What is A Milonguero Turn ? First let’s define the words there, as they require a bit of clarity. ‘Milonguero’ is yet another made up word used for marketing purposes that is a bastardization of the true meaning of the word itself. A ‘Milonguero’ is someone who was raised in the milongas, they would pick up discarded tickets to get into the milongas to then watch how people danced and then emulate that so that they could then dance with the pretty girls. This all happened in a 25 year time period from about 1930 to about 1955. If you were born in that time period and ran with this crowd of dancers, then you could rightfully (and distastefully, because it was a term of disparagement in those days) be called a ‘Milonguero’. There are very few of these men left in the world. Very few.
These men didn’t take classes. They didn’t go to special Tango schools. No. They didn’t have the money. They learned on the floor while watching other people dance, and deconstructed what they saw. They then tried to one-up each other, trying to outdo each other with tricks and what not. While the game was certainly about getting the girl, it was also about showing off. In a lot of ways, the Milongueros of yesteryear bears a striking resemblance to the forerunners of modern hip-hop, minus the gang mentality. This is a ‘Milonguero’.
The term, so the story goes, was developed as a marketing tool, as a way to describe what one specific teacher saw in the clubs and milongas of Buenos Aires. This was called ‘Milonguero Style’ dancing.
A Milonguero Turn, on the other hand, is representative of the type of turn that existed prior to Gustavo Naveira (re)discovering the Follower’s Molinete. Again, so the story goes.
In it’s simplest form, the Milonguero Turn is where the Lead or Follower, typically the Follower, is led to a clean back-crossing step, an arced side step, and then a clean forward cross. The cleanliness of the crossing steps is noted elsewhere on tango topics, known as the “Dirty Cross“. The Milonguero Turn is one of the easiest of turns to accomplish with regards to Argentine Tango for a variety of reasons, most notably because there is no hip rotation for the partner that is performing the turn, there is no ‘pivot’, nor is there any Disassociation or Applied Disassociation. The turn allows of the couple to stay with each other and also allows for an easeful experience vs. the Follower’s Molinete that is the default turn today. And last but not least, it allows for the partnership to stay facing each other, while at the same time not expending a great deal of energy to ‘turn’ whereas the Follower’s Molinete does precisely that. While the Milonguero Turn is not sexy, it is in our estimation the more desirable and elegant turns. It is, however, easy to see why it was abandoned in favor of its sexier cousin. That said, don’t discard it simply because it’s not sexy, use it because it is insanely functional!
Difficulty Rating: 
(2.5 / 5)
