Let the embrace do the talking
Musings
Natural order
Aug 25th
For more than once over the last couple of weeks, I have been hearing people referring to certain milongas in the local scene as being for the “experienced” dancer. Well, while I am sure no organiser set out intentionally to create that impression, but I find it rather amusing nevertheless. After all the community in Singapore is not that large that we can choose to target only a small section of the dancers!? 
Popularity: 2%
Small pleasures in life
Aug 19th
Sorry have been a little quiet for a while. Just usual “distractions” like work…
Two wonderful things happened at the milonga tonight. Firstly there was a couple of nice tandas with a visitor from London, who incidentally is also a friend of Christine Denniston who was in Singapore many years ago. Too bad I was not feeling well enough last night to dance with her when I was DJing…
The second little nugget is related to the period when I took over the 8-week beginners tango classes at Jitterbugs (a local dance school) towards the end of 2005, as a favour for some friends while they were holidaying in Buenos Aires. Incidentally I am very proud that, of the 20 people who started the course, close to 20 people completed!
Since this was quite a while ago, imagine my surprise when a girl from that class recognised me at the milonga tonight. It turned out that despite admitting not having “gotten it” after the beginners course 5 years ago, she decided to give tango another shot and so started taking a beginners classes recently. What I appreciated the most was when she told me that the reason she picked up tango again was because of the seeds we had sown 5 years ago. I am so happy to know that our work has not been in vain, that somehow or other that we are able to reach out and spread a little bit of the joy of tango! Perhaps I should give her the free CD that the rest of her classmates received upon completion but she missed out because she missed the final class as a present… 
Popularity: 3%
Passion
Jul 1st
The following quote is actually borrowed from a technology site. Strangely appropriate for tango I think.
“Technique alone is never enough. You have to have passion. Technique alone is just an embroidered pot holder.”
Raymond Chandler
Popularity: 4%
Milongas in Buenos Aires
Mar 25th
Have been a bit quiet here because of my work.
Following on from my experiences of some milognas in Buenos Aires, noticed that Simba has come up with a list of recommendations for milongas for his friend’sfirst trip to Buenos Aires. The list somewhat overlaps the places that I went to and I highly recommend it to anyone planning to go on their first trip. For the traditional milongas, I would have included also Gricel (not too difficult even for ladies apparently) and Lo De Celia (which can be a little difficult to get a dance if you are new).
Popularity: 12%
Seating arrangements of milongas in BA
Feb 19th
Although I had some opinions about this during my trip, I didn’t imagine they’d turn into a full-blown post until I read some recent comments yesterday.
The background is that in SOME milongas, the “archaic” (my choice of word, not the phrase used by the originator) custom of seating men and women separately* – in particular, having the women in a line against one side of the room. In these situations, invitation is done using the cabaceo exclusively. Basically there was the contention that this was somehow demeaning to women and ought not to happen in this day and age. Firstly I want to point out that in such milongas, men will also get be lined up and get a good sizing over from women from the other side of the room! Secondly, as a visitor, regardless of my own cultural background (and hence prejudices), I always believe in the adage “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”, out of respect for the culture that I am visiting.
Popularity: 13%