The good, the bad, and the ugly

Today, I had nothing tango-related planned. I was scheduled to go to Recoletta with the group staying here and then from there head to San Telmo for their Sunday market on my own, or meet Dave there. I woke up at 10am and it had been raining so I was told the Recoletta trip was cancelled. Instead, I scheduled to meet Dave in 30 min. at the Tango house to go to the market. I waited for two hours and was certain he could not locate the place, but I had no way of reaching him to find. He had a cell phone but I did not. The house-phone can only be used for landline phones. So I learned the hard way that a calling card would have been helpful. I did manage to improvise – I found a headset with mic at the office so used that and skype to track Dave down – He had the wrong address Venezuela 221 (close to San Telmo) instead of 2211. So we decided to just meet at the market. I took a taxi to Venezuela y Defensa cross-section where the market began. (typical rides in a taxi is 10-12 pesos – approx $3-$4)

The market was bustling – surprising busy for a cloudy – rainy day (It is an open air market). Thankfully even though it was cloudy it did not rain. I bought some paraphernalia – people watched and just enjoyed being out. I had been warned to not impulse buy in this market. Walking down the street you may find something better and/or cheaper so wait and look around before you make your purchases. Later, ate a late lunch at Todo Mundo in the same neighborhood. Window shopped some more and then for the first time on this trip – took the subway home. I reached the casa at 9:30pm and made plans to go to a milonga at 11pm. So far – a good day. (Photo: A streetside puppet show. I love how the man and his puppet are dressed in the same clothes)

Sundays seem to be a slow night at Milongas – typically mellow and mostly couples who come together to the Milongas. One thing I forgot to mention… Typically in a Milonga, the women sit on one side of the room, the men are seated on the opposite side – that way they can scan the room and make eye contact to invite the women for a dance. As a woman, if I go to a Milonga with a man, I can be seated with the man but if I do, chances are I won’t be asked for a dance. So even couples who are traveling together but want to dance with other people should sit separately. Now, I have sat with Miguel at the Milonga yesterday but still we danced with other people… so it can be done.

Tonight, Federico recommended La Ideal’s Milonga. I was to meet Dietr, another German guest Maria was hosting, and I invited Dave too. At Ideal, there were just two couples dancing while others (some 50-70 people) watched. At first I thought it was a show, but soon figured it was the milonga and most people sitting were tourists not dancers. It had not even been 5 min since I arrived and I got asked to dance. I did not want to – With only two couples (good dancers at that) I did not wish to draw attention to myself. But I could not say no. So I danced. It was nice – not good but nothing spectacular. I thought the floor was way too slippery. After the tanda was over everyone clapped. (Which they did at the end of each dance – something not generally done at Milongas unless you are watching a performance – and this was not a performance), I went back to my seat slightly flushed an embarrassed by the dance (still had no idea what true embarrassment was going to be).. the night suddenly promised to get worse.

I got asked to dance the next tanda by the same gentleman. I guess I should take it as a compliment that he liked dancing with me and is asking me again – but the realist in me knew that there were just 4-5 dancers in that room. Again, I did not want to dance (remember, avoid dancing with the same man for consecutive tandas) but could not find a polite way of looking away or saying no, so I danced again. Then I danced with a man with really bad breath, and wobbly legs (the wobbly legs could be because of the slippery floors) still, it was not fun. Not even 15 min later, the first person I danced with asked me to dance the third time.. this time I tried hard not to look up, but he walked right up to me and asked me – He was a Porteño – he should no better than that and I on the other hand need to learn to say no. I did not say no, and I danced again. It was not that he was a bad dancer, but it just felt uncomfortable dancing with him. I was hoping Dave would join us at the Milonga, otherwise I would be stuck dancing with these two men all night. Bad. Very bad. Oh, and by the way – the worst was yet to come.

My next dance was with a local who I had danced with the earlier evening at Bien Porteño. He was a good dancer but spoke no English – and by now you know of my phobia and theory. I danced with him. On the second song of the tanda he was trying out a new step with me and I was not sure of what he was leading me to do. I told him No Se, No entiende .. but the man insisted to show me how to do this – in the middle of the dance floor of a non-crowded Milonga with 50 other people watching and taking pictures. If that wasn’t embarrassing enough, with the step he was trying to have me step to his side and lean on him sideways (or atleast that’s what I think he was trying to do.) I told him no, its ok, trying to get him to move on, but he said something in Spanish and pulled me to his side and leaned, I was on one foot … and did I say the floor was slippery? … yes, um… it was … and I slipped and fell flat on my back with this falling down beside me too. Yes – Talk about embarrassment with a capital E!! We stood up, and we continued to dance. I figured he felt sorry or embarrassed to, and I did not want to insult him by walking away, so I continued dancing the next couple of songs with him to complete the tanda. For all you know, I may now be on you tube if some tourist managed to capture that.

Dave did come after all. I danced with him pretty much the rest on the evening. By then the crowd was dying and with hardly anyone around, I could practice Milongas and Tango with him. He is a very good dancer (he was on cloud nine as he had been told by a local woman who danced with him that he danced like a Porteño) and was ultra patient with dancing with me and teaching me.

After the place shut down (at 2:00am) we went and had coffee. I found out that he is an artist. A photographer no less. Check out his website at http://tangoexpressions.com.au/ and send him an email if you like his work. I loved the pictures. He has a fresh way of expressing the many moods of Tango.

Now I am at the Casa and it is 3:30pm. I am still wired up with the coffee.. need to get some sleep now though.