Boy was the milonga quiet yesterday. There were plenty of people, sure. But the energy of the place was a bit… bajo. Low. And the floor was too slippery so it was hard for people to totally relax when dancing.

I was chatting with a friend I usually dance with, and he said that it’s probably so “blah” feeling because of not only the winter blues that everyone gets, but also a bit of confusion over the (hopefully temporary) closure of El Beso, stress over the problems re: the campo, lack of money to go out very often… un po’ di tutto, as it is said in Italian.

If I were in Seattle it would be mild and sunny, and I would be wearing a pink belly dancing costume at this very moment, getting ready to shimmy down the streets of Fremont with Delilah in the Fremont Solstice Parade. Summer solstice, that is. Here in Buenos Aires it’s the beginning of winter, and my body is a bit confused. It’s June!

Of course, I’ve just checked the weather and Buenos Aires, in its first days of winter, is only a few degrees cooler than Seattle, which is in its first days of summer. The sky is blue here - very blue, and when it rains it doesn’t take on that awful grey cast that Seattle is so known for. I love Seattle but I don’t like grey.

I miss my belly dancing girls. The Solstice Parade is the one thing I can’t miss in Seattle. I’ve done it three years in a row. This year I’m in Argentina.

I’m alone right now, apart from one of my roommates, in this large apartment with french doors that open on to tiny balconies. The heat is on low, the sun is spilling in, and I’m working, in my PJs. I’ll get up soon, put on a coin scarf, and dance around the house a bit, to show my solidarity with the sisters of Visionary Dance.

P.S. Yes that’s me in the photo, the morning of the parade in 2006.

Asi se baila el Tango - Thursdays - Peru 571 - 8pm to 1am -

organized by Pedro Sanchez and Alejandro Gee

The new milonga hosted by my dear friends Alejandro and Pedro has been going on for several weeks now. They’ve been working hard to get this thing started, and I must say it really is lovely. Hopefully I’ll see some of you there! (Those in BsAs who read this, anyway)

Someday, when I can, I’m going to go to Morocco.

And when I get to Marrakech, I’m going to stay here.

That’s all for today.

My dear friend at Tangospeak forwarded this to me after someone had shared it with her, and I just couldn’t resist posting it. Isn’t it cute??

(more on this youtube channel).

A friend who dances more “nuevo” said something over lunch that kinda sorta rubbed me the wrong way a few weeks ago - he apparently finds the “milonguero style” to be the “easiest” because, according to him it has “no technique”. Hum. Well, if that were the case then I think a bunch of us would have been the hottest milongueras in town after our first tango class! Easy, I don’t really think so. It’s over five years that I’ve been dancing and I’m still discovering so much in the realm of the milongueros.

I didn’t say much but I wish I could have told him that no, it is not the easiest, and that is because in my humble but strong opinion it goes beyond technique. I believe (from first-hand personal experience) that when you dance with a milonguero you are not merely dancing steps or patterns and you’re certainly not twisting your shoulders or hips exactly three-point-five degrees this way to execute the perfect ocho; no, no, no… when you dance with a milonguero you are entering into his entire musical world, as the following article will tell you.

And to me, that’s complex and simple at the same time. And beautiful. It goes beyond the merely physical-technical aspect of tango. It’s not a case of being “easy” or “hard”. It just is what it is.

And I think I have found somebody who might understand…her lovely article is here.

(And anyway… 

...people don’t get the best tables at milongas from having “no technique”!)

(So there!)

Of course, now that I’m living down here, I get lots of e-mails with questions about visiting Argentina. Lots of invitations to meet for coffee in order to get tips from me about getting around in Buenos Aires. Lots of questions about where to do this, how to find that. Requests to help find Tango shoes (something I like, though I’m still trying to learn how to leave all money at home for those outings, to avoid temptation).

On one hand I really like this, because I enjoy meeting new people, I always have an opinion on what might be fun to do, and because I’ve had many an expat take the time to meet me in other cities around the world. And most importantly, connections are being made in one way or another.

For example, Buzz, a student and friend of Cherie and Ruben, recently put me in touch with his kind-spirited, adventurous daughter M who is around my age, who then put me in touch with her fabulous friend P, who arrived a few days ago in BsAs, and she got together with me a couple of times for coffee and even came to check out a milonga. We clicked! Yesterday P invited me down to San Telmo for the day, and it turned into a wonderful girls’ day out between me, her, her Hungarian friend, and two American girls she met a few days ago, one of whom lives here now. I ended up making wonderful connections (and finding a pilates teacher) and having one of the best Sundays I can remember so far. I’m smiling just thinking about it. (Thanks Buzz, if you’re reading this!)

That is an example of some of the great things that can happen when you are open to them.

On the other hand, I get a little exhausted when people get everything they can get from me and then disappear. I am a very social person and like to make personal connections - if I can’t make the personal connection, I almost don’t want to help. It almost hurts me to meet someone, help them out, maybe take them to a store, think I’ve made another social connection, and then never hear from them again - not even so much as a thank you.

These are the same people who flake out, people who forget that unlike them I am not on vacation, people who think I can just up and change my hours for them when in fact it’s not quite possible since I have a life and I have to work, and it’s just annoying. There are also the ones who you think you click with, but, perhaps unintentionally, they complain, complain some more, wrap you up in their personal problems, drain you of all your energy and then “ciao!” they’re gone.

I’m not looking to make best friends with everyone I meet, but I do expect a little common courtesy! “Thank you” goes a long, long way. And it’s amazing how few people know how to say it.

It’s such a fine line because I absolutely love making connections with people and helping out, as more often than not, it comes back to me. But the question is, how nice can I be? And when should I say no?

“Italy seems to me like a very well organized country,” said the man at the milonga in the middle of our tanda.

“Italy? Huh? Organized?  What makes you say that ??” I asked him.

“Well because it’s in Europe.” was his response.

I laughed and said, “not exactly the same…”, before embracing him for the next song.

Maybe he needs to take a look at this: 

As if these weren’t already enough…

…I had to fall in love with these:

These are Raquel shoes.  Arenales 1974, 3rd floor.  The first time I went I wasn’t really feeling the “Feeling” with any of the shoes, but this time around… it was love.

I wore these at a milonga over the weekend and LOVE how they feel.  So yummy and comfortable and grounded!  Definitely enjoyed dancing in them, and looking down to admire my feet.

I think I have a tango shoe addiction

Excuse me while I have a moment of complaining.  Or confession I guess.

I find it boring when people over-analyze Tango and come across as though they think they are experts on Tango just because they write a blog.  Yes, I get inspired to write something when I have a realization about embracing a person, and yes in the past I have written a few of my opinions, but for the most part it’s all from an emotional and romantic standpoint, and I really much more enjoy writing about my experiences in Buenos Aires off the dance floor.  It’s fabulous to be inspired and want to express and share - but when writing about Tango, sometimes I think there is such thing as too much.  Too much analyzing and way too many metaphors.  How are you supposed to enjoy dancing if you’re busy dissecting every detail of the way someone led something?

What I really get bored with is when people over-analyze “steps” in Tango and get too wordy and literal about them.  I am going to be honest and tell you that my eyes sincerely glaze over and I can’t concentrate on such things.  And then they start naming steps that I’ve never even heard of!  I can follow/teach/sometimes lead, in person, but I honestly could not begin to tell you the names of a lot of steps (except for the obvious ones), and I certainly can’t tell you in written words how to do them.  Not in a blog anyway.  I’d rather just shut off my computer, get  in a taxi, go to the nearest milonga and dance.

Humph!

I wonder if the whole tango blog world will hate me now.  Oh well, too bad.