Milonga del Corazon Valentine's Day

Another Saturday in the City of Buenos Aires, but this one with a twist: Carnaval and St. Valentine's Day. TV Publica Milonga is turning out to be not only a surprisingly good venue for dancing, but a good way to experience and watch unusual tango performances as well as enjoying live tango orchestras. The long gone but never forgotten recorded orchestras of Canaro, d'Arienzo, Pugliese, di Sarli (the list goes on) are still the favourite dance music for milongueros. However, dancing to a live orchestra, like the Sexteto Mayor, gives an added dimension of surprise and emotion in the tempi and interpretation of the music, which in turn allows the 'lead' to improvise on his (and her) dance. One truly dances 'the music' with every nuance, pause, emphasis and melody.

This week's line up - still gratis. This time not a live TV show, which made things a little less programmed to the very second.

No Bailaras - a rather unorthodox ensemble of tango dancers, but nevertheless impressive and admirable.

Memories of the Forties as danced by No Bailaras.

Valentine's Day...the stage turned into a vision of red, red and more red.

The evening started with a line up of spectators and milongueros (recognizable as they are all carrying shoe bags) outside the Studio, which advertised the milonga to begin at 18:30. However, a sign at the main door actually had it starting at 19:00. A little extra time to befriend one's line up 'vecinos y vecinas'. I chatted with an Argentinian couple from La Plata, Juan y Rosario, Beside me a Porteno befriended a tall young woman from Denver Colorado. So, the secret of this gratis milonga and show, happening at a civilized hour early in the evening,  has leaked beyond the local crowd.
A 7 p.m. 'la Cola' moved slowly into Studio 1, where the dancers were again directed to tables, and the spectators to the small viewing gallery.
The music started almost immediately, to get the dancing crowd into the 'swing of things' albeit initially to taped music - and without snaking cables and overhead cameras cluttering up the stage. The floor shines like an illuminated mirror, however, proves to be rather sticky, which makes pivoting on tip toe a matter of hard work if it is to appear in any way elegant.

My last 'public performance' here was not blessed with a particularly great dance partner. This time around, I had to pull out all the stops as everyone of my dance partners was above and beyond the usual...Tangos, which when the last note sounds, have been danced so beautifully, that the final 'thank you' means more than a 'thank you for the dance' but a 'thank you for a lovely experience'.

Here are a couple of very short clips of No Bailaras Dance ensemble...Madonna seems to have been the inspiration for the first clip.

A little jealous interplay between couples all dressed in red was another 'unusual' tango version.

Two hours later, the stage lights dim and the regular lights reveal that one is really in a kind of metal hanger. But lighting, stage back up turn the studio at least for a little while into an almost intimate romantic little milonga pista. Within minutes the studio empties via 'the back door' as the main door has been locked. A few of us get temporarily lost in the huge halls of the studio, which are filled with stage props and tend to lead to dead ends. Finally out into a fresh Buenos Aires evening and a ride on the 'collective' back home.