It's April, so it must be milonga!

It must have been around the year 2000 that we gained an affection for milonga, and that affection has grown to it being our favourite tango form. Maybe it's the relentless beat, or the playfulness that the music invites, or the opportunity to be creative with relatively simple figures. As soon as those great Canaro & Donato milongas come on, we have no choice but to dance ... and have fun.


We always look forward to the time each year when we can teach some milonga, and April (& maybe later in the year too) is it. Both classes will have this topic for the month - the Tuesday class will start at the beginning and concentrate on milonga simple, the Monday class will build on what has been learnt in previous years and focus on milonga simple & traspie. There is the opportunity in both groups for new people to attend for this topic - simply contact us.


The hardest thing about milonga isn't that it's fast - many milongas are not - but that it's essential to land on every beat ..... that means leading each single step fractionally ahead of the beat so both leader & follow hit the floor with the step on the beat. After that, it can be as simple as you wish - think of walking with your partner in close embrace, with lots of personal style, matching the milonga rhythm exactly ... now you're dancing milonga. Add a few simple movements, pick up some of the moods & melodies of the music, and now your milonga is taking more shape. Both classes will work on musicality exercises, a range of relatively simple figures and lots of practice to develop this.


Still not too sure what milonga is? Then take a look at Osvaldo & Coca - these are champion dancers (literally) whose whole focus is on the music. If you want to see some quite extraordinary milonga (yes, totally unattainable by we mere mortals), then look again at Javier & Geraldine's performance ... seamless!