Crossroads

Saturday nights are family nights. For most part of the week, couples are allowed to go out dancing alone. But come saturdays, couples go out dancing together. As such there are many milongas out there catered just for couples, where you only notice that couples dance amongst themselves and with no one else; places such as Club Sunderland and Salon Canning.

Of course there are milongas for singles. But it is paradoxical that the best singles milonga; the place with the highest level of tango dancing; better than any of the milongas during any other day of the week, would be during this day.

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Best Place to Go Maipu 444, or commonly called Cachirulo, after the organizer, is home to the best milonga of the day, if not the week. It is about the size of a badminton court and the wooden dance floor is extremely comfortable for dancing.

The seating arrangement is very well organized, with ladies and men seated directly in front, facing one another. But it really does not matter where you sit because the level of dancing is so high in Cachirulo, if you are a good dancer, you will be in demand. If not, you might not get asked to dance even if you are sitting in front.

Dancers Extremely high level. There is a highest percentage here where the dancers are tango teachers, compared to any other milongas. You see the well known milongueros who are also teachers, like Cacho, Rosana, Miriam Pincen, Tete, Chiche and Marisa Quiroga etc... the list goes a long way.

Besides the old milongueros there are also very good young dancers. Matias and Andrea are amongst them, they are in their 20s and dance a beautiful close embrace tango. Other very good young milonguero dancers for example Osky, and that 17 year old girl I danced with at Lo de Celia frequent that place too. If you are a good dancer looking for a quality night of dancing, then this place is for you. If not, just looking at the best of the best, dance up close and learning from them works too.

Floorcraft Cachirulo can get very crowded, the milonga starts at 5pm and ends about 3am in the morning. Around 10pm till 1am, the floor can be packed. But as the dancers are excellent, you do not get bumped at all. The floor energy can be quite high and not calm like Lo de Celia because there are a lot of dancers who are able to do complicated figures, though they dance close embrace, they can be quite expressive to the music.

Music The deejay plays a nice selection of songs. He also has a special tanda of 7 songs with a romantic selection. Then Cachirulo will dim the lights a romantic ambiente; definitely a tanda for lovers. Sometimes he plays Chacarera (Argentine folklore), rock and swing.

What I like least The level of competition can be very high, due to the high level of dancing. There are times when you feel judged and evaluated by the eyes looking around you. One also feels as if some of the dancers are dancing and doing complicated figures because everyone is watching.

Memories How Meng and Sulyn were in Buenos Aires and the dejay put on a merengue tanda. How Meng and Sulyn proceeded to boogie down. Then one of the old milonguero couple came to them and exclaimed with much excitement that they would never dream that a chinese couple can do merengue so well!

It was also at this milonga that I first met Silvina.

Other Nice Places Club Sunderland, at Lugones 3161, just to soak up the family atmosphere and experience one of the most famous neighbourhood milonga. Bien Pulenta, at Peron 2543, a posh place with frequent spectacular performances; a hip place to go on saturday.

Years ago, before tango became trendy, most milongas were places where tango was a social dance; not showing off. The people came to enjoy the music and dance; not to pick up dates. Now popular places are overcrowded; good dancers act like minor celebrities.

At the beginning, it was really fun to hangout at these hip places, mixing amongst these who's who of tango. But these days, I find myself drawn more and more to the calmer neighbourhood milongas, where a more elderly crowd hangout.

One of the long enduring milonga that has withstood the tide of popularization is Lo de Celia.

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Best Place to Go: Lo de Celia, located at Humberto Primo 1783, is just a few blocks away from Nino Bien. A neighbourhood hangout place that gives you a feeling that you have walked into the weekly dance gathering of the elderly folks that are living from the surrounding ten blocks.

The energy is amazingly calm at the same time respectful. There are no eager beavers walking around trying to cabeceo just about everyone. People sitting with contented air; looking like they might just dance, given the right song with the right partner.

The dancefloor, made of marble, while not the best, is quite danceable. The lighting is not too bright, nor too dim, it is just nice with a very healthy and community feel.

Dancers: Very good level of dancing. I went there with Norhayah and Melissa on my last friday night in Buenos Aires. We were the only non-locals that night. The girls were invited by the men every single tanda, and they enjoyed all of them. Some of the ladies I danced with, while they might not look technically perfect from the outside, were simply amazing to dance with, feeling so smooth and musical.

I had my best dance in Buenos Aires with a particular young milonguera. She is 17 and started dancing since she was 12, she told me her only teachers were her dad and the milonga dancefloor. She danced with so much feelings and communications, I felt the power of body conversation during a dance when I am dancing with her. We might be looking at the next Geraldine Rojas here!

No famous milongueros or teachers, except for the milonga organizer Celia herself, who is a warm lady, full of zest, and she looks like she is ready to kick the butt of any badly behanving dancer.

The other one I can recognize is the milonguero they call 'El Chino'... no not me.

Floorcraft: Whether is it the vigilance of Celia or the fact that they only dancers here are pure old milongueros, the dancefloor always feel well ordered and spacious. Down here not only you would not get bumped, you also feel that you have sufficient space to express the music with more complicated figures.

Music: Best music in all the milongas by the famous and well loved DJ Dany! He plays Mi Romance by Tanturi, my favourite vals!

He also plays an occassional Rock, Swing or Cumbia. It is a hoot to see the argentines boogie away! There is one particular old couple which I enjoy watching always; The lady, swinging pasionately, strutting her stuff, while her husband just calmly vibrates on the spot!

What I Like Least: Dancing in front of the old milongueros and have them looking at me, made me quite nervous. I was afraid to make a wrong step and get labelled by them as a bad dancer.

Memories: My very first milonga in Buenos Aires in August 2006. My very first dance with a lady called Maria; she cabeceo-ed me! And later on she asked me to look up more and not be so shy. Ahh... how time flies.

Other Nice Places: Afternoons at Viejo Correo, Av. Diaz Velez 4820 or Nino Bien. At night, the hip and trendy Salon Canning.