You know, I danced in the milongas of Buenos Aires, New York, Montreal, San Francisco, Boston and London beginning 1993. I missed Berlin, the other hotbed of tango at the time - big mistake, I'm afraid.
There was a magic then that has been missing for me in today's milongas. Things began to change drastically in the milongas of Buenos Aires around the time of the crash. (2001/2002) All of a sudden the regulars began staying away from the salons. They just couldn't justify spending 5 pesos on something as frivolous as the milonga. They needed to eat. The milongas began to suffer from lower attendance and raised prices. The Cro Magnon disaster closed dance venues all over the inner city. On the other hand, it became much cheaper for tourists to visit Buenos Aires. So in about 2 years time, the balance of tourists to locals in the dance halls reversed completely. The milongas feel so different to me these days. Sitting in a Buenos Aires milonga on a Friday night, I see the group from Japan at one of the primo back tables - they don't dance tango yet, but they're ordering dinner! From there to the right sit a table of local (mostly) women, a group of men who really have been in the milongs for years, but rarely get up to dance. The there are the group from some European capital, a bunch of older folks from the midwest, a table of local guys who don't dance very well, a group of local women who don't dance very well. Lurking around the edges, men who can't catch anybody's eye and have decided to prey on the unsuspecting and longing to dance, middle aged women from the US. It just lacks some sort of mystery. Is it all because I see it more clearly now? Was it always this way and I was too enraptured to notice? No, I'm sure it was more full of the promise of adventure back then. Oh, I'm just rambling Interested in what others think -- Robin Tara http://www.taratangoshoes.com http://www.tangotique.com _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
