Tone of the milonga
Over at Tango Chamuyo, Janis reflects on her stay in Buenos Aires upon the tenth anniversary since her arrival.
While most are subjective opinions and perhaps more particular to Buenos Aires, there is one thing I can personally relate to, when she said:
“The organizer sets the tone of each milonga.”
Over the years, apart from Singapore, I have been fortunate to be able to dance a little in Kuala Lumpur, Taipei, Tokyo, Montreal and Melbourne (note that Berlin is absent from this list since I was too fresh to be able to make good observations 🙂 ). While the quality of music is important for me, I think the enthusiasm as well as the level of hospitality (or indifference) displayed by the milonga organiser can often compensate for deficiencies in other areas (such as small venues, lack of dancers, etc.) and set the mood for the milonga. In fact, I was reminded of this again when a friend related her experiences at a recent milonga where people stuck to their small groups and reluctant to start dancing until the wee hours, while the organiser was totally oblivious nor cared, but that is another story for future…
Politics in Tango?
Had an interesting conversation after the milonga the other day. Eventually the topic of conversation turned to politics in tango.
I have to admit, despite having come across the phrase “tango politics” in various blogs and conversations in the past, I am still not entirely sure about its precise meaning? Very often “tango politics” seems to be used to describe situations where various groups/schools exist in the same “community” and they don’t see eye to eye. However, even in such cases, I think it is usually an overkill to use the term “politics” because this type of group dynamics is part of human nature, no? After all, isn’t that why people have close friends, acquaintances, “hi-bye” friends, etc.? It is normal to have likes and dislikes and people are free to choose who they want or don’t want to work with, as far as I am concerned.
New and old
Something for the history buffs and something for people who are just looking for action. Over to the right, I have included compiled two lists: a list of the previous touring Tango teachers who had taught in Singapore and an up-to-date list of milongas in Singapore.
Satisfaction
Tuesday (27 January) was the second day of the Chinese New Year. For those not familiar with Chinese customs, normally the first few days of the lunar new year (assuming they are also public holidays) are filled up with visits to homes of relatives or friends, etc. Because of this I was not optimistic about the attendance at the regular milonga at Xen Bar. In the end, close to 30 people, including a couple of overseas visitors, showed up – more than twice of what I was expecting!
As the crowd was well balanced gender-wise, and since I was feeling rather lethargic because I did not get a good rest the previous night (or perhaps due to the glasses of wine I had…), I had a rare chance to be able to sit back, chat and watch people enjoy themselves for much of the night. I have to admit that it was quite refreshing to be able to sit on the sideline rather than being in the thick of action as it were.