Ok, that was the best night of dancing I've ever had in Buenos Aires, perhaps in my entire life in tango!!! And at Niño Bien (Humberto 1, 1462)! We arrived at the beginning, right at 10:30. We didn't get good seats, but it didn't matter! Oh, dear, too many exclamation points, but that's how I feel: the good dancers finally found me! For Thanksgiving, I am thankful that people made up this awesome dance and spread it around the world.
I danced with a man with whom I had a great tanda of Pugliese the night before, plus a DiSarli set last night. I have no idea what we danced tonight, but we danced even better together. Then another guy in a suit grabbed me. He had only danced nine years, but nine years in Buenos Aires is like dog years are to human years. Then two younger guys who had been intently watching me asked me to dance over the course of the next few tandas, and they were great! I think I've forgoteen another good dancer who helped make my night.
It's not that I didn't have mediocre tandas: I did boy scout tandas with a few foreigners and one Argentine man. However, they didn't get in the way of the really good sets. No one was horrible; even the foreigners for the most part were musical, if beginners. Also, having led in Niño Bien myself, I know how crazy it gets to navigate between the old guard being pushy and the foreigners being clueless. I think that the fact that even this milonga is less crowded, made it danceable all night, whereas it used to become impossible for about an hour in the middle of the evening.
What made tonight memorable was musicality. All the good tandas were led with very few complex steps, but with high affinity for the music and intimate knowledge of the songs. One guy complimented me, saying that it was unusual for a woman to know the music (he apologized and said people, but I think he meant that people who don't lead don't listen to the music sometimes). The old milongueros called out "Esa!" when I nailed an ending right in front of a bunch of them (YES!).
It's almost 4 am and I need to go to sleep because I have a massage at 10 am, but I'm so jazzed up that I don't know if I can sleep. Happy, happy, happy.
Go Elizabeth Go! Thanks for sharing your trip with this blog. You are getting me roiled for a trip to Argentina!
Posted by: Jim | November 25, 2011 at 09:34 AM