All Night Milonga ?

Yes you read that correctly. There are places in the world where a Milonga does (theoretically) go ‘All Night’. The idea is very romantic, that you’re dancing until the sun comes up. ’Theoretically’ ? Because ‘all night’ has different meanings in different places. If, however, we’re talking about Buenos Aires, there are 3 Milongas that do in fact go all night long 1.) La Viruta (on the weekends), 2.) Salon Canning on Monday nights (usually until about 5 am ish), and 3.) El Yeite (Pron: Shay-tay).  There are others that go ‘late’ to 4 am, but not necessarily until the sun comes up.

However, we’re not talking about Buenos Aires, which is where you would expect this sort of thing to happen. There are other places where the ‘All Night Milonga’ concept happens. Usually in the larger metropolitan areas where going all night long is no big deal. However in smaller towns and cities….all night usually means until 2 am. Wooohooo. Yippeeeee. Ahem.

Where are these mythical beasts ? There’s one in San Francisco (Berkeley really, at The Beat), New York (Sarah La Rocca’s event), and a few other places. Sometimes these things actually do go all night, and some times not. Usually these are monthly events and not weekly, so don’t get your hopes up of it happening constantly. There are some places like Berlin (and Germany in general), Denmark, and the Netherlands that have noise ordinances that prevent a milonga from going all night (with the windows open). Why is that important ? Because you’ll be insanely hot in those places because they keep the windows closed (even in the summer time)! 🙁 Bring a change of clothes, and shoes…you’ll need it. As romantic as an ‘All Night’ Milonga sounds, these things generally produce a lot of sweat. Oh and Followers after about 2 or 3 hours in heels, you’re going to want to change into your practice shoes. Just sayin’…romantic is one thing, reality on the hand, is another. 

What classifies as an ‘All Night’ Milonga ? A milonga that closes at 5 am at minimum! That is the only really defining measure of ‘all night’, other than that it’s a milonga that goes and goes and goes and goes with all the same things. Generally these types of events tend to have a snacks table, with cakes, pies (apple pie in Berkeley), fruit, chips, wine, juice, water, and of course…COFFEE! Sometimes you’ll find Mate (pron: Mah-tay) at these things. 

It’s right about this point that you have to give a shout out to a DJ or a pair of DJs that do these things: A milonga that starts at 9 and goes until 5, that’s 8 solid hours of music! Then depending on the tanda structure either 3 or 4 songs per tanda (6 or 8 in BsAs), that’s about 6 or 7 tandas an hour (3 songs per), with at minimum 1 vals, and 1 milonga tanda, or about 21 songs per hour, or about 168+ songs in a night. And if that doesn’t sound like a lot, think about this…all of that music has to be danceable, must flow seamlessly from one idea to the next, from one tanda to the next, must cover a lot of ground and appease a lot of different styles or ideas of what is danceable, and lastly can not repeat for 8 hours straight with cortinas! Respect!

And while we’re on the subject, if you’re planning on going to a Festival, or a Marathon. Sometimes the Festival/Marathon organizers idea of all night generally means until 2 or at the latest until 3 am…and sometimes even that’s a stretch. Not all Festivals/Marathons are like that, but a good portion of them are. So for the diehards,‘all night’ might be a bit of a disappointment.

So lastly if you think you can handle an All Night Milonga, then go, test your skills. However, be warned that the spirit may be willing, but the feet on the other hand…

MORE REMINDERS

Spectrum of Ideas.

Because there are no ‘Standards & Practices’ in Tango, therefore ‘Right’/’Wrong’ are subjective, which are for the most part, based on your teacher’s point of view of how things should be done. And as a result you, the unwitting student, take one those ideas as your own because you believe that because X is teaching that they must be the soul of all wisdom. Very infrequently do tango teachers teach a fair and balanced, or well rounded point of view. They usually teach what their subscribe to in their Tango world view, what they agree with, and what their teacher showed them. Very infrequently will they teach something that is outside that world view.

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Toe vs. Heel (Follower) ?

In case you have been living under a rock, this Thought is going to shock you somewhat. There is a debate that has been raging for quite some time now. The debate ? Should the Follower step forward with their heel first, or their toe first ? Better known as the Heel or Toe debate only for Followers, not for Leads as is the usual debated topic.

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Tango Frustration

Contrary to what you may have heard, the reality of Tango for some people is, as a Lead as well as a Follow, is not all happy and lovely. The fact is that some of those dancers go to the Milonga knowing that they are going to sit, a lot. And that sitting leads a winding path through a host of emotions that ultimately lands them on the door step of Tango Frustration.

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Heel vs. Toe (Lead) ?

Today’s Thought is a very old debate with a twist, as you’ll soon see. The Debate ? To step forward (or side) with a Heel strike first OR a Toe point first. So let’s debate, shall we ? The Heel Side: This side of the debate says that you can and should, when stepping forward, step forward as if you were walking on the street, normally. You would use the heel in a natural way, allowing it to strike the pavement or the floor (in the case of dancing) as you would normally. There’s nothing about this idea that is new. This is something that you don’t necessarily need to learn a whole lot about, as it just ‘happens’. There’s not a lot to it really.

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The Talking Cabeco/Mirada

If you’ve been dancing a little while, or for many years, at some point along the curve you’ve heard the word ‘Cabeceo’. Which roughly translates as a slight nod or nodding of the head (Cabeza) for the Lead to invite a Follower. The Follower’s side of that same invitation is referred to as a ‘Mirada’ (to look at, or ‘looked’). It’s an oddity that almost no one knows about the Follower’s side of the equation, that the Follower can ask for a tanda, employing the same methodology. It just has a slightly different name.

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Hoy Milonga

The app shows you exactly what milonga is happening on that day, where the milonga is at, and when, what bus lines are closest to that milonga, and how to get there. It also shows you contact information as well to call them for table reservations. It’s kept upto date, and is a free download for iOS and/or Android. There is also a companion website which shows you the same basic information as the app just laid out in a better format.

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The ‘Connection’ Fallacy

Connection” is a wonderful idea. We like to believe in the romanticism of this word, and all that it implies, which is as it turns out a considerable amount. However, the word itself, from a Tango perspective, has been beat up and bruised that it more than likely has lost it’s original intent. When you say the word to someone it could mean any one of eight (8) different things as it relates to the dance. However, this is not a definition of the word, for that please see the Tango Topics Definition of the word "Connection". 


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Musicality Vs. Interpretation

Welcome to the Department of the Obvious Department. Today’s menu of the Obvious includes: Men not asking for directions when lost, Men over talking Women, Men squeezing the living daylights out of their partners, and last but not least the Age of a Man has nothing to do with his ability to get dances!

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Variation

Repetition is only good in horseshoes and hand grenades. Which is to say, that no one, absolutely no one, likes being led to the same thing over and over and over again. Variation is the key to success! Small variation, large variations that open doors to other ideas, other thoughts. But in the end, variation. Taking an idea and then reversing it, or slowing it down, speeding it up, speeding up a part of it (musically), slowing down a piece of it, taking off the beginning or the end and reversing their positions. This is variation.

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Keep something in the back of your mind: What you’re seeing in a youtube video is a couple that is performing for the 15th row for a room full of people. They’re not social dancingWhereas this website is all about ‘Social Tango’  or how to make things function on a social dance floor. Social Dance floor ? Your local milonga! They are showing you flashy moves as a presentation, to show off! But not stopping and talking about how this works which is what you need to see. This website and all of it’s content show you the how and  why you’d want to put that piece of vocabulary there, or how to make things work. This website is all about those things and more!

You could watch Tango YouTube videos and thereby spend your time, trying to infer, and figure out how things may work in that particular situation. Bend your body this way or that, twist and force this position or that. Place your foot here or there and figure it out. This is known as Tango Twister.  Which can be a lot of fun, but more than likely it won’t help you, because you’re missing something: The explanation from an experienced teacher showing you how to properly excute this stuff from a Leading Perspective as well as from a Following Perspective!

The goal of YouTube videos is to get you to study with those teachers in person. The goal of Tango Topics videos allows you to work at your own pace, in the comfort of your own space, so that you can play them over and over again to improve your understanding of the vocabulary or technique being described to therefore better your dancing experience. The goal of classes and workshops is to get you to come back over and over and over again, thereby spending more money with that teacher. This website and the videos under it are here to act as a resource for you to help you to improve your dance. Pay once and you’re done.

Eventually, one way or another you’re going to pay for this lesson, either here and now, or with them. TANSTAAFL! The difference between that lesson and this ? Is that you get to play this lesson over and over and over again. Further still, there are supporting materials (other videos) that help to explain the language and the underlying technique of how and why things work, so you can easily reference those things in the corresponding articles that go with the material, and or any language in the Tango Topics Dictionary. 

DROP ME A MSG HERE

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