The last time I visited Confitería Ideal was back in 2019, when it was a building site. The good news was that the bags of cement had been replaced by tables and chairs. The bad news is that the new owner has no interest in sullying his shiny new building with milongueros.
They allowed us in, but strictly on condition that we consumed calories rather than burned them …
2019:
2023 (click to enlarge):
Alessandra had initially threatened to order the largest size of full afternoon tea, described as being for three people. Given Argentine portions, that likely would have meant reserving our table for several weeks. Fortunately she was diverted by other goodies. As it was, I managed only 2.5 of the toasted ham and cheese toasties which the waiter described as modestly sized (Ale ate half, and I took the other one home). Top tip: Do not, under any circumstances, order tea.
Ale was determined to walk off the calories, while I was determined to stay alive.
She strolled while I took the Subte. At the station, I helped a very confused Brit, and in the process became one myself by forgetting that I was now on the wrong platform. Since my stop was the end of the line, I had my head buried in my phone before it dawned that too many stops had passed. By this time, I was somewhere in Brazil. Suffice it to say that Ale got home before me.
Sans Souci at La Nacional
We’d now established that Ale and I have different tastes in milongas. She likes young and hip; I like old and traditional. (Oy, I heard that!) She was muttering vaguely about heading to one of the former before joining me at the latter, but as she was on/in bed when I left, I wasn’t holding my breath!
Fortunately I didn’t have to play the Bus Game this time, as it was the same bus stop as yesterday. I did still get a little entertainment as a bus arrived without a visible number. When I told the bus driver the name of the road, he nodded and charged my Subte card the expected 9.3p, but it turned out that while the bus was going to that road, it was further along. I just followed the route on Google Maps and hopped off when it got to the nearest point, which was only a few blocks away.
The getting-there entertainment wasn’t quite over. I’d been to La Nacional a few times before, so walked confidently there rather than relying on Google Maps. It’s a nice feeling to know parts of a city well enough to do that. I walked in, and they’d moved the ticket desk to the lobby. I paid my entrance, and went to turn right up the stairs – which weren’t there. I returned to the ticket desk, got my money back, and walked into the correct building next door.
This is one of my favourite milongas, and with the D’Arienzo tribute band Los Heredores del Compas playing live, it was not to be missed! It ran from 9pm to 5am, and I reckoned the live set would probably start at around midnight to 00:30, so had booked a table for 11pm to be safe. They’d reserved my usual front-and-centre table for me.
2019:
2023:
I’ve mentioned before the one downside of this position.
Cabeceo was rather tricky given that we were at the front by the stage, which was nominally the couples/group area, while the women were along the left-hand side as you look in the above video. Cabeceoing anyone required walking up the very tight space behind the chairs, and then hoping women were looking around as well as at the dance floor. It felt awkward, but did work.
It was the same this time, though I also found that hanging out to one side of the two pista entrance corners allowed me to cabeceo diagonally in two directions, and this also worked well.
My rhythmical breakthrough seems permanent
The recorded music before the band was great! It was a really good mix or lyrical and rhythmical, and I was enjoying dancing to both. My rhythmical revelation at Porteño y Bailarín has continued since, and does now seem to be a permanent change, rather than one of those frustratingly random things in tango which come and go. I again had this experience:
I got into a real flow state with some of the rhythmical tandas, and I found myself just forgetting about my feet altogether. I chose a direction and a speed, and didn’t even think about how my follower was going to step. It just worked. I mean, I literally couldn’t tell you what steps I took, or what steps my followers took, but it worked.
I’ve definitely clarified that this is something which only happens with a skilled and musical follower, but when it does, it’s a completely sublime experience, almost akin to following.
With everyone, though, I could lead fast steps without worrying about what they were, and without feeling worried about lack of rhythmical vocabulary. Again, this extended to dancing milonga tandas!
It’s also clear that followers can feel the improvement in my rhythmical dance. I’ve noted before that local followers are generous with their flattery, and I don’t take it terribly seriously, but I have to say that there was a notable difference before in the level of effusiveness between staccato and legato tandas, and now that distinction has gone.
The importance of blocking
Followers here have also really helped me with the precision of my lead. Where most London followers will follow what they think you are leading, with some degree of interpretation and anticipation, most followers here will follow exactly what I lead. This has given me a whole new appreciation of the fact that blocking the movement you don’t want is every bit as important as leading the one you do.
In an ocho cortado, for example, if I want a snappy out-and-back, then I have to use my embrace to contain the follower’s side-step. If I don’t, she may over-rotate and turn two beat’s worth of movement into three. When this happened twice with one particular follower, I then deliberately played with leading with and without a block, and was really happy to see that, yep, the difference is the block, and I can choose whether I want her to take two beats or three.
A proud moment in my Spanish!
Returning to my table after one tanda, a woman was sitting in my seat, and her partner was clearly about to sit in the one I was saving for Alessandra.
At this stage in my Spanish, there are usually three categories:
- Things I know how to say, and can rehearse them in my head and come out with a reasonably coherent sentence
- Things I don’t know how to say, but can ask Google Translate, and then again rehearse before speaking
- Unexpected situations, with no time to mentally rehearse or Google
In the latter case, usually the best I can manage is two or three words which I hope convey the general meaning. I was assuming that this would be the case here, and started to say ‘Perdón señorita, tengo una reservación’ while preparing to gesture to the two seats, but then found myself continuing as I found I actually knew all the words needed to form a complete sentence!
Perdón señorita, tengo una reservación para esta mesa para dos personas (I have a reservation for this table for two people)
Anyone who is adept with languages will be shrugging and wondering what the big deal is, but for me, this was a first: 100% Spanish, in an entire sentence, on the fly, without benefit of mime.
Los Heredores del Compas
I was pretty close in my prediction: the band started playing at 00:45. They were, of course, every bit as great as previous occasions.
The tradition here is you show respect for the band by not dancing the first song, but just listening. Here it extended to the second song, the first with the singer. Normally I’m itching to dance from the first note of a live band, but it was a delight to just listen for a couple of songs.
After that, it was time to dance. As always with live bands, I had an absolutely amazing time! There was a joyous atmosphere, and everyone wanted to dance.
D’Arienzo is of course very different from Pugliese, but I enjoyed myself just as much as I did dancing to Color Tango at La Cachila at Gricel.
There was one less enjoyable moment. I heard a crash, and a couple a little way down the dance floor were laying on the floor. I didn’t see the actual collision, but it must have been a big one. The woman stayed down for about 30 seconds before people helped her up, and fortunately I learned the next day that she was fine (she was a friend of Lilili).
There was much shouting afterwards, and I wondered for a moment whether it might be necessary to bring back the reputed “No knives on the dance floor” rule at milongas of old. It was a minute or so before things calmed down.
That drama done, the dancing continued. I was dancing at the time with a French-speaking follower from the West Indies I’d danced with twice before at other milongas. She was a really skilled dancer, and great fun, but even I hesitated when the band launched into a very fast milonga. I’m not sufficiently familiar with D’Arienzo to identify the song, but imagine Bandera Baja played at a few thousand beats per minute, and you have the general idea.
However, it was clear she was waiting to dance it, so I took a deep breath. I wouldn’t imagine it was one of my best dances, but I kept up with the beat, and nobody ended up laying on the floor, so we’ll call it good!
Interestingly, my two favourite tandas of the night couldn’t have been more different. The first was with a woman from Chicago, who was a very active follower. It was a deliciously collaborative dance; we were handing the lead back-and-forth effortlessly; and she was making me look and feel like a leading god. She clearly had a great time too, but sadly was leaving on Tuesday. She visits London sometimes, and said she’d look out for me, so hopefully we’ll dance again.
The second was with a British woman I’ve danced with before, and it was a total contrast. Sustained close-embrace, dancing small, pure following, but soooo smooth and perfect. I wouldn’t even know how to choose between the two experiences. It was ironic to have such a wonderful milonguero-style dance with a fellow Brit!
The live set was over all too soon. Once they finished, about two-thirds of the dancers packed up their things and went home. I danced a few more tandas, which were still lovely, but I always find myself longing for the live music to return.
I left around 2.30am, and from the emptiness of the room by then, I’d be surprised if it ran through to the advertised 5am finish. Alessandra was tucked up in bed when I got home, but had been to a milonga between sleeps! It was a super-high level one (I watched her videos), and she had a mixed experience, but had a wonderful tanda with a teacher who offered her a private. While I’ve encountered this as a sales tactic, he originally wanted to offer it free, and when Ale refused this he said $10/hour. Will be interesting to watch!
I had the final Ideal cheese-and-ham toastie for supper.
ben lovejoy 