Some recent BsAs milonga photos

Just loaded up some snaps taken at Buenos Aires milongas a few weeks ago.

Our very talented and renowned teacher, Aurora Lúbiz, introduced us to Sin Rumbo, a historic milonga in Villa Urquiza. Driving home in the wee hours, Aurora explained the significance of the place. This unassuming neighbourhood milonga, full of classy dancers - young and old, is where some of the great names of tango learned about the dance. At that time, there were no tango teachers as we know them. As very young dancers of other disciplines (ballet, folkloric, etc.) they would take the bus for over one hour across the BsAs metropolis to learn from locals like Julio Duplaa - an elegant dancer who has been running the Friday night milonga for around 40 years. At these informal practicas, young dancers like Aurora, Jorge Firpo, Pablo Verón, Lorena Ermocida, etc. first learned to dance tango. After the practicas they would journey home again by bus, where they would practise till the early hours and make sense of the dance which would later take over their lives & careers, and become a worldwide obsession.

It was also great to catch up our friends, Gustavo Benzecry Sabá, author of Embracing tango and María Olivera at their haunt, Salon Canning. Despite having returned that day from teaching in the USA for a couple of months, there they were at the milonga, exhausted but still dancing! They are great believers in totally improvised tango, including for their performances. This video shot at the Portland Tangofest is a perfect example. The unfortunate DJ experienced major technical problems: their selected music would not load up properly , and when it started playing, the speed was variable, so in the end, he just threw on something else. Their milonga performance brought the house down.

Dru and Roger from Adelaide experienced Club Sunderland for the first time. Yes, it is held in a brightly lit basketball stadium, but the organisers always arrange a high quality couple to perform for the crowd. But to be honest, I reckon the regulars are more interested in just dancing. Still if you are lucky, you might see the likes of Javier Rodriguez and Andrea Missé.

We were treated to a less traditional performance at La Baldosa, with Miguel and Augusto, organisers of La Marshall, the gay milonga at Maipu 444. The crowd at La Baldosa, which I would have thought was quite conservative, loved them.

Finally, a couple of shots of the gorgeous Teatro Maipó, taken after the brilliant show with the orchestra Sexteto Mayor celebrating their 35 years!

It's good to be home, but a few more weeks there would have been better.
Pat.