In spite of this, I was in BA a full two days before I actually saw any...
Walking through the main shopping area, I came across a couple dancing tango in the street. They were dancing 'perfomance' tango, designed specifically for spectators, so there were lots of kicks, flicks and lifts - highly important as fans of Strictly Come Dancing will know!
That evening, I had my first tango lesson at the hostel. Far from learning the steps to replicate what I had seen earlier in the day, I learnt to walk and the importance of feeling the energy of your partner, emanating from their core. This is about as exciting as it gets for beginners, future professionals can spend as much as three months learning to walk when they start out. Following the lesson we went to the local La Maldita Milonga at 571 Peru. After an hour long class (and more walking) with a selection of different partners, the Milonga started. This is the traditional Argentinian way to dance tango, where couples come to dance together in a much more subtle way than the perfomance tango. It's much more real and just as fascinating to watch. One of the best things about this Milonga is the live tango band, Orquesta Tipica El Afronte, made up of a group of young musicians.
After some more performance tango during dinner on Thursday, the next tango experience was another Milonga at La Viruta in Palermo. Not only were there experienced tango dancers at this Milonga, but also experts in Rock & Roll and Salsa - fabulous to watch. If only I knew more steps and had the confidence to join in. Being here made me think of what an old fashioned dance hall would have been like, lots of people coming along to socialise, dance and have a drink, it's a shame we don't have anything like this in England now. Some of us left at 3.30 to go home (which was considered early) while others went on to a local club.
On Sunday morning I headed to La Boca with someone I had made contact with through Couchsurfing. La Boca is one of the poorer neighbourhoods and it is generally not advised for tourists to go alone. The person I went with was only really happy to wander around Caminito which is, unfortunately, very touristy. I did, however, get to see the brightly coloured houses, painted using the paints that were used to preserve the hulls of ships. Here, there was more tango put on especially for the tourists and, although it is still incredible to watch, I realised that I actually prefer the type of tango that I have seen at Milongas as it is more real, and has more feeling. I have gone from thinking that tango was an incredibly sexy dance (which it can be, if done as a performance) to realising that it is more a dance of companionship, danced for pure enjoyment.
In contrast to the showy dance in La Boca, that afternoon I headed to the traditional tango area of San Telmo, in the even more traditional location of Plaza Dorrego. On Sundays, the whole area turns into a huge market, and right in the centre, I stumbled upon what seemed to be a cross between a tango lesson and a Milonga. The people dancing were obviously tourists, but had learnt a selection of actual steps, so they could replicate some of the more experienced dancers. Feeling very jealous that I'd missed out on this more intensive tango class, I grabbed a leaflet and vowed to come back to Buenos Aires one day....
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