Decisions, decisions ...

Heading off soon for the annual pilgrimage to Tango-Mecca and already I know that we'll be spoiled for choice with milongas. Some hard decisions will have to be made, especially around weekends. We love milongas where the traditional codes (codigos) are respected.

Should we head over to tried-and-true favourites like Club Sunderland each Saturday night? Mario Orlando, the DJ never disappoints, and the largely porteño crowd means that the floorcraft is good, despite the large number of dancers. It's primarily a milonga for couples and groups, although singles are usually seated in an area where the cabeceo is possible. Inevitably the evening will be punctuated with a couple performing - sometimes well-known hotshots, otherwise lesser-known emerging dancers.

Just a couple of streets from our "home" is Salon Canning which also hosts a nice milonga on Saturday night. The excellent parquet dance-floor is a treat and the couple who host it are delightful.

Niño Bien's lovely setting and great music are certainly attractive, but it has become so popular, it's hard to move on the dance-floor for most of the evening. El Beso on a Thursday evening is intimate - in sharp contrast to Niño Bien. Not only is it small, but it's very popular with good dancers. Ladies are seated separately to the men, unless you arrive as a couple, in which case you get seated at the back and are not considered part of the available pool of dance partners. Music and floorcraft are very good. The nice thing is that this milonga starts in the evening around 7pm. So after we've had our fill of dances for the night, we can head off to a nice restaurant for dinner before the witching hour and still have a good night's sleep!

Then there's Lo de Celia, where Dany Borelli's music is superb. It's an older crowd and the etiquette very traditional.


And the list goes on ....