I could only make the final hour or so of the Spitalfields milonga, and had four tandas, two of which were hilarious for different reasons.

Regular readers will know that when it’s clear I’m dancing with an experienced follower, I will do my best to create space for her dance via the parada-and-pause approach: lead a parada, pause, relax the embrace and see what happens. Prior to tonight, I would have said there were three levels of response to this – plus a level zero …

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There is something special about dancing outdoors. My introduction to the art had been in a Hyde Park bandstand in April, followed by Spitalfields in May. Another visit to the latter yesterday maintained my newly-established ‘one outdoor milonga per month’ tradition.

It was a very warm day, with temperatures in the 24-26C range, but at least there was a bit of a breeze with it …

Continue reading Mad dogs and Englishmen … →

Warren Edwardes runs regular free milongas in the bandstand in Hyde Park. These are semi-official: held with permission, but without actually hiring the bandstand, so they rely on other park users cooperating. Normally, they also wouldn’t have the lighting, but the Royal Parks people kindly switched them on.

The space is small, and tonight was popular, so things were absolutely packed. Steph said it was almost like a Buenos Aires milonga. All of which left each couple dancing in about three square feet, leaving room for precisely one step forward and one side-step …

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