To start things off...here is my video showing some of Wednesday's Sueno Porteno milonga...
Another memorable tango week in Buenos Aires...
Milonga Sueno Porteno at Club Gricel, hosted by Julia (Pugliese) Doynel, was truly a 'Porteno Dream' with live music, dancing at an 'alto nivel' (high level) and enjoying the one obligatory glass of champagne...
Milonga 'El Abrazo' hosted by Diego and Zoraida, at Confiteria Ideal, the best known tango venue of Buenos Aires, was unusually full for a Friday afternoon milonga...someone said: finally it feels like the best of Confiteria Ideal again. Not a free seat to be found, good dancers...great DJ
Even the waiter puts in a little break between serving milongueros at Ideal, here dancing with one of the patrons. Not many know, that when not doing his 'day job' he is a well known tango teacher as well as a maestro of folkloric dancing...
Rumors abound about Confiteria Ideal...changes are said to be occurring by the end of March, hence everybody trying to get in the last few milongas before they happen.
The question is: will it close temporarily for 'renovations' and milongas will resume afterward; will it close permanently as owners are said to be at odds with each other; will it close temporarily and re-open as 'restaurant only' without tango....who knows.
However, everyone hopes, that the place will be fixed up and the daily milongas will start up again.
Being not only a tourist draw (every tourist knows Confiteria Ideal) but a popular dance venue for locals, it would be a sad loss for tangueras and tangueros, some of whom have danced here (and survived so far) since 60 years and more....
Something new (but also quite old) on the tango scene. The milonga 'Patio de Tango' in Manzana de las Luces (the City Block of Enlightenment) has inaugurated a new tango event. The building itself dates back to Colonial times, and was originally a Jesuit Monastery and centre of learning before Buenos Aires was actually founded.
Under an open sky, with a polished tiled floor that is full of cracks, one dances in flat shoes - anything else is inviting trouble.
Still empty, with a few benches around the edges, el Patio de Tango awaits milongueros.
From one minute to the next, the patio filled up with dancers, and within half an hour one could hardly move - never mind dance. Albeit, being tango dancers, they start dancing and fill the floor at the first notes of the first tanda of a milonga. There is no waiting for things to warm up...they hit the deck dancing...
Being mostly a younger crowd, I expected to be a wall flower. But no, from the very first tanda I was right in the midst of it. I danced with a shy kid with glasses, his face and shoulders almost covered by a cascade of jet black curly hair...a six foot Rastafarian youngster dancing in sandals....an ethnic kid who said he couldn't dance but guided me through a 'killer' milonga...a couple of dancers whom I knew from other milongas...and people kept arriving and arriving.
Well, it was gratis - except for the refreshments - which I think must have run out after a short while, considering the crowd lining up for them. No problem, outside the venerable old building on Calle Peru, was a long line of tables and chairs spilling over the sidewalk of the street. The local pub equivalent had spread out along the frontages and dancers took their rest out there under a clear (albeit star-less) sky and the fiesta was a success...
With such an overwhelming response on its night of inauguration...there may be more to come....
Another memorable tango week in Buenos Aires...
Milonga Sueno Porteno at Club Gricel, hosted by Julia (Pugliese) Doynel, was truly a 'Porteno Dream' with live music, dancing at an 'alto nivel' (high level) and enjoying the one obligatory glass of champagne...
Milonga 'El Abrazo' hosted by Diego and Zoraida, at Confiteria Ideal, the best known tango venue of Buenos Aires, was unusually full for a Friday afternoon milonga...someone said: finally it feels like the best of Confiteria Ideal again. Not a free seat to be found, good dancers...great DJ
The question is: will it close temporarily for 'renovations' and milongas will resume afterward; will it close permanently as owners are said to be at odds with each other; will it close temporarily and re-open as 'restaurant only' without tango....who knows.
However, everyone hopes, that the place will be fixed up and the daily milongas will start up again.
Being not only a tourist draw (every tourist knows Confiteria Ideal) but a popular dance venue for locals, it would be a sad loss for tangueras and tangueros, some of whom have danced here (and survived so far) since 60 years and more....
Something new (but also quite old) on the tango scene. The milonga 'Patio de Tango' in Manzana de las Luces (the City Block of Enlightenment) has inaugurated a new tango event. The building itself dates back to Colonial times, and was originally a Jesuit Monastery and centre of learning before Buenos Aires was actually founded.
Under an open sky, with a polished tiled floor that is full of cracks, one dances in flat shoes - anything else is inviting trouble.
Well, it was gratis - except for the refreshments - which I think must have run out after a short while, considering the crowd lining up for them. No problem, outside the venerable old building on Calle Peru, was a long line of tables and chairs spilling over the sidewalk of the street. The local pub equivalent had spread out along the frontages and dancers took their rest out there under a clear (albeit star-less) sky and the fiesta was a success...
