One of the lessons I learned two years ago was that attending dance workshop blitzes only left me feeling like a zombie, too pooped to enjoy the big dance party on Saturday night. So, for the past two dance festivals, I just skipped all the torture and just partied at the Saturday night hoopla!
Since the spring tango festival was hosted at a dance studio 30 minutes away from where I live, I was in no danger of attending the long weekend schedule of classes. Instead, I attended the Saturday night milonga, the biggest during the entire festival and the one that featured all the instructors performing.
I surprised myself by arriving early enough to enjoy the first hour of live music, which I had not done in my previous two years of attendance. As a matter of fact, the first time I’d attended this milonga, I’d only been taking tango lessons for two months and didn’t know the three genres of music normally played at a milonga: tango, Argentine waltz (aka “vals”) and milonga.
I equate milonga to merengue since it’s a high-energy dance where you step on every beat. The first time I’d ever heard milonga music was three years ago at the spring tango festival. My partner at the time hadn’t heard of it either and we faked our way through the entire tanda of four songs. Once we sat down, we asked a mutual friend what the hell was that music we’d just danced to. Of course she laughed at us, told us what it was, and complimented us on faking our way through it.
Thanks to our clueless beginnings, we now have a tradition of dancing one milonga tanda together. This year, however, my usual milonga dance partner was usurped by an extremely sure-footed Argentine gentleman who literally kept my booty shaking throughout the entire tanda. We danced past my usual milonga partner and he was anxious to dance with me, but admired the fact that a highly skilled dancer had beat him to asking me to dance. Nonetheless, when the next milonga tanda came up, my usual partner was still late in asking me to dance, but at least he wasn’t too late!
Even though tango has been the most challenging dance for me to learn, I’ve finally gained subtlety and gracefulness for the basic and intermediate steps. I loved how each dance partner had his own sense of expression and I could follow with my own sense of style. I still have a ways to go until I become one of the most sought after dance partners since I cannot pull off the advance moves.
Last summer, I took a break from tango lessons since I wanted to free up my schedule. Now, I’m looking forward to dancing tango as much as possible so I can reach the next level.