Organising milongas
A tongue-in-cheek vision of a good milonga.
While I don’t agree with everything shown here (food, and no mention about teaching on the dance floor, for example), for me some of the take-home messages are:
- Good music – with a not-too-shabby sound system that can produce consistent quality of sounds,
- Good floor (not necessarily dust-free but at least should be stable and safe to dance on!),
- Considerate dancing which becomes even more acute as the size of the dance floor gets smaller,
- Pleasant atmosphere, which from experience is largely dependent on the attitude of the host.
On a more serious note, I recommend highly to anyone contemplating (or even if you are already organising events) to start a milonga to read: “How to organise a milonga”. Almost all of the major points of ensuring a good event are covered, as anyone with some hands-on experience can attest to.
If you are already organising a regular milonga, how many of the issues listed have you considered? If not, probably not too late to learn something new and time to take action! 🙂
Youthful potential
Must be in a nostalgic mood tonight!? Two classic clips from Gabriel Misse, one of the maestros from the Sydney Tango Salon Festival (2010 and 2011).
Two legends: Gabriel Misse with Geraldine Rojas.
Another sweet clip from days gone by: Gabriel Misse dancing with Guillermina Wilson.
Traditional tango
Keep coming across the term “traditional tango” on a number of tango teachers’ websites. The use of the term plus the sample video clips got me thinking: just like tango Nuevo was difficult to give a concise definition, what is traditional tango really?
The following is generally accepted as a good demonstration of social dancing by a respected milonguero/a (I am not using the term “milonguero style” here, which admittedly is somewhat ambiguous):
But is this the elusive traditional tango mentioned by the those teachers? Come to think of it, the pace at which tango is changing means what we consider revolutionary or modern will probably become the classic/traditional in, say, 5-6 years’ time? 😉
Light and cheerful
Been busy with some personal stuff of late, hence the lack of new posts.
Just discovered this gem of a vals from Sebastian Achaval and Roxana Suarez today. By the way, this is not the first time I see them dancing to this song, or this choreography. However, I noticed an extra playfulness which I suppose only appears when performers happen to be in the right mood!? Enjoy!