Category Archives: Milonga

Milonga, Progress update, Tango

A nostalgic return to Tango Space at the Shield: Where it all began

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Technically where my tango began was in my living-room, since my introduction to the dance was with Mariano in privates at home – followed by some group classes at Tango Garden. It was also at Tango Garden where I technically first danced in a milonga, after all of five lessons!

But it was at Tango Space where I found my first tango home, made a great many tango friends, discovered several amazing teachers, and where I first danced in a milonga with fellow beginners …

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Milonga, Tango

Tango Secrets: A long-awaited visit to a tiny village in Buckinghamshire

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A milonga held in a community hall in a tiny village in Buckinghamshire might seem an unlikely entry on anyone’s tango bucket list, but it had been on mine for rather a long time.

Tango Secrets is run by Irina Zoueva, a teacher and DJ who followed my blog from an early stage, as she found it helped her teaching to get the perspective of someone new to tango. She was also kind enough to message me the solution to a problem I was having very early on: tango maths …

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Festival, Following, Milonga, Private lesson, Tango

My heart remains in BsAs, but the spirit of the city is alive in the UK

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I’ve been back in the UK for almost two months now, but the pull of BsAs hasn’t diminished in the slightest. While most of my body got on the plane to Heathrow, I seem to have forgotten to pack my heart. If only my bank account shared my sentiment, I’d get straight back on a plane again tomorrow.

Fortunately, there are places in the UK where the spirit of the city is alive, and I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy three of them since my return: the Argentine ambassador’s milonga, the Sheffield Tango Festival, and a return visit to Tango by the Sea …

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Festival, Following, Milonga, Tango

Many familiar faces and embraces at the delicious Sheffield Tango Festival

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The Sheffield Tango Festival was a first for me, but it certainly didn’t feel that way: there were a great many familiar faces and embraces from London, Cambridge, The Feast, Tango by the Sea, and – in at least one case – Buenos Aires.

Of course, the ‘familiar faces’ part is for varying values of same, and in some cases it was the embrace rather than the face I recognised …

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Milonga, Tango, Thoughts

There’s a lot of chance in London tango – but not enough leaders taking a chance

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It’s always a bit of a culture shock, returning to London tango after BsAs; all the more so when timings meant I couldn’t make my usual favourite milongas.

The two milongas I did get to really brought home to me how much of a role is played by sheer chance when it comes to our tango experiences – and how that’s particularly true in London …

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Buenos Aires, Milonga, Socialising, Tango

My farewell milonga, El Abrazo – and a surprise lift to the airport!

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Once again, I feel like I’ve been here forever, and I feel like I arrived ten minutes ago.

After a final early morning’s work, it was off to El Abrazo for the last milonga of the trip. This was once again at El Beso, my fourth visit this week. It was a wonderful way to end my stay …

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Buenos Aires, Milonga, Tango

The El Beso afternoon milonga fun continues, at Tango Camargo

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Following another heavenly Tango Champagne Club on Tuesday, and a delightful Perfume de Mujer on Wednesday, it was back to El Beso for the third-but-not-final-time this week for Tango Camargo.

Today I got a wonderful surprise in the form of an unexpected live orchestra …

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Buenos Aires, Milonga, Tango

If you can’t beat the rhythmical music, join it: Perfume de Mujer at El Beso

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Having a strict curfew to ensure I can be awake at 6.30am, my milonga options are now very limited. Almost all of the evening ones are non-starters, as they begin at about the time I need to be heading to bed.

The music at last week’s Perfume de Mujer was pretty much exclusively rhythmical, but my afternoon milonga options were that or– Well, that …

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Buenos Aires, Milonga, Tango

I’m really going to miss the Champagne Tango Club

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The shock to my system of having to get up at 6.30am yesterday for a week of working in the mornings saw my afternoon nap end at 7pm – so no dancing yesterday. However, that gave me a decent amount of total sleep, enabling me to skip a nap today and head back to the Champagne Tango Club this afternoon.

As an aside, there’s overlap here with some thoughts I had about time. Some might consider doing nothing more than working and sleeping yesterday to be a poor use of a day in Buenos Aires, but when the result is a day in which I feel refreshed and truly able to appreciate dancing, then I consider it time well spent …

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Buenos Aires, Milonga, Private lesson, Tango

Feeling like a tango god or tango toddler; rarely anything between the two

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This city can make me feel like a tango god. When I get the right milonga, the right atmosphere, the right music, the right follower, the right floorcraft … when everything flows effortlessly, my partner and I reading each other perfectly, and I feel like I own the floor.

It can also make me feel like a tango toddler. When I’m at a milonga where the music is relentlessly fast, where everyone is spinning in high-speed circles, and I wonder what the hell I would do even if someone was looking in my direction …

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