss. Check out the photo above so you know what you are looking for!

First shoes!

Shoes, shoes, shoes!

Stop 1: Comme Il Faut

Stop #2: Neotango!

Buenos Aires shopping 1: Laura Va Tango Clothing

The most beautiful clothing, the most beautiful person! You just want to buy all the clothes, and hug her!

Laura Va has her own boutique that you can visit by appointment. Tanya, Nilande, Heidi and I descended one morning for a few hours, and bought A LOT of clothing at extremely reasonable prices, especially for handmade clothes. Since I sew my own clothes, I recognize attention to detail. Laura’s clothing is well-designed and well-made. You will want to buy ALL the things!

Laura is truly one of the nicest people I have ever met. She was helpful, but not pushy, and she was patient with two hours of four crazy people running around, trying on clothing and asking her questions all at the same time!

If you want to shop her collection, just contact her via Facebook, or her at tangolaurava@gmail.com, and she will help you set up a good time. She is near Palermo and DNI.

I won’t put prices because with the current Argentine inflation, prices are changing quickly, but I thought her outfits were underpriced for their beauty and quality. Go forth and shop!

Still smiling after hours of trying on clothes!

I think Tanya won!

Milonga review: Los Consagrados (Humberto Primo 1462)

I have danced with the guys who go to Los Consagrados /Saturday evenings for up to 20 years (the venues have changed over the years), and I go there because I know so many of them. It’s not the highest level of dancing, and one of my teachers criticized it as conservative and boring, but I love it anyway.

Everyone in the tour group danced the night we went. For many, it was their first traditional milonga, where the men sit apart from the women. I think that makes it much easier to cabeceo, and I prefer it. Our couples chose to sit at couple tables, but they still managed to dance because my Argentine friends looked after them!

One of my favorite things about Los Consagrados is that I can dance a set of chacareras and paso doble (see below with my friend, Eugenio); a set of tropical (cumbias and merengues); rock ‘n roll (swing), as well as milonga, vals and tango. The little breaks make coming back to dance tango a real pleasure, hour after hour. I went both Saturdays that I was in Buenos Aires, as the Gran Milonga Nacional in the streets was postponed due to the threat of rain.

Dancing the chacarera set with Eugenio

Not very crowded, but still fun!

On our way out to dinner after the milonga!

Heidi dancing with my friend Luis

Buenos Aires eats 6: El Español (Rincón 196)

Ah, Nostalgia! I have to say that El Espanol holds a sentimental spot in my heart—and my stomach.

I used to frequent El Espanol in my days as a poverty-stricken grad student, writing my thesis on tango. Twenty years on, it’s still the neighborhood family restaurant I remember, with BIG portions, LOW prices, and all around great service. If you are in Congreso (or nearby), GO THERE! If you are far away, GO THERE!

My second trip to El Espanol during this visit, I ordered an awesome flan mixto that was almost bigger than my head! If I had been thinking, I would have taken a picture, but I was too busy eating.

Update: Oh joy! Tanya took a picture of the flan!

Cultural moment: My friend Luis and I ordered a pitcher of house wine, a bucket of ice and seltzer water. The Americans were appalled to watch us doctor the wine, but after trying it, they jumped in and did like the Argentines :-)

Flan mixto as big as my head

Part of the grill at El Espanol, AFTER rush time

Buenos Aires eats 5: Sintaxis (Nicaragua 4849)

This restaurant is my home base in Palermo. I try to eat with my tour group as much as possible, but as a gluten-sensitive human, I end up getting “glutened” every two to three days. I then retreat to fully gluten-free places like Sintaxis to recuperate. I actually can’t remember how many times I ate here. I did not photograph my food at all which is a pity.

Last visit, in 2016, Sintaxis was more expensive than surrounding restaurant but with the current economic crisis, I found that prices had equalized for the most part. Palermo is expensive compared to Congreso or Almagro, but gluten-free was no longer much more expensive. All of my meals there were under $10/person, but I also did not eat big entrees there. The most expensive meal listed on the menu would have cost me about $15 for a full dinner.

This visit, I ate breakfast, lunch, dinner and had coffee breaks at Sintaxis. My companions were all gluten-tolerant, and still enjoyed the food. The main comment was that they would not have known the food was gluten-free if I had not told them. I got to indulge in empanadas, bread, toasted sandwiches, pastries, salads and desserts; as well as coffee and the ever-present mint lemonade.

Look for the blue building!

Valencia Batiuk and I have a coffee together at Sintaxis

Milonga review: El Beso in the afternoon (Riobamba 416)

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!

Buenos Aires eats 4: Big Food (Malabia 1893)

This restaurant was literally next door to my AirBnB, so we decided to try it. There were only two gluten-free dishes on the menu, and almost nothing vegan. However, the portions were good-sized and the mint lemonade was really, really good!

We sampled the burger and fries (with some strange jam-like sauce); the roquefort and ham salad; the grilled eggplant and tomato salad; the meatless/vegan burger; and the lemonade.

As the tour progressed, I talked to different people about the economy. Eating out in Palermo had been more expensive last tour, but the weakness of the peso has made it very affordable if you have dollars: I think I only had two meals over $8-15 the entire time.

(For those of you who pay attention, there is no Bs As eats 3 because I decided the restaurant was not good enough to bother!)

Ham and Roquefort salad

Vegan veggie burger and fries

Buenos Aires eats 2: Sarkis (Thames 1101)

You must eat here!!

I went to Sarkis for the first time with my friend Silvana, almost twenty years ago. Now there is a queue. We arrived just as they opened, and were fifteenth on the list! However, it was worth the wait.

The food is amazing, and I only remembered to take pictures when I was full because it smelled so good I couldn’t wait. Sorry!

The prices are not low, but there is a TON of food. Order less than you think we will want, or you won’t be able to finish. With a vegetarian and a gluten-sensitive person, we checked out the menu and found good alternatives for all of us. Yummy tastes of homemade hummus, Persian chicken, almonds and rice (and the veggie version without), potato-based version of kibbe (described by the vegetarian as fancy mashed potatoes), a salad and excellent house wine made for a meal with enough leftovers for two for lunch the next day. AMAZING. Eat there.

Buenos Aires eats 1: Calden de Soho (Honduras 4701)

Calden de Soho is just too good to miss! This year, with the strong dollar, this restaurant was much more affordable than three years ago. Four of us for dinner, wine and dessert was under $70—and that’s including steak!

The first night I arrived, I chose the river trout and pan-fried veggies. They were yummy. My friend had a steak and grilled vegetables. The house wine is the best I’ve had anywhere in Buenos Aires. No room for dessert :-(

The second time, I made sure to have room for dessert. The four of us had salmon, steak, salad, noquis, wine, beer, and I think we tried all the desserts (tiramisu, queso y dulce, flan, fruit—it was all good!

The third time, I had already eaten dinner when tour group members invited me to join them. This was my second “flan mixto y una copa vino tinto” dinner. There is a reason I gained three pounds on the trip, despite bike tours, walking miles every day and dancing!

If it is not clear, you MUST go to this restaurant!

Steak, grilled veggies, trout and wine—fabulous!

Flan mixto: small but mighty!

Tiramisu

Bike and kayak tour to Tigre: a high point of my trip

When I saw this new tour from Biking Buenos Aires, I knew I wanted to book it. I LOVE Tigre, and I’ve been there a few times to visit friends of friends in the river delta. However, I had never been to San Isidro and had not kayaked for many, many years.

We woke to a gorgeous, sunny summer day. Olaf our guide got us on bikes, and we navigated out of the busy streets into the parks on the way to the station. The entire trip went at a slow pace, so this is a do-able trip for most people—maybe 30 km of biking, and the kayak part felt like a good workout, but wasn’t actually very far. Just right!

We had lunch at Recreo El Alcazar, which I also recommend. We had a big salad, cold beers, and a huge plate of meat with fries.

This was my most relaxed day while in Buenos Aires. I came back to the city with a sunburn, but feeling really great and ready to jump back into the tango whirl.

Tanya, Santiago, Miguelon, Elizabeth and Olaf, ready to roll!

Ready to go!

On the way back to Tigre

Catedral in San Isidro

Lunch!

Quinta las Ombues in San Isidro

Santiago gets the gourd!

The well in the courtyard at Quinta Los Ombues