Reports a few months ago on Tango-L of the imminent death of Buenos Aires milongas owing to lack of attendance notwithstanding, there is an unfortunate phenomenon one sometimes sees, where the organizer lets people into the milonga when there is no room for them to be seated, without letting them know before they pay and enter.
This happened to me twice in the last two months: The first was at Parakultural in Salon Canning about a month ago (some overrated but popular couple was dancing the show), and most recently last night at La Bruja at El Beso. In both cases I took my ticket back to the desk and politely asked for a refund as there were no seats, and in both cases I was given one (promptly without fuss at Parakultural; though at La Bruja the girl at the desk tried to send me back in to speak to someone, but relented in a few seconds when I looked shocked at the suggestion). I would suggest that others with similar expectations of a seat not be reluctant to do the same. As I pointed out to the El Beso receptionist, "It's supposed to be a milonga not a boliche!" Otherwise, it will just be another nail in the coffin of the continued deterioration of milongas into being just "places to dance" rather than the broader social and cultural institution that they all were at one time. Some other random observations on this subject: At almost all milongas in Buenos Aires, the place where you pay is intentionally located where you cannot see inside the milonga. No doubt this is done so as not to discourage people from entering a lightly-attended milonga (or an overcrowded one), among other things. If you ask to take a peek in, however, you will rarely be refused, though there is a psychological barrier to doing so. At La Milonguita in Colegiales 2-3 years ago, I went once on a Sunday, not expecting it to be crowded, and I was turned away (quite apologetically and gracefully) since it was full! Now, you might ask, would you rather be turned away or given the option to enter without seating? Well, it depends on the situation: - Firstly, at the very least, if there is no seating but they are allowing people to enter, this should be disclosed. This is exactly what was done at another milonga in El Beso I remember going to (also a couple of years ago) where a sign at the desk said, "No hay sillas" (no [available] chairs) or something similar. - The physical limitations of some locations just does not permit even willing standees. El Beso is in fact one of these--the extra people just end up piling up and blocking the entranceway--there is no real place to stand around the dance floor. Salon Canning is large enough and has a wide bar area that one can get away with offering standing-room admission. - The atmosphere and setup of certain milongas (created by the organizer) sometimes doesn't lend itself to standees. La Milonguita (the milonga where I couldn't get in), is one of these. People standing around would be entirely out of place there and would detract from the experience for others. - The navigation skills at most milongas is usually not good enough for enjoyable dancing when the place (and hence the floor) is overcrowded. (There can be a compensating "positive crowd energy" for those who are willing to deal with the overcrowding and have suitably tuned receptors for this energy.) What about capacity limitations, fire codes, etc.? Well, like many new regulations (or newly-enforced regulations), there is an "enforcement/observance half-life" of such things in Buenos Aires, which I would estimate at: - 3 months when the new seatbelt law was passed a few years ago; - 2-3 years for capacity limitation enforcements at milongas after the Cromañon nightclub disaster of 2004. Interestingly, the no-smoking laws seem to continue to be close to 100% enforced with no sign of letting up. Some loss of atmosphere (or is it gain? :-)) when "Fumando Espero," one of my favourite tangos, is playing, but otherwise a good thing. Shahrukh _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
