Tango lessons, shoe shopping and Milongas

After my high of yesterday, I woke up at 8am. I have a lesson scheduled with Luis at 9:30. I have enough time to go upstairs, talk to Tota, the housekeeper and eat my breakfast. The lesson was wonderful. Luis was a great teacher. We went over the basics today – posture, the tango walk, weight changes and the cortaro. Even though I have done this before, he brought out some good points for me to improve on these areas. And as Paula (another tanguera from Little Rock who was here just last week) warned me, I did get to hear my first “do not anticipate” lecture from Luis. Women follow the man’s lead and is not supposed to take any steps (other than adorning the steps that they have been led to) At any point of time, we women have no idea what the next step will be – there are no figures here and we just have to wait and feel the lead and yes – not anticipate what the next move will be.

After my lesson with Luis, Federico (Maria’s son) escorted me to Escuela de Tango where there was a group class for techniches and adornment for women. There were just three others in the class. A couple from Brazil, and a man from Paris. I learned a couple of adornments and practiced some more dancing.

After class, I went window shopping on Florida street, a famous pedestrian strip for shopping. (Picture)I made my pilgrimage to Zara – my favorite store. As my friend Jeff puts it, there has not been any city that I have been to that has a Zara store and I not visit it. Then I met Federico again at 2:00pm outside La Ideal. I have shoe shopping on my agenda and Federico volunteered to be my translator and guide. Yes, for all you people who have shopped with me and know what a pain I am when it comes to shopping, you can feel sorry for him. He had no idea what he was getting into. After 2 hours at four tango shoes stores, I still had not bought shoes. I think ever since I say Herna’s Comme il faut shoes, nothing comes close in comparison. They are expensive – but oh so gorgeous and excellent craftsmanship. I mentioned that to Federico, who offered to go there as well that afternoon (it is in a different neighbourhood). We walked 12 blocks to get there only to find that it was closed. So we headed home. Again, we decided to walk. We had barely started (and I was told it would be 12 blocks to home) it started raining. Not drizziling – but raining – a downpour that got us soaking wet in less than 2 minutes. There were no taxis available, and since we were wet anyways Federico said we could walk in the rain. Later he told me he lied to me… the house was not 12, but 20 blocks away. And in the pouring rain, I walked all that distance. It reminded me of my college days in Bombay where during the monsoons my friends and I would take a walk in the pouring rain at Marine Drive, by the sea shore and get soaking wet and then end the walk with roasted corn on the cob. I mentioned this to Federico, and after we got home, he went to the store next door and bought some corn. So sure enough, we grilled the corn and ate them, Indian style. That hit the spot.

Soon, it was time for Milonga. There are 3 guests from France who arrived today and Nora (Maria’s friend) escorted us to a Milonga at Buen Porteno. The place was beautiful, the dance floor fabulous, but there were not too many people. Maybe the rains kept people inside. I danced some, but danced terribly. So much for my glory the night before. My theory still holds true. I dance bad with people I can’t communicate with. At the Milonga, I met Miguel who knew Nora and sat with our group. I danced with him, and found out he was from Munich – Suddenly I started remembering my German and talked with him in German. It had been so long speaking to someone from that country in their language. It was great. I could talk, and understand him. That was the best dance I had that far in the evening. Sometime later that evening around 9:30pm, Nora and the French people left. I was actually surprised that I was not asked if I wanted to join them home or wherever they were heading. I thought that to be quite rude considering I come with them – Especially after hos hospitable and friendly Bert and Herna had been last night – this group was very distant and well uncaring – or so is the conclusion I have come to draw. Miguel was nice enough to say he would make sure I get home safely. He was an acquaintance of Maria and a really nice person who I knew I could trust so I was fine. We decided to go to another Milonga. Called El Beso. We reached there by 10:45pm and it had just begun. It was not too crowded to start with, but in one hour, there was no room to dance.

I danced much better at this Milonga than I did at Buen Porteno. I don’t know why. Since I danced better, I felt better and eventually had a great time. I bumped into David, my Australian friend from yesterday at the Milonga and we danced some tandas together. I can’t count how many people I danced with – some from Buenos Aires, others from Switzerland, Germany and France. Finally at 2am, my feet started hurting and I was ready to call it a night. Miguel, as he promised, dropped me off at the casa. Now I can relax, unwind and sleep. Maybe tomorrow I will treat myself to a pedicure. But first, I will be making a trip to San Telmo where they have a local market every Sunday which promises to be good. David said he was going there tomorrow as well, so I will meet him there and shop for souvenirs.

An Argentine love affair

What a fantastic day this has been – The best part of it is that this is just the beginning – of my stay here in Buenos Aires and I can feel it - of a long passionate love affair with this city and its Tango!

I arrived BA today at 7:45am. As Federico recommended, I took the Manuel Tien Leon shuttle from the Airport to La casa de Maria Tango (Picture 1). It took me about 45 min to get to the Maria’s. I was met by Daniela, Maria’s assistant - a charming young Argentine woman. She showed me to my room and gave me a brief tour of the guesthouse. I was introduced to Tota (who is in charge of housekeeping). And then over breakfast met Bert and Herna a delightful couple from Holland who have been here at Maria’s for 5 weeks and spending their last night in the city tonight. A quick shower later I met Luis, one of the Tango instructors at the house and have scheduled an appointment for tomorrow at 9:30am for my first official Argentine tango lesson in the city of its birth. I met Federico (Maria’s son) and Stephanie (a young French Student who works at Maria’s) who helped answer all my questions and helped schedule an additional (group) lesson for me for tomorrow mid-morning. Stephanie took me for a walk around the neighbourhood and showed me where the Laundromat, Grocery store and shopping mall is around here. I wanted to buy a sim card for my phone, went to a phone store but the card did not work with my phone. Have no idea why – I will try again tomorrow – if it does not work – no big deal – May be good to be cut off from the rest of the world for a little bit :)

Bert and Herna were planning on going to an afternoon milonga (tango dance) and asked me if I wanted to join them – How could I refuse – isn’t that what I am here for after all – so what if it is my first day here in BA, I have only been dancing 4 months and I have no idea if I am good enough to dance with complete strangers – and true Porteño (that is what the men from Buenos Aires are called). Worse case, I thought I would sit it out. Just soak in the atmosphere and watch the pros do their stuff. However, dance I did.

First – a few milonga etiquettes – some that I was advised of before from Louie and some I learned today thanks to Herna and Bert –
• Never change into your dance shoes in the milonga hall. It is frowned upon. Do it in the ladies room.
• Ask to be seated in the front row – greatly increases your chances of being asked to dance.
• Women do not ask men to dance with them. They have to be asked by the men.
• But they can flirtatiously smile at them to attract their attention to ask them to dance.
• Men generally do not ask you to dance .. rather it is done by eye contact. The man scans the room, finds his target (ok, the woman he wants to dance with), waits till their eyes lock, then he tilts his head sideways slightly – and that is your invitation, Women have the choice to smile and nod (accept the invitation) or look the other way (decline the dance).
• A couple dances 4 songs (a tanda) together. Unless if one of them is a terrible dancer, you can say thank you in the middle of the tanda and sit down .. and never dance with that person again. – Thankfully that did not happen to me today. Though I think I did get close to frustrating one partner close enough.
• Between the four songs played in a tanda, the couple makes small talk for 20 sec – so even if the next song has started, a true Porteño will wait for 20 sec before starting to dance. After 4 songs – you say gracias and go back to your seat.
• I was told that I should not dance more than 2-3 consecutive tandas with the same person – it would indicate a “come on”
• And no, it is not ok to sleep during the Milonga's like the gentleman above is doing.

Ok – so now with the etiquettes in mind – I was ready to be asked. Except it is so unnerving looking at men trying to catch someones eye. Gawd – by the end of this trip I should be an expert in flirting 101. I locked eyes with one argentine looking dude while walking in the milonga. When seated, my back faced him so could not do that flirtatious “ask me to dance” look. Instead, Herna who faced him got asked to dance. At the end of the tanda, she told me he is Australian and that he wanted to dance with me too. I said good. But then she reminded me that I have to look at him to be asked by him – ah this cat and mouse game – ok so I looked and there was the tilt and I nodded – and we danced. My first dance in Buenos Aires. So what if not with a Porteño – it was with an Australian who looked Argentine and sounded very Australian and best of all – spoke English. Oh, and he was a good dancer too. Name: David. That started the evening well. I had barely sat down and the got asked to dance the next tanda by this older gentleman. Small talk time, I dreaded having to say no habla espaniol (my rehearsed phrase for anyone who tries to talk to me) however to my surprise, he beat me to it. Turns out he is from England. So si – he hablas ingles. Another good dancer. Who made me feel like I was a good dancer. I told him I have been dancing 4 mths (like I told everyone I danced with) and I was pleasantly surprised by the compliments I received for my dancing. My next dance was finally with a true Porteño – it was good. I thought my first song/dance with him was ok… but he said he gives me a 10 for it. (I am assuming that is a 10 out of 10 not 100 ). But I guess that compliment went to my head because he downgraded me to an 8.5 by the end of the tanda. But was super nice about it and said I am doing well for just having danced 4 mths. After that it was just a blur of people I danced with. I got asked to dance 3-4 times by David. About 3-5 times by Gernan, another older Argentine man who was a wonderful dancer, and super patient with me and made me feel so good about my dancing, and a couple of times by another argentine gentleman – I can’t remember the name – I think it was Jorge. Anyways, I danced and danced. I did have one terrible tanda I danced. It was with a Porteño who spoke no English. He kept trying different simple steps with me but for some reason we did not connect and I could not understand what he was telling me (in Spanish). Needless to say after that dance with him, when my eyes just passed over his a while later he quickly turned away – Yes sir! Got your message – you don’t want to dance with me. Not that I did either, but still, felt my first rejection – that too by a 70 year old man. Oh, did I say – this milonga had mostly older people. Good dancers but old. Once 2-3 younger people.

David left. Gave me his card if I wanted to dance with him later to call or email him. Hernan too gave me his contact info for milongas.

Then next stop for us was dinner. I just realized, I had not eaten lunch and was starving. We went to X-toxo – a Spanish restaurant with excellent food. They had just one vegetarian entre – a ravioli – which was excellent. A glass of wine, salad, water, my ravioli, and coffee or for less than $15. Not bad!!!!

I was tired with my dancing and ready to head back – but Bert and Herna were planning on going to another Milonga, It was their last night in the city and they wanted to go to their favorite Milonga at Niño Bien a little time. They told me they would go for just a couple of hours. Considering it was just 9pm and still light outside – I decided to join them as well.

This place was a totally different ambience than La Ideal. More dressy, a lot more younger people, and all really good dancers. It was crowded. Very crowded. We were not able to get front row tables, but that was fine with me. My feet were hurting slightly and I must admit I did feel a little intimated by seeing all these good dancers. Still, I was asked to dance right away by an older argentine man who I found out did not speak English and of course I danced terribly again. I wonder if there is a correlation between my dancing skills and a partner who I cannot talk to and understand. I will see if that holds true for the rest of my stay here. After that I was asked to dance just a couple of times by two others.. another nicer argentine man who spoke very little English but was kinder esp. when I told him soy una principiante (or something like that – telling him I am a beginner). Then I danced with a young guy, a very good dancer, from Singapore. Then I just sat and refused to look across the room for more partners, instead just sat watching the people dance – Or rather, to be more honest, I was just checking out the women’s shoes and trying to see what style I like best for when I go shopping for my shoes. I heard of this place called Comme il faut from a lot of people – very expensive (by argentine standards, but gorgeous unique designs and people swear by the comfort and durability of these sexy strappy 5 inch heeled sandals. So I am tempted. But, will check out the competition (Neo Tango, Flabellas, Darcos).. before I make my pick.. or should I say picks, as I sure won’t be satisfied with just one.

Soon it was time to leave. Bert and Herna were ready to go back (as they leave the next day and did not want to be out too late). Even then, it was 11:30pm by the time we got back to the house.

As I said before, not bad for the first day…. If this is what I can expect for the next 2 weeks… I am in for a treat!

On Delta flight 101 somewhere between Atlanta and Buenos Aires

I have been leafing through magazines (all filled with Tango information) that Louie got me from Buenos Aires and reading my guide book and highlighting places I want to shop at and restaurants I want to eat at. I still have to read about the city and its history and sights, that is, if I can ever get done with reading about tango, shopping for tango shoes and clothes and food :-) I am also trying to memorize some Spanish words and phrases that will help me get by my two weeks in Buenos Aires.

I am going to be staying at La Casa de Maria Tango (http://www.mariatango.com). Maria is a friend of Louie’s and has a bed and breakfast for tango lovers. I can’t wait to begin my journey…..

Tango and Little Rock

I like to believe that things happen for a reason. My moving to Little Rock is one of them. My visit to Thunderbird school of management to interview for my MBA admissions was another thing. Though not really connected – One (my visit to Thunderbird) aroused my interest in Latin American dancing – Argentine Tango and Salsa. (there was a latin American night the evening of my visit hence I got to experience the dances and the music). I have been in search for lessons to be able to dance like the people I had seen at Thunderbird.

Over the last two years, I have taken some salsa and salsa rueda classes but had not come across Argentine Tango. Imagine my surprise when on my search for dance lessons in Little Rock I came across an advertisement for an Argentine Tango Milonga here in Little Rock. I called the number, spoke with Louie Bianco and then as they say, the rest is history. It has been less than four months since I spoke with Louie and went to his milonga. Since then, I took private lessons from him and completed his “fundamentals of tango” class and totally and completely fallen in love with this dance. Louie has been a fabulous teacher – he is so very passionate about this dance – it eventually rubs off on everyone he teaches.

Just to tell you’ll how passionately I feel about this dance – I have packed my bags and am scheduled to travel to Buenos Aires – the birthplace of tango – in two days, solo, just to learn more, dance to my hearts content and become a tanguera.

Incidentally, this will also be my first trip to South America. This promises to be quite an adventure.