This is Tango Tourist Season in Buenos Aires--springtime down south and everyone flocks to Buenos Aires for a little tango before they have to begin planning the holidays.
It's a very busy time for Ruben and me, and we are thankful to have so many wonderful students and so much work.
Recently we had a private student who had never even SEEN Argentine tango before, never on TV or in a movie or a stage show. Yet he wanted to learn. So after some lessons with us, we took him to La Milonga de los Consagrados, as most of you know, our regular Saturday night hangout.
The lobby upstairs in the Region Leonesa was quiet, with only the ticket seller, the coat-check lady, and a smoker or two. I pulled back the red velvet curtain into the huge crowded ballroom with a flourish (I might even have said, "Ta-dah!"), and it was a big WOW moment for sure. It was like seeing a secret world, entering the gilded gates of Paradise, the portals to another time and place. All cliches fail me as I imagined what it must be like to see a milonga for the first time. He made a sharp intake of breath, and so did I, I who am so used to it after dancing tango in Buenos Aires for 11 years.
And so I made the introduction.
And just maybe it was love at first sight.
4 comments:
I'll never forget walking in there. thanks for bringing back that vision. I hope everyone who love tango will have that wonderful "Ta Da!" moment.
Can't wait to sit at your table again and dance with Paula. :-)
Reading this post has brought back some happy memories this morning.
A big thanks.
That was a beautiful reminder that there was a time before the fantasy lost luster and we can go back to that place again.
Maraya,
Even when/if tango loses it's luster, it's still an amazing, smoky world of profound music and connection.
Sometimes it's even better after we see the warts and all.
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