There’s a row of women sitting in Moscow (usually several rows deep actually). Only these rows…are every Lead’s fantasy! Yup. Truth. Let’s get something straight. The food is awful. It’s usually effing cold anytime after september and before june. Getting in an out of Moscow (Russia) isn’t exactly a piece of cake (for an American), there are hoops to jump through (read that as VISA issues). It is not exactly cheap. And there is rampant crime in ways you can’t even begin to imagine. Remember it’s ‘democratic’ society … cough, cough, cough…(read that as authoritarian regime). Aside from all of that ? Once you get past all of that stuff, and you’ve gotten into the Milonga scene, you will never, ever, want to leave, or go anywhere else for a long, long, long while and that includes Buenos Aires! Why ? The row of women that are sitting!
There’s a reason why those women are sitting. And it’s not because of the usual reasons. It’s because there aren’t enough men to lead them. And if you’re thinking they’re sitting because they’re less than desirable Followers to dance with….ummmm think again! There’s something about the Russian thought process that you need to understand, it’s this: 1.) They accept the fact that they suck. They sucked yesterday. They suck today. They’ll suck tomorrow. Whereas westerners ? “When do I get to do that cool move that I saw in that tango video ?”. 2.) Russian Followers they work on their walk. “Walk, Walk, Walk, Walk, Walk, Walk, Walk….etc” Over and over and over. They spend years just working on the near infinite aspects of the walk in lurid detail. It is a desire to perfect their walk, to work on it in ever increasing levels of clarity. These two aspects combined, a near constant state of acceptance of suckage AND working on their walk in infinite detail, creates the one thing that is absolutely required for any dancer to succeed: Tango takes time, and this whole walking business, which most westerners discard as rubbish, is kind of important. So by the time you get these Followers on the floor, they already have a deeply invested attitude in perfecting their walk. Which makes them oooooodles of fun to dance with in ways you can not even begin to imagine! Especially in Milonga!
So that row of women sitting ? Go down the line, one by one, and it will be a cornucopia of dervish delights that will inspire, thrill, awe, and more than likely tantalize you to try the next and the next and the next. Trust that it will not be the chore of dread that you might suspect, it will be the question of why didn’t you do this sooner ? You’re welcome!
Oh and one more thing: This is a room full of women that love, love, love Milonga. LOVE IT! This isn’t so much of a Follower thing, it’s a Russian thing. So if you go, have your milonga act together! You can not go to Moscow and not have your Milonga together. That’s just not going to get you what you want. These are some of the world’s best Milonga dancers you will ever run across. So either you dance the shit out of Milonga…or you don’t. If you don’t, then here’s two words for you: private lessons!
