Last Tango In Buenos Aires

We've been to some great milongas over the last two weeks. Some of our favourites include Nino Bien, a milonga only 3 blocks from our flat (pictured here). It's a grand, traditional hall that gets very busy. The space available for each couple is very small, so you have to take very small steps. It's also quite dangerous and I walked away from the dancefloor bleeding. I've now come to learn this is an occupational hazard with the popular milongas!

Another favourite is Bien Pulenta. A hall that is used for one of the tango spectulars. It's a little gem in the middle of Once - an area quite rough around the edges. Both these milongas offered up live orchestras to dance to. Truly beautiful.

El Beso (The Kiss) is a very small milonga, with a tiny dancefloor. A large pillar obstructs the flow of the dancing a little, but isn't too imposing. The photo's of dancers here are taken in El Beso. This was the favourite club of Belen, our landlady - she goes about 2-3 times a week until the early hours of the morning. It's difficult to get a good seat here. The regulars reserve the best tables round the edge of the dancefloor and because the venue isn't big, foreigners tend to get tucked away in a corner or at the back, making it difficult to get eye contact for dances.



My favourite milonga was a social club in Flores, a residential area a little out of the centre. Here, families come together to eat, chat, catch up and dance, so it's got a much more relaxed atmosphere. We went with Aurora, our dance teacher. She has a regular table reserved for her. We were blessed that night with a lovely show from a couple of German tango teachers living in Buenos Aires. They were lovely dancers.

Los Reyes Del Tango

One night we decided to take our visitors to experience a real milonga. We were very lucky to come across an advert for Los Reyes del Tango - a tradition tango band with four bandeleons and about 6 other members. They're renown for their energy and it's often quite difficult to see them.

They were on at the Confiteria Ideal, a famous dance hall in the centre of Buenos Aires. It's in a beautiful building that gives you a sense of the what a tango hall would have been like in its hayday. Now though, the hall needs some attention to the floors and ceilings. Regardless, it's still full every night with dancers, while tourists sit at the edge watching the dancers take to the floor.

Our First Taste of a Milonga

In the evening of New Year´s Day we met with our soon-to-be landlord and Bridget and Leo, our tango teachers from London, in a lovely, traditional ´salon de tango´ in Once. Once is an area of Buenos Aires close to the centre. It´s a bit rough around the edges, but there are lots of milongas (tango nights) held around here. (Photo here by Carlos Alkim).

The tango salon was a traditional old tango hall with a four large marble columns supporting the ceiling which also marked out the edge of the dancefloor. Tables and chairs were laid out around the edge of the dancefloor and a waitress provided a slow, Argie style table service. The club was frequented by porteños (the term used for people who live in BsAs) and not for foreigners. As we arrived at the door, the organiser checked us out and offered us a table in the worst spot - at the back, against the wall and close to the door, so we would have been distracted and annoyed by the comings and goings of the club. As it happened, our porteños had reserved a table, on which we were included, so we informed the organiser and he allowed us to wander freely to find them. Throughout the night, he asked us three times if we found our friends, with a slight feeling of mistrust I think!

Our porteños had a great spot, right on the edge of the dancefloor and close to the bar. After greeting our friends we put on our shoes and took the dancefloor, whilst it was still not too busy. The music was all the old tango classics that we´re familiar with. After four songs, there is an intercession of 50´s rock and roll to denote the end of the session and to change partners.

By 1am, we´d had enough (New Year´s Eve catching up with us) so we headed back to our hostel and went to bed.