Expandalonga

If you don’t understand French, BTT means “All-terrain Ball” (I am not sure the translation is very useful but you can’t get it wrong now!). For the little story, the first edition of the BTT took place in the streets of Paris. It was an open air event and that’s explains the name. Dancing without caring where you will dance. Later, the BTT moved to the venue of the Roots tango festival “La parole errante” (this time, the translation is welcome but I let you google it) just one week before this other event. Th two events decided to share venue and floor for the best.

I discovered the BTT in 2017. I was in Paris for another tango event. A friend invited me there during the dinner break. I joined, forgot about the first event and stayed until the end of the BTT. The atmosphere was special. I had a crush. I decided to come back the next year. In 2017, I danced on a wooden floor and had a great time. In 2018, no floor was available because of the national day with all traditional ball. We danced on the free floor and that was still fine. I felt very glad of the experience as it was like going back to the roots of the event. So if I had only one sentence to describe the BTT, I could say -“With or without a floor, you will ask for more.”

Let’s begin with the non-dancing part of the event. It takes place outside in the garden. To describe it, the first comparison which comes to in my mind is a “school celebration at the end of the year” (as a good memory). You have stands with home made food and drinks, big tables to sit and share time with people, a tiny swimming pool for kids in the middle, a place to drop clothes you don’t use anymore, etc. Knowing that, I arrived on Saturday 2 hours before the start of the music. I bought some pie and salad, sit and ate with a German dancer that arrived also early. Like me, he just wanted to enjoy the sun, chat a little and feel this calm moment before the event. When people arrive slowly, you have time to cheer them without the pressure of the dance.

The BTT is not just tango. You can find other activities as theater, yoga, other expression art. The combination of this activity is an opening comparing to the monomaniac aspect of several events. There is more often folklore and yoga in events but tango stays as the main element. In the case of BTT, you can see it as 50/50. You can find also various tango clothes/shoes sellers.  If you are bored with Paris, you have other options to be busy and make shopping.

The BTT is not a classic milonga, nor a classic event. The whole place is set as simple as possible - floor, DJ in the middle, big stairs to sit and that’s all. You can find few strange decorations - I still try to understand what is the meaning of some object set there. What can I tell about the tango now ? I am sure you already heard a lot of stories about tango in Paris and the atmosphere in the milonga. I already guess which kind. Just forget everything you imagine. Organizers are giving a place where dancers can create their event. Everyone can find his place and have a nice moment. I liked this impression of freedom when I discovered it. I didn’t ask the organizers if it is what they try to create but I feel it like this.

I travel once per year in Paris. The BTT is the place where I can meet dancers from Paris that I like. They have different profiles. They don’t go in the same milongas in general but they gather to this place. Some are not regular and are just here by chance as a girl I didn’t see during 5 years and didn’t know how she arrived here. Others are following all the editions. The event is also a mix of dancers from Paris and travelers. I had always at least one good surprise with a foreigners.

Thanks to Petar Pavlov for the pictures of the edition 2018. You can find the whole album at the following link - https://www.facebook.com/petar.pavlov/media_set?set=a.10155381974827133&type=3. He has a lot of nice albums on other events, don’t hesitate to visit it. Remember that you will have a group picture from the front and one picture from the back because the organizers are shy and can’t kiss when people are looking at them.

In general, I only write reviews about event that I really enjoy. You can see that the objective of the blog is to share the good energy and take time to thank the organizers when they succeed to create a special tango time. I published only one preview in the past. It was for Fata Morgana adventure. I was enchanted by the concept of the event and I wanted to attract people that would not be afraid by the atypical but lovely concept. Now, it is my turn to take the role of organizer with Ines, Nadira and Nicolas. I am preparing the Fritkot Tango marathon for this summer and it is also time to draft a preview for it.

In fact, it is not really a preview. I don’t want to present what we will offer during the marathon. First, it would be boring and in some way hypocritical to draft a preview about my own event. Second, I would just repeat what you can read on facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Fritkot-Tango-Marathon-1990378994589836/ and what you can find on our website - https://sites.google.com/view/fritkot-tango-marathon/ (I hope you already read it). Here, the idea is more to share the concept of the marathon and also to show a little how we arrived to this concept.

Before thinking about a concept, you need to know if you really want to organize a marathon. You also need to find several friends with the same wish. For my part, I discovered the tango marathons with the delightful last edition of the marathon del chocolate in Bruxelles. Since then, I traveled in Europe in various type of events (marathons, encuentros and festival). Visiting all these events already set in my mind what I like and what I really dislike. I organized some little parties at home trying to create a special atmosphere - a meeting with friends coming from different cities who don’t necessarily know each other. Last summer when I entered in a group organizing milongas (taking part of one milonga and creating 2 new ones), I found people who also wanted something bigger.

One of the first big question was: is it really necessary to organize something when there are events every week ? It seems not really necessary. However, the multiplication of the events is not synonym of the multiplication of the quality. I visited various events where I was really disappointed. With the availability of our venue, we had to face a super busy agenda. August is like hell. There are so many interesting events before and after that we already know we will enter in a competition for participants with events we like (Entre amigos, Big pop, Tango8, Sueno...). I also discovered after the opening of the registration that we had an event in another city of Belgium the same weekend (Boca). August or not, we decided to go for it because at some point if you don’t move, you will  never move.

So we drafted all together some sort of concept note for the marathon. First, we had a big brainstorm, after everyone threw his ideas on paper and to finish we discussed to find the good middle. On the atmosphere side, it was clear for everybody. We were all on the same line. For the other details and new ideas to make the marathon different, better, smarter or whatever, it was a moment of long discussion and compromises.

The first concept was as follow: friendly/family event of 200 people maximum, funny party, serious on dance but not serious for the atmosphere, price as low as possible to avoid to exclude dancers, free bar except for alcohol, snacks and food but no dinner, no VIP and no free entrance for local people, strict balance leader/follower, good level of dancers, variety of ages, Belgian design and style, eco-friendly, no profit and in case of excess money investment in the promotion of next event and organization of local milongas/events. Maybe the marathon that everybody dreams about... Of course, later you have to face the reality and we had to rework it a little. So the concept has changed mostly on the number of participants and the price.

With some details it gives the following (skip if you are bored to read):

friendly/family - the most important where we all agree. We want an event that our friends will enjoy and that unknown people with a similar state of mind will join. We want an event where everybody will feel included and not as it happens sometimes an event where several groups are just sharing a common space. We have several ideas to make it happens including the overall environment, the programme, our home/handmade special stuff and of course the selection of the participants on the social aspect.

200 participants - the initial number changed to 250 due to the venue but it stays a maximum. If we have a little less, we will be happy. In big events, you see people but you don’t have time to meet them. One tanda here, one tanda there, and the end of the weekend arrives without letting you a possibility to take your time. Also a smaller event can give more opportunity to go outside of your usual circles.

funny party - look at the name of the marathon, it is this kind of spirit. Relaxed and not so serious. Tango is already too serious.

price - to travel you need money and some events are now really expensive (some with a good quality but some other where you are wondering where your money has gone). We wanted to find a good deal with the quality and to let the opportunity to the maximum of participants to join.

bar and snacks - at the end we have a classic bar and free water/coffee/tea but we set a good variety of snacks and surprises.

strict balance - this is an important point. We all know that it is something that followers enjoy but as a leader I like balanced event too. I will not find a line of followers sitting and I can enjoy the dances when I want. Often first edition have a little unbalance but it is something we will really avoid.

good level of dance - we didn’t advertise on it as it was simply natural for us. We organize a closed event where we want good embraces and good navigation. So there will be no (eternal) beginners. I think it will appear logical for all dancers. After there is a subtle mix to find in the dancers. Everyone should be able to find dancers he likes.

variety of ages - our organizers has already a variety of ages and we want the same for the marathons. Age doesn’t matter

Belgian design and style - it goes with the title of the marathon. We prepare several things on this theme. We love a dance that was born in Argentina but the dance evolved a lot all around the world. We didn’t want to just identify our marathon to the... Argentinian folklore.

eco-friendly - of course but a little paradoxical as a lot of people will fly to Brussels to take part in the event...

no profit / investment in other events - we all have jobs so we just organize it because we like it. If we have some extra (what doesn’t really happen for a first edition), we want to invest in more local events or a next edition if our participants like it.

I was speaking about balance but like all tango events we had to face the nightmare of the waiting list. We know leaders are not stressed and wait till the last minute to register. With the first check of the registration list, we had already an extra of 40 followers that ended on a waiting list... sigh... To try to resolve it, we published last week a video with a (great) support of Roberto - https://www.facebook.com/SZemotion/. He did an amazing job with Ines even if I heard something about mental torture. Preparing a video requires a lot of work. To get quality, you need to dedicate time and energy not only when you shoot it but also when you work on your video back at home.  It can be funny when you watch it but keep in mind people worked behind. A little like a marathon where you will enjoy a weekend but organizers worked weeks to prepare it.

My first travel in South Korea was short and I was quite busy with work. I didn’t really have time to wander around and only visited Seoul. The city is huge and even there, I stayed only in one area that my friends recommended - Hongdae. That’s why my first post on tango in Seoul only focused on one district of Seoul - Mapo-gu - where you can find o nada 1 and o nada 2. I had the opportunity to travel back to Korea and I came back to some of the milongas I knew. It was still great and my top 3 milongas in Mapo are Farol, Bulgeum and Alegre.

But this time I decided to give a chance to other milongas and I crossed the river. I explored Gangnam and I had good surprises there. I also traveled to more distant lands and cities. In fact, I will speak about Gangnam in Seoul and 2 other cities, Daejon (middle of the country) and Busan (South coast of the country).

It seems people like to dance in Gangnam because dancers are more open and social. As I don’t speak Korean, I didn’t feel a big difference and the dance experience was similar. Anyway, as in any big city, you find rilvary between the districts.

First, practical things to know if you also intend to explore the tango in Korea. 1/ Seoul is really big and going from one area to the other area will take a little less than 1 hour by metro. Forget about taking a taxi during the day, you will spend hours in the traffic but it will be a good solution to come back during the night. 2/ Going to Daejon by bus takes 2 hours and buses are quite comfortable. It is a good deal. 3/ To travel in Busan, take the KTX, express train, it will take you 2 hours and half to arrive to the beach.

Now, let’s have a look at my favorite milongas after crossing the river Han. I don’t have pictures of the milongas so I will just insert pictures of the super nice food I ate during the tipuri. Tipuri is some kind of after party where dancers are all going to the same restaurant after dancing. Sharing a drink with the dancers is a great moment and even if you don’t understand nothing about the chats, it is a good moment. It is still a tango blog and not a food blog but once again, korean food is great.

Gangnam - Luminoso (el tango on Monday)

Hyun Jung, alias Trees, organizes the milonga “Luminoso” in the studio el tango situated in Gangnam every Monday. This milonga was my first experience in the south part of the city and I really enjoyed the venue, the music and the atmosphere. I came back there every week finding back the good atmosphere and in particular the really good music: one week with DJ Chris Han, a korean DJ living in Australia and the next week DJ Nero from Seoul playing with records.

The venue of this milonga is bigger than the other one I visited before. It is a good point. Even when it is crowded you can breath around the dancefloor. The space is quite big but dancers behaves really good while dancing. A kind reminder of the rules is also placed near the change room. There is always special drink and food at the bar.

If you want to have an idea of the milonga in image, you can watch the video of Jinny about Luminoso at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmAqZUiaog0.

Trees not only organizes Luminoso on Monday but she organizes it also 3 others times in different venues during the week. Yes, 4 milongas per week... She is a serious professional and got the award of best organizer last year (a special interview from Jinny here again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvaJsQx8ZJk).

She is also supported with a super nice team. Frenchy who is always energetic and smiling at the bar (she didn’t speak French with me), Kim who will receive you well as he always try to take care of the guests and G-gun supporting before and after the milonga and also dancing when possible. There are more people in the team but I didn’t really had time to know them well. But when you come back to Luminoso, it is also for the smiling team.

Daejeon - Pong (o nada on Friday)

Jong-Bae, Yunsu and Dorothy take care of the milonga. They are very welcoming. They will be the first to offer you a drink and a tanda to throw you in the milonga. They give their good energy to the milonga and you can feel they want to offer a perfect night. When they don’t organize Pong milonga, you have big chances to meet them in Seoul or Busan.

Daejeon is a crossroad in South Korea and the good place to meet dancers from all the cities of the country (Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Daejeon....). Once per month is organized Pong milonga on Friday and little groups of dancers are coming from different cities. At the beginning, each group takes a table, forming like city tables, but quickly they dance all together and mix to chat and share drinks.

The milonga venue is not so big but if you danced before in Seoul, you will not be surprised. The dance level is high but not competitive. The dancers travelling are doing it often, sometimes every week to various cities. They are well received and they bring a home feeling without being at home. It is very interesting as it is not always usual.

Just a little of history: Pong milonga takes place in “o nada”. If “o nada” reminds you something in Seoul, you should know that Daejeon didn’t copy Seoul. In fact, Daejeon was the first city with tango in South Korea with the creation of “o nada”. Later the owner of “o nada - Daejeon ” moved to Seoul and opened new tango places in the capital city.

Daejeon is a city with nice meat restaurants and the place to try the beef sashimi. Someone also told me that the main reason dancers are gathering in the city is the food, and not the tango. I think people come for both. Daejeon dancers dance, eat and drink a lot. Anyway, afterparty in Daejeon is something you will not forget.

Busan - Tango mio (studio with various milongas)

Busan has a tango marathon but the city also have a lot of milongas. Almost everyday if you include practice.  All the milongas are localized in Seomyeon, a super active district who live all night long. It fits well with tango. I visited 4 different milongas with 3 taking place in the studio Tango mio. Each milonga was different from a friendly and calm one on Friday to an animated one on Saturday. I also experienced the over crowded birthday milonga which is the rule for a great birthday party.

In any case, I had good feelings in all these milongas and I met a lot of dancers. And it was not only meeting the dancers to dance but also to know them a little better and chat. Busan gives this feeling of non capital city where people are less distant and more interested. Atmosphere is just more relaxed.

Venue and milonga are very similar with Seoul. Venue with good floor, air condition, changing room, etc. Every milonga with a free buffet and water. Just remember, alcohol can’t be sold and you have to bring your own. That’s why you will always see the dancers with beers can. Most of the DJ I heard where guest DJ from Seoul but the reason must be I visited the milongas during the week end.

Of course, on the pictures, you recognized fish sashimi. Busan has a lot of fish restaurant and you can’t miss the fresh sea food if you visit the city

Some years ago, I entered in a festival with a bielorussian friend. After 2 minutes there she told me she could give me 10 reasons why she will never come back here again. I didn’t believe her and ask for the 10 reasons. She gave it to me without hesitation... and just after, she compared the event with the festival she knew well “Minsk Spring Tango Festival” (alias MSTF). The description was too nice to be real and I was not sure to trust her. We all defend a bit our local events.

Now that I visisted Minsk Spring Tango Festival and checked the high quality of this festival, and in tribute of the accurate taste of this friend, I will now give you the 10 reasons why you should visit Minsk in March. So let’s go for a topito style post.

Reason #1 - Music - 12 DJs offered their bests tango music during the event. DIfferents styles were adapted to the time (afternoon or night). 2 orchestras were also part of the programme. If you like folklore, there was also 2 penas for Argentinian music aficionados and a special Belarusian national dance party (loved this one with more than 100 dancers participating).

Reason #2 - Navigation - There is no pleasure to dance in a chaotic milonga. MSTF is one of the few festivals offering good conditions to dance. You can be sure to have good memories with this respectful ronda (no dangerous heels). Rules are clear at the entrance, enough space is given to dancers, leaders are taking care of the others. You can come and dance safely.

Reason #3 - Dancefloor - The festival takes place in a sport center. The floor is not a dancing floor and the organizers have to install a special floor. It is perfect to dance, big enough, slipery as it should. For this edition they extended the floor comparing to the previous year and it was a good choice.

Reason #4 - Cheerful team - You just arrive, they give you a smile. You are lost, they give you the way. You need advices, they give you their best tips. The team of the festival is present all along the festival and doing all what has to be done: welcoming, advising, cleaning,... All the helpers deserves a big clap for the numerous little tasks that make your event great.

Reason #5 - Warm decoration - Let’s be honest. If you go in Minsk in March for the “spring” tango festival, you will get snow outside. You have to wait some months to get nice weather. However, inside, light and decoration will warm you up and give you the feeling the Spring is coming. I don’t know where all the flowers on the tables comes from but there must be some hidden gardens. 

Reason #6 - Careful with women - Most of the festival are unbalance. It is a reality. Organizers have several tricks to deal with this but it is just impossible to solve it. MSTF team just takes care of the women offering a lot of space, attention and also blankets. Even if you wait, you can do it in a nice way and be ready for your next tanda.

Reason #7 - Games for newcomers and regulars - If you are a newcomer at the festival, you will get a little flower. You can hide it, but if you keep it people will come to you and offer a talk, a dance, whatever. If it is not your first time at the festival, you will not get flower... In this case, you can just color a dedicated wall and be part of the big game with selfies and surprises.

Reason #8 - Free water and snacks - It is something usual for closed events to have  free water and snacks. MSTF is the first festival where I go that offer this confort. It is really nice to be able to drink water as you want between your tandas and avoid queue at the bar (just for a glass of water). You can also buy some drinks at the bar when you want to enjoy it.

Reason #9 - Free visa - Citizens from more than 70 countries don’t need anymore visa to enter in Belarus for 30 days since few months. A good gesture to attract more tourists and also give you time to visit some places as Nesvizh (world heritage castle). It makes things easier but you still have to think about your health insurance. Be careful.

Reason #10 - Pajamas afterparty - In East Europe it is normal to go well dressed to the milonga. The afterparty is a time to be more simple and put clothes you will never wear during a normal milonga. The pajamas afterparty gives you the opportunity to come as simple as possible and to share your last moment in a more cozy atmosphere.

Thanks to Masha Traskovskaya for all the pictures which give a nice overview of the atmosphere of the festival. You can find the albums at the following links:

Thursday - https://www.facebook.com/pg/mashatangophotografer/photos/?tab=album&album_id=559624581072802

Friday - https://www.facebook.com/pg/mashatangophotografer/photos/?tab=album&album_id=560050037696923

Saturday (day) - https://www.facebook.com/pg/mashatangophotografer/photos/?tab=album&album_id=560367617665165

Satuday (night) -  https://www.facebook.com/pg/mashatangophotografer/photos/?tab=album&album_id=560994454269148

Sunday - https://www.facebook.com/pg/mashatangophotografer/photos/?tab=album&album_id=561334024235191

In 2016, 2 couples offered a nice event called “Las Perseidas”, a first and unique edition. In 2017, both couples came back with their personal events, Anna and Piotr revising the previous event with “Entre amigos” and Magda and Michal creating the “Sueno de Varsovia”. Here comes the famous question I heard several times “so, who is the winner ?”. And the winner is... me. Yes, me and the other dancers who got the chance to participate to both events and to get a double dose of polish marathons.

If you don’t know “Entre amigos”, you can check my previous comments on “Las perseidas”. The event was quite similar with new participants constituting a more close friends group. If you want to learn about “Sueno de Varsovia”, just continue to read this post and discover how from a seed in the mind of the organizers, we got a blooming flower before the summer ends.

Sometimes, we dance in palace or majestic buildings, sometimes in historic monuments, or it also happens we dance in forbidden places. With “Sueno de Varsovia” we didn’t dance in any kind of these settings. We danced in a romantic atmosphere entirely created from the organisators ideas by the creativity of  the “girl with flowers”, Izabela Kowalczyk. And I have to say, you can dance everywhere you want, it is nothing compared to a magical venue like this one. From scratch, the magic came mainly from the flowers all around the dancefloor. The whole room was a floral composition giving you the sadness of the sun disappearing while the autumn arrives, but also the hope that colors and glows will last a little bit more, until the end of your tanda.

Dancing in “Sueno” was the possibility to share your dreams and dance with them. After the registration, Magda collected the private wishes that will be projected anonymously on a wall all along the event. Until Sunday evening, I didn’t see mine. Until this moment, I was quite sceptical about the dream wall but also interested with all the serious, intimous or funny dreams. However, when my dream arrived at the same moment I was dancing with my Love, I understood the fabulous effect it can create. Today, I still wonder if there was someone hidden with instructions on each participants to select the best moment to put a dream on the wall or if it was just by chance. Let’s stay in a world of dreams and think there was a fairy somewhere.

Now, let’s be more practical and see if you’re getting your money’s worth. For this, I will let my guest “Cookie Monster” give her opinion on the event: 

My first impression at the venue was a warm welcoming at the entrance, Magda and Michal were welcoming each single guest. They were calm, smiling and ready for their guests, like real hosts. That gives a very nice feeling, I felt like home.

Then the bracelet - the most original and extraodrinary souvenir ever. I wanted to take more than one, each of them had a different flower or a plant inside, all handmade, real masterpieces. It took me a while to choose my favourite.

Then the welcoming warming up drink, 4 or 5 different tastes to try, each one strong and delicious.

The venue. From an enormous space of the exhibition hall they made a cosy multipurpose space.

a wall from a glass covered with a curtain of fresh summer flowers, sunflowers, 

colourful lights everywhere else, 

comfortable spots with tables and chairs - to eat, talk, watch dancing couples, 

a corner with food and drinks, 

a darker corner with a DJ, dancers' dreams and deckchairs with blankets to relax or to take a nap, 

a good sound system and a nice dance floor...

This first impression stayed with me till the end of the marathon.

From a practical point of view:

with the food provided I didn't have to leave the venue and I wasn't hungry, there was enough food for everybody and it was very tasty!

coffee machine available for free to prepare a proper espresso - that doesn't happen often at the marathons to get a good coffee included (congratulations for the genius idea),

a glass of a good wine (red and white) served during the night time (grateful for this idea also),

it was clean, everything was in order, in a very elegant way, I felt well served,

there was a big cloakroom and a place to change shoes,

the toilets were very well-equipped, you could find there everything that you could have imagined to be necessary during marathon, even a hairdryer which was a multipurpose tool ;) 

Back to the initial review.

From the dance point of view, “Sueno” could get the award of the best navigation of the year 2017. I remember just one soft contact with a dancer which finished with a respectful salutation. The good navigation is maybe related to the good level of dance or the space offered (but space can also creates chaos). The dance floor was big enough to give space to everyone and you could notice lines on the floor. You can think “it is to help leaders with the ronda” but the lines were just the bonds between the parts of the built floor. A nice floor by the way. There was the classical downtime during the event (before/after dinner) and some tables could be difficult to approach for the newcomers in an event with a good mix of countries but where East countries took an important place (Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Baltic...). On this last comment, it is maybe my personal feeling as I recognized more people from  the East.      

The DJ selection proposed several of my favorites DJ with differences of identities for a nice cocktail. To complain, I could say it was a selection with no risk taking. Nice set so from Alexandra Kotelnitskaya, Ewa Zbrzeska, Ines Tabajara and Olga Agapova. I stayed during the sets of Jenni Valli and Daniel Rossi who got the evenings but as I really like their completely different styles, it was a must. Too bad few dancers stayed at this time and preferred to go to rest.

For the afterparty beginning on midnight, I was surprised so many participants came back for Marcin Blazejewski (great music also). But a lot of people planned to leave the city on Monday and not at the end of Sunday as it happens most of the time. “Sueno de Varsovia” is a marathon which offer you the possibility to have good moments from the beginning until the end. 

The Big Pop 2017 was the first edition of the marathon of John, Stephanie, Paris, Helen and Andrea. Maybe you already met them somewhere in Europe as dancers or DJs. They are not newcomers. It was in fact a surprise that they waited so long before organizing something. I think it is just because they wanted to be sure to offer something nice.

There are so many options to travel during summer that it can be strange to choose Manchester in place of the sea and the South. I was appealed by the insurance of a good organisation and by the promotion which had a style all of her own. When you see the details, you can already guess organizers are fully involved. Even in this situation, it was a surprise to feel a wonderful armosphere, even better than expected. Speaking with friends after the event, we all had the feeling that we received more than what was on the paper.

Big pop marathon takes place in Manchester but not exactly in the city center. The marathon is organized in the suburb, in Altrincham. This city is not far from the airport and has everything of the little british town with a little center with bars, restaurants and fish and chips and long streets with typical houses and gardens (as you can imagine in UK). In August, it was a good moment to wander in the streets. Not so far, I was really pleased to visit Dunham massey hall, a parc with a castle and a lot of dears. But let’s come back to the tango.

One special characteristic of the event - there was two venues, a wedding house for day and evening milongas, and the ballroom of a football club for the night milongas. English rules explain this situation as most of the places have to close after midnight (same rule as for the pubs). The wedding house offer a big dancefloor and a lot of space to relax, have a snack, drink, etc. The place was nice and relaxing with polo players in the garden. The organizers took care of the air and talk powder as it was getting warm really fast. The night place was smaller and simpler but with a long bar and space all around to sit with tables. In fact, I found the dancefloor better in this second place. The two places were located in the same area so it was not too hard to leave one to join the other. For the accomodation, the best option is to select your hotel just between both, so you just have 10 minutes walking to each places.

The best point of the event was the participant selection. The mix of well knowns and open unknows created a good vibration. Dancers came from all around Europe and I think it was not so easy to attract dancers in a non-capital city. The other international event I went in UK was mainly composed of dancers from UK. In this configuration, you feel quickly the group of dancers by cities or closed friendship. In Manchester, you could clearly see the support of the community with a number of friends and also organizers. I recognized several groups of dancers that usually bring a positive energy to an event. There was also people from UK and the biggest group was of course from London. Usually, Manchester dancers are travelling to London but this time, it was the turn of London’s dancers to travel to Manchester. Just between ourselves, I heard a lot of bad comments about London’s dancers before the event and I didn’t understand why after meeting directly these dancers in Manchester.

You will not be surprise if I tell you the bad point of the event was the food during the days and the evenings. “Yeah, French people speaking about food in UK, what a surprise...”. The catering was organized by the wedding house and it was not tasty at all. The worse was the staff, unpleasant and stubborn. Before the end of the event, the organizers were already considering to change for a restaurant near by in case they decide to go for a next edition. But note, there was also food at night, a home-made buffet. And this one was pretty good. People arriving for the night milonga were pleased to have extra food to fill up the bellies before dancing until dawn.

I had only good mood with the music but I didn’t expect less from John is a DJ and will really take care of the music. Arriving late on Friday night, I skipped the first milongas and missed Juliana Thutlwa music. A lost opportunity for the music but it seems I escaped the first part of the marathon where people are all gathering and still trying to fit in the event. Sets of Jens Dörr and Mary Meriu Wu were the best (I would say it was nice to listen again to Jens but it was even nicer to discover Mary), also with the banana duo of Dark Oh and John at night. Night milongas ended too early. There was still quite a good number of dancers when they had to close on Saturday. I skipped also Benedicte as I decided to rest but I listen to her selection frequently in Bruxelles. The afternoon with La Ros offers nice tandas but with an end I really dislike (overspeed and strange music). She gave me at this moment an emotional rollercoaster and in place of finishing the marathon in the best way, I just sat. I was really sad after a good Sunday afternoon.

When I read back the text, I think I described the variety of emotions that offered the Big PoP. The review is sometimes sharp but just because the Big Pop 2017 was one of the best first edition of a marathon. I forgot to speak about the team who did a great job all over the event. From the welcoming moment to the end, they were present and supporting.

Thanks to Jonathan Penny and Irina Zoueva for the pictures. You can find the full albums here:

Part 1 - https://www.facebook.com/irina.zoueva/media_set?set=a.10155178125708171.1073741915.598048170&type=3

Part 2 - https://www.facebook.com/jonathan.penny.351/media_set?set=a.1526410370757440.1073741892.100001654746409&type=3

Before I had the chance to visit Seoul, I heard only good comments about the tango there. My friends travellers told me “Local milongas are nice”, “Guys are dancing so well... I am in love” or even “Seoul is the Buenos Aires of Asia”. It is always hard to know if people are giving you this feedback because they are just coming from a nice trip and it is also hard to guess if I would enjoy the experience in the same way. However one week in Seoul made my mind.

Just to be clear, I didn’t visit all the milongas of the city. I stayed in Hongkik University area where you can find everyday a milonga in two different spaces (o nada 1 and o nada 2). If the venues remain the same, different organizers take care of the milonga every day. I danced in 2 different spaces but in 5 different milongas. You can also milongas in other part of the city every day but my agenda didn’t let me time to discover more.

If I had to describe the tango in Seoul in one sentence, I could say it is delicious like a red bean Doughnut. The fundamental rules are respected for the best and the addition of the local flavour make it even better. Mixing tastes from two completely different part of the world give at the end one of the best combination possible. The good part of the tango is you can abuse of the tandas without getting fat...

“Local milongas are nice” - Yes.

The milongas I visited all take place in the basement of the buildings, hidden underground as the karoake clubs and some bars. You only hear the music when you arrive close to the door downstairs. Venues are not really big but you find all you need: changing room for women, wardrobe, toilets, a good wooden floor and places to sit on little tables all around the dancefloor... Even in this small spaces, at least 4 speakers surrounds the room and give a good quality of sound. You always get a free ticket for drink and water is free. You have sometimes some extra food. I would say everything is good for the material aspect of the milonga.

There are more men than women in most of the milongas (just one milonga with more women). People are mixing and dance one tanda then change. Cabeceu is quite easy. You see quickly if someone want to dance the tanda or not. You can see in the milonga that people are super connected with a bunch of smartphone on the tables. If women are on their phones, you can skip. If they are not, it is already an invitation. As venues are not huge, you can also easily invite from one side of the room to the other side. All these elements give a good energy to the milonga. If you add good DJ - yes, never had to complain at the music during the week - and good embraces, it is perfect. About the DJ, I heard people complain quickly when they don’t like the music... With all this, you are in good conditions to have a good milonga.

Every milonga, dancers came to me to speak and welcome me. I can’t tell if it is because I was clearly a foreigner or if they cheers all the newcomers. Anyway, it is a nice habit and it is the moment you can discover names you would never put on Koreans - Juan, Hasard, Tino... This little extra makes the milonga even more welcoming and nice to spend the night. 

“Guys are dancing so well” - Yes.

I can’t speak about embraces of men as I can do it with the women. However, there is two points that make me think my friend is right when she is speaking about dancers of Seoul - musicality and navigation. When I was not dancing, I was really pleased to watch men dancing. This observation concerns not only a sample of the dancers in the milonga but the majority. They don’t try to overdo or show off, they just share the song with the partner. It is really nice to be able to connect what I see with what I hear. Another important point is the respect of the ronda and the other dancers. If I take out 2 hours of a milonga overcrowded with soft contact because of the space, I can count on my hand how many times I had contact with other couples. As the ronda is well respected, it is really easy to relax and just focus on your partner and the music. I found in local milonga this feeling I have in marathon when people move all together and have the same flow.

“Seoul is the Buenos Aires of Asia” - Maybe.

From the tango point of view, I have really no idea. I also don’t know other cities in Asia to make the comparison. I am just sure that passion for tango is in the city. Seoul offers also some extra as Buenos Aires. The first one coming to my mind is the possibility to get some food or drink after the milonga. All around you can find a 24h kimchi or soup restaurant. The second one will be the travellers arriving for the week end. Dancers travel from other cities and from Japan during the week end to join Seoul milongas.

Legend: In the milonga, men and women are dressing well as a french expresso. It is very similar to Poland or Russia on this point.

Now, my own comment on Seoul “Women are good dancers”. I can’t count the number of good first dances I had in one week. Ok, all my dances were first dances but anyway... I found what I really like in tango, the connection with the partner and the connection with the music. If you are really interesred with more details, you can ask me directly. For my best experience, “Bulgeum” (“Thanks god it is Friday” in Korean) was the warmest milonga (the good solution to spend a really good Friday night, welcoming, good atmosphere, dance, birthdays...) and for the best dance experience (taking into consideration the music and the flow of tandas), it was “Farol”.

Last September, I decided to have a little trip to Romania to participate to the birthday party of the school “tango timisoara”. The travel was quite an adventure as I didn’t book the best option to flight. Even with hours of travel, it was worth it. First time in this event, first time in this country, I barely knew 5 people. However it was surprisingly easy to get in the mood. The other day I was writing about tango8 where I go regularly and the feeling to be at home. Even if I was for the first time in Timisoara, I had the same feeling.

First, for those who know nothing about Timisoara, like me few months before the events, Timisoara is a little city at the crossing of the Romanian, Serbian and Hungarian border. To reach the city, you can flight to Bucarest then Timisoara or flight to Budapest then take a shuttle. I took this option after leaving my work on Friday and that’s why I arrived late for the beginning of the marathon. It is a nice city. The centre at 10 minutes walking from the event is full of old squares and buildings which allow a nice walk around during the day. If you wait for the night, numerous ravens gather to stand on the top of a building near the cathedral.

Anivertango takes place in a bar called Ambasada mixing factory and art place styles. Ambasada offers good coffees and has a little garden which was the perfect place to take the brunch and chill out. With the nice weather and temperatures around 25 degrees, you could spend all your weekend under the shadows of the tree chatting and listening to the music. In case you want to dance, you can go to the first floor of the building where is the dancefloor, with air conditioning and big windows to let the sun enter. The venue doesn’t give you the impression to be here for a marathon. You have more a holiday feeling which is quite nice and really convenient to get in touch with people.

Only girls composed the DJ team with Naoko, Karolina Tkaczuk, Vera Tinkova, Anca Madroane, Monica Șuteu and Gabriela Manea. I already heard everybody except Vera which was a discovery. From what I heard I would say a marathon 100% women DJ can easily be a success. Arriving super late on Friday, I missed Naoko and Karolina. Vera, Anca and Monica had good sets on Saturday with a good balance of style. Gabriela played on Sunday with an interruption of 20-30 minutes with an unexpected storm crushing trees and everything standing outside. She didn’t play hurricane maybe to avoid to annoyed more the divinities. But the song would have been perfect for the moment. I forgot, in fact, there was a guy, José Almar, playing for the afterparty in a very dynamic style.

I never travelled to Romania so I got the role of the stranger in the middle of groups of friends. A lot of confirmed dancers came from Serbia, Croatia, Hungary and several cities of Romania speaking languages I don’t understand. I like to hear incomprehensible discussions (but don’t worry people speak English...). Anyway, I danced a lot. There was maybe around 150 participants. Cabeceu was easy in the room due to the reasonable size and people receptive. The navigation was pretty good and it was a good surprise. Finally, I was also surprised to have nice tandas with local people and a last dance with a beginner from Timisoara. I am convinced they have good teachers there.

If I could gave an award for the best homemade food, I will give it this year to Victor Popescu for his brunch, his selection of products and his spicy sauce. The food was mainly inspired by Italy with delicious cheeses and vegetables. Everything fresh and tasty. I don’t know if it is usual in Romania but you have there a chef to discover. Sorana Greucean completed the buffet all kind of sweets.

A little detail, the food come in addition of the marathon fee. The whole package marathon + food (brunch/dinner/food all over the event) costed 90€ which is a quite reasonable price if you compare the quality/quantity of the food with other marathon today.

Every last week end of August, Tango8 Köln offers a marathons which I consider as a little pearl. I didn’t miss an edition since 2014 and after all these years, I really think it is the best way to finish the summer season. You can dance all along the week end in a friendly and cosy atmosphere and also take the sun near the dancefloor(s) with a good feeling of summer holidays. After years, I have this kind of feeling to be home

I will for once begin with some comments on the participants because tango8 offers one of the most friendly crew I met. For sure, a lot of friends are regular participants but the organizers always let places for new people. Last edition I was really surprise the way new participants were received and quickly invited. The marathon is not so big so it helps. We are far from the 300 participants or more where you are just lost if you know nobody. But the number doesn’t explain everything. From the first edition, it seems that dancers are relaxed and peaceful.This feeling stay over the years and contribute to a good party.

Several little also give the good conditions to spend week end of dance. The marathon takes place in a factory building transformed since years as tango school. I like the way to transform the old building into a place dedicated to the tango. The venue offers a lot of space, sofas and chairs/tables to sit inside, various big tables to site outside (people mix and change on the tables all along the tandas) and also a lot of space to walk around. It is easy to relax and if it is sunny you can also have a foot bath in a kid swimming pool. The wooden dancefloor inside has a good size but it can get crowded when everybody is here. When it is the case, just talk a little and wait for the next tanda.

Music review will be short as I just remember the names of several DJ and don’t really remember how they play... For the last 2 years: Siobhan, Marion, Toufik, John, Siva, Greg, Ina, Jens,... Sorry if I don’t remember somes names.

The selection of DJ mix regional DJ we cross around Belgium/Nederlands/Germany and DJ from further countries. Each time there are a good balance of style and you can find what you like at one moment or another. An interesting element of the musical schedule is that Jens and Ina play each year on Friday’s opening and during Saturday dinner time/rest time. The guest DJ have also the best moment to play and they are safe from the situation to play when almost nobody is there.

Every year the marathon has a little extra. In 2016, a second dancefloor offers the possibility to dance outside all along the marathon. During the day, the sun was really strong and it was maybe not the best moment to dance there, except if you wait for some clouds. But at night, dancing outside with the heat of the summer, the lights and the little wind gave a wonderful feeling. Just the beach was missing...

Having a second floor offers a lot of space and allowed to dance as you want even during the crowded hours of the marathon. Just one thing, be careful, the dancefloor is quite high and if you dance without taking care of your line, you will fall on the ground or at the best on the flowers. For the edition of 2017, the outside dancefloor was still available

The surprise of 2017 was the addition of two free workshops of Argentinian folklore in the park near by. Dancers interested to have a little break with tango could try chacarera on Saturday and zamba on Sunday. With the nice weather, it was really pleasant to have these initiations bare feet in the grass. The marathon still continue during the folklore sessions. I am already wondering what the organizers are prepare for 2018...

Thank you Siva for the pictures. He is also a regular participant of this marathon. So, you can see his full album here 

2016, part 1 - https://www.facebook.com/pg/sivakphoto/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1125777964150419

2016, part 2 - https://www.facebook.com/pg/sivakphoto/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1128392470555635

There’s a reason why we keep coming back year after year. In Sweden we celebrate Midsummer around this time of the year, which is the biggest and the best feast and family reunion of the year. La Cita de Los Amigos is exactly that. Midsummer of Tango.

1. Family

2. Love

3. Comida y cerveza

We arrive in Spa on Friday afternoon, greeted by the serene atmosphere and warm blessing of the sun. Some head directly to the Thermal Baths on top of the Radisson Hotel. Others get changed and head to the venue where the DJ starts playing at 6pm. As usual food is served as of 8pm and we choose our preferred timing. It’s a smart organisational touch that helps to keep the queue short. (This was though left out on Saturday which caused a humongous line of hungry people in one go).

Magical Venue

Enter and breath. Centre Culturel de Spa, a glorious historical ballroom from 1750. An outdoors balcony with custom made dance floor for the afternoon dancing.

For those of us staying at the Radisson Hotel, the venue is within 3 minutes walking distance. Or 10 minutes in the early morning when the birds start chirping and our feet take longer to feel the ground.

There are several moments when you wake up from your tango haze, look around. Take it all in and have to pinch yourself. Is it a dream or am I really there?  

DJs & Dance

Other than the house DJs Jens-Ingo, Benedicte and Jonas a nice mix of DJs filled the dance floors with amazing dancers day and night:

Myriam Alarcon, Montpellier

Age Akkerman, Amsterdam

Karolina Tk, Łódź

Theo Chatzipetros, Florence

Bachar Bitar, Siegen 

Saturday we simply couldn’t stop dancing outside. Some of us had planned to go the the Spa, but how could we leave the dance floor? Instead we danced until dinner was served. Had a good meal and then went to rest and freshen up for the grand night. However for some others, the entire day of joy was fulfilling enough. And so the dance floor was therefore bit more airy on Saturday night.  

The moments

A good mix of laughing with old friends and making new friends.

The moment we smiled and applauded most was at the traditional group picture when the two armor-bearers Jean-Pierre Bataille and Claude Chen brought out their “canons”. Every year they manage to capture the growing group and the precious connections. We applauded with immense gratitude as we saw the entire La Cita team of helpers gather up together. 

The moment we got completely mushy and emotional was when Benedicte’s daughter danced her birthday vals.

The moment we got crazy and danced to YMCA and Michael Jackson - well, a little bit every day.

La Cita de Los Amigos is simply a taste of heaven. Once we know what it’s like, we can’t stop dreaming about the next time.

PS: Next summer edition JB & BB may consider integrating some Swedish Knäckebröd. In consultation with grand master chef Augusto of course - who once again outdid himself. 

More from La Cita de Los Amigos 9th edition -and 1st Spa edition- here by artists:

VIDEOS

Chongrak Savisa: Day Time La Cita  /  Night Time La Cita 

Roberto SZ: La Cita 

Bobbo Hallengren: La Cita

PHOTOS

Jean-Pierre Bataille: 

Welcome Amigos - Thursday pre-party

Once upon a Friday - 9th edition of La Cita

Saturday Tango Follies

Sunday (Coming soon)

Claude Chen:

(Coming soon)

Fata Morgana is going to offer you the first edition of “Fata Morgana Tango Adventure” in June 2017. So this post is not a review, but a preview. This marathon drew my attention several months ago because the organizers promise not only a marathon, but also an adventure. If you like to read reviews thinking a panda is writing, this event is for you.

Let’s first check the main characteristics of the marathon, just to be sure we have everything for a good time:

Location: The Fort of Salins-les-Bains will host the marathon. From the top of the mountain, a nice view. The place can host 150 people with several options from 2 to 5 people. Nobody can tell with certainty how will be the weather, but June is one of the sunny month for the Jura. If you like nature, the PNR (Regional Natural Park) of Haut-Jura and Mont d’or are just at 20 km away.

Transport: The two main cities near Salins-les-Bains are Besançon and Genève (20km and 40km of distance each). Shuttles are organized from both cities to join the Castle of the fairy. If you go by plane or train, you will also avoid to pay a taxi to join the venue.

Music: From the words of Fata Morgana, Muses will take care of the music. I heard few days ago the Spirit of the Forest (Toufik Cherifi) and the Wolf (Andres Molina) during Remolino Festival. I liked them. I already heard two other muses some time ago and still keep a good feeling. I don’t know the others.

Dance-floor: A wooden floor of 300m² +. Just look at the picture below. :)

Drink: One of the organizers is a wine and cheese trader and he wants to share his passion all along the marathon. He already selected various wines from the simple one, to the complex one. If you like the beer offer of La cita de los amigos or the wine selection of mtango party, you can expect a similar attention to the wine there.

Food: All food will be organic and from Jura. As for the drink, there is a close attention to the quality of the food. Vegetarian option available.

Little extra: Beyond the drink menu, surprises around the wine will wait for you - vineyard visit and tasting session. A swimming pool will also be installed...

Now, let’s talk about the serious part of the event, the adventure part. When you register for the marathon, you have the option to take part of the adventure and help Fata Morgana. King Arthur has been once again giving trouble to his sister and stole one of her treasures. You will also help her all along the weekend to get it back. If you don’t want to take part of the adventure, just dance, drink and have fun in other ways.

I tried to get information about the treasury quest and for all I know, you will have to complete quests, get information from magical creatures, challenge your mind. The mermaid will wait for you near the swimming pool, you can share a drink with the knight, etc...  I also asked if there will be dragons but the organizers told me it is not games of throne (but who knows...). There will be a lot of surprises for sure.

The adventure doesn’t include acting part but feel free to show the hidden self you never show in any other tango marathon. I find the adventure part of the event really interesting. For once, we have a tango marathon with a little of magic. It offers a second way to get in touch with the other participants and exceed the seriousness of traditional event. Being a little crazy doesn’t mean you will not dance well and a lot.

Fata Morgana Tango Adventure is a tango event and a little more. I expect a great first edition. For me, all the conditions have been met to have a good event. It is just the turn of the dancers to do the rest of the job.

The word on mouth was right for Noches de Hungria. Various people spoke to me in a good way about the event. Most of them, women who they were not looking for a partner as the registration was single registration. I took the decisions with all the comments in mind but I didn’t have special expectations. At the end, the event was a really nice surprise for the atmosphere.

One of the good point of this marathon was the dance room and his arrangement. I knew the event is a big one and I was sure to find a big dance floor. However, there was more than just a dance floor. There was a lot of space all around to sit and speak with people. To be more precise, you could find a first raw of comfortable armchairs and sofas, a corridor to let people walk, stay stand to look at the dances and a second raw of sofas. If you add the lights, some additional decoration like the candles and the air conditioning keeping the right temperature, it was the perfect place to mix dance and social interactions.

I spent also a lot of time wandering all around the dance floor to chat or to invite. I was not alone. Men were not standing all at the same spot and there was also freedom for the women. The comment of a girl confirmed my impression when she said she didn’t feel any forbidden place. The other good effect of various invitation spot is also people were entering all around the dance-floor, so no slow traffic. After, regarding the navigation, there was good and bad. For my last tanda, I was between the worse and the best.

The number of participants was high but fit well to the location. There mix was good. Thinking quickly, all Europe was represented. I was really surprised to see 3 other dancers from Belgium - I really didn’t expect to see them here - and maybe a dozen of girls from Moscow. The organizers did well with the selection in terms of atmosphere also. From what I heard, it was far better than the previous year. Women were also really happy with the leaders as you had an important number of good dancers open to dance, so a lot of options.

Even with all these dancers, I think I spent more time than usually to speak with people and  I didn’t dance with a lot of new dancers. It is maybe the fact I didn’t see some friends since a long time as we didn’t have the same destinations this year. Let’s say it is easily one year I didn’t meet some women from Southern countries. At the end, I was very surprised to dance with only one girl from Budapest (I asked around, I was not alone).

My “minus” about the event will go for the food at night: a lot of people and really few places to eat. Quality was nice but conditions were not good to enjoy it. While I was sharing a cab with dancers on the arriving, we were already talking about food in general. I think we had all the same conclusion “Why events in big cities spend energy with dinner when there are so many places to go in the city ?”. Dinners are often not so great (for various conditions and here in particular, the location to eat). Brunch is quite different as you have not the big rush of the dancers. Anyway, brunch was nice and fruits as snacks were delicious.

About the DJ, hum not this time... I heard just half of them. Saturday was a great day with Konrad Krynski and Karolina TK. I stayed from the brunch to almost midnight. Just after the dinner, I had two solutions, stay a little more and go to bed after a really long day or go home to change and come back. But I know I will not come back with the second option. So I decided to stay a little more for the music and for the space. It was a really good moment where you don’t have so many people but everybody is very opened.

At the end, I had a really good time, just too short.

Prices:

marathon pass - 110 €

Free water, coffee, tea.

A little shop with additional food and drink at first floor.

Food:

Snacks and really nice fruits.

Brunchs and warm meals at night.

Accomodation:

Some recommendation on the website http://noches.hu/ and a lot of options in the center.

Holidays are over and it is the best moment for me to introduce you to the milongas of Brussels. I hope this will get you into a dancing mood and stir your curiosity for new discoveries.

Every milonga is presented in the same manner: first a short description, then a small interview with the organizers and finally some dancers’ insights. I would like to thank the organizers and the dancers for taking the time to help me with these presentations. I am not offering any info over addresses, opening hours or prices, as you can normally find all of those on the site milonga.be.

Some milongas are not on the list. If you want a full calendar of Brussels milongas I will once more advise you to visit milonga.be.

Now, let’s get down to business.

Monday

Milonga del Rio de la Plata

This year the ‘Milonga del Rio de la Plata’ will take place at salle Dublin. After the previous versions in bars and theaters, Sandrina now welcomes you in a dancing hall dedicated to dancing and to tango. This venue offers a good dance floor and a space where you can have a drink and a comfortable seat.

Dancers are warmly welcomed. You can meet there this milonga’s ‘regulars’ but Mondays offer also an opportunity to make more unusual encounters. Last week’s example was a dancer from China on a one-week visit to the capital. On other occasions, it’s some tourist enjoying a ‘long’ weekend.

The milonga is smaller than those of the end of the week and, thus, a suitable venue for these encounters. The ambience is Argentinian but also Uruguayan. A short discussion with Hugo is enough to understand this. The Djs are the milonga’s regular Djs and Brussels’ tango ‘living legends’.

A word by the organizer

Why do you organize this milonga?

The birth of this Milonga was due to my preference for dancing on a Monday night. We started with ‘Los romanticos’ in the ‘Palacio Latino’ of Brussels, then moved to Montecristo, another latino legend in the center of the city. Last year, it was the Gaite Theater and now Tangobar. The Milonga del Rio de la Plata recovered from all the difficulties between the organizer and the Montecristo managers, so that we can continue to live our passion for social tango like in Montevideo and BsAs.

Together with a group of ever-present ‘aficionados’ we first initiated the Milonga del Rio de la plata as amateurs. Anyone could play and share their music. Hugo Godoy was our first ‘house’ Dj; then Jose ‘el Chinito’ Torres arrived from Argentina to enchant our ears with his sensitivity and knowledge of tango culture. They helped other Djs to get their ‘baptism of fire’ alongside with lessons, workshops, concerts and performances. The Milonga del Rio de la Plata became a experimentation and creativity scene within a spirit of cultural open-mindedness.

And then, a milonga with cortinas came to life, showcasing the hat (‘al gorro’) tradition, meaning that each participant contributes to the expenses at their discretion. Then, forced by the bar manager to pay a sort of tax in order to continue to exist, we had to impose an entrance fee. That was the end of the ‘al gorro’ tradition and the social aspect of our project, until the establishment closed down. But when there is a will, there is a way. So, in 2015 we moved in the magnificent ‘LA GAITE’ theater occupied by Daarkom. This beautiful venue closed down, so we have once more had to move. The spirit of ‘La Milonga del Rio de la Plata’ is still present, regardless of the venue. Come and search for it at rue de Dublin.

What makes for a successful milonga?

A milonga has succeeded if everyone there can dance freely, if they feel ‘at home’, if they can be themselves. The codes are necessary, but respect on the dancefloor comes first. Tango for me is first and foremost a social dance with a deep cultural background which unites people in a common passion. The exquisite music creates a special tangible atmosphere for dancers who, in their turn, are the best versions of themselves. This energy attracts beginners and highly qualified dancers alike. Everybody needs to find their place and feel welcome in this cultural melting pot, so specific to Brussels. I persist in organizing this magic.

Who are the Djs?

Mostly Hugo and José, together with the occasional passing Dj.

The opinion of a regular:

A milonga with a friendly attitude and a very relaxed atmosphere. I would comment also on the beautiful venue at Gaite theater, but they have now moved on.

A newcomer’s impression:

I was surprised by the welcoming in this milonga. They make one feel at home. It’s rather small, but then, it’s on a Monday. I ‘ve still managed to find enough dancers to make my evening.

Practica del lunes

The practica del lunes takes place every Monday at the Salle du cercle. The main dancefloor is tiled (this causes no problems for dancing) and medium-sized, with tables and benches all around. You can find a second dancefloor, smaller and much less used, as well as a small garden for when the weather is nice.

You can buy drinks and food at the bar. Depending on the week, the food can be a soup or a quiche. The music is a mix of classical and modern tango, with sometimes surprising choices; what you need to dance non-stop, nevertheless.

The atmosphere is friendly and the dancers get together easily. This makes for an almost always full dancefloor. Even though it’s a practica, the training dancers try to keep to the ronda and quite a few people also respect the codes around the dancefloor.

A word by the organizer

Why do you organize this practica?

We organize a practica, which is different from a milonga. To practice means to develop your dancing qualities. You can just repeat and develop one idea or movement and then stop and ask your partner or Roxina for a comment. It’s perfectly possible to come with a partner (most of the dancers do). It’s an opportunity to practice and dance on a big dancefloor and in a cozy and friendly atmosphere. The practica concerns any tango dancer who wishes to practice, to benefit the maximum from their tango lessons, and at the same time not forget what they have already learnt.

What makes for a successful practica?

A successful practica is one where everyone has a good time, everyone respects the ronda (beginners in the middle, more advanced in the outter lane), and dances on a variety of tangos and less traditional music (like tango Nuevo and other gems).

Who are the Djs?

The Djs are La portena, Dj Rico and Dj Francesco. They are all regulars, as we want to maintain the mood of a practica, which is more free and relaxed than that of a traditional milonga.

A regular’s opinion:

What I love about the milonga del lunes is that it’s a real practica. The atmosphere is friendly and relaxed, and you don’t have to worry about all the codes of a real milonga. Moreover, we can sit around the dancefloor, good Belgian beer is always present, as are chef Dirk’s (aka Dj Rico) quiches!

A newcomer’s impression:

The milonga del lunes is a practica who resembles a milonga, meaning that the dancers quite often have a good floorcraft. It is however free, since we can invite how we like and take our time training. The atmosphere is cozy and simple. Meeting other dancers is easy.

Tuesday

Le floréo

The milonga takes place at a small bar in Brussels downtown; it’s a charming place. The dancefloor is small, the smallest in town, but the dancers are only too happy to squeeze themselves in order to dance there. Floréo is all about tango basics: we meet, we have fun; and if we can, we dance.

The atmosphere is that of a bar where dancers and regular clients having drinks mingle. People drink and chat around the dancefloor. On some evenings tango is served with football matches on the bar’s television screen. If you look closely you could even discover tango graffiti in the toilet.

Local or passing Djs take care of the music. The environment is once more friendly but with quality music.

A word from the organizer:

Why do you organize this milonga?

I organize this milonga because 6 years ago Tuesday nights were milonga-free and there was no other night when I could dance. It started out like a bit of a joke between friends and there we are: six and a half years after the joke’s still on.

What makes for a successful milonga?

For me a good milonga starts with quality music,] and a cozy venue. For that, it takes an organizer who finds it in his or her heart to pleasure others, without thinking of the financial aspect or their reputation.

Who are the Djs?

The DJs that come are generally locals. They are used to playing here and happy to do so, as they feel sort of ‘like home’: no pressure. The guest Djs are friends from abroad that visit Brussels from time to time. Charlotte, Jean-Pierre, Catherine, Hugo.

A little something extra

A milonga should offer an atmosphere but it lives also through its dancers. So, at some point, we shouldn’t forget that it’s up to all of us to create it.

A regular’s opinion:

Le Floréo is my favorite milonga of the week. The energy of this small but great bar in the heart of Brussels never fails to make me happy. In whatever state I may get there, I always get back home feeling good. The feeling of welcoming and the relaxed atmosphere make people kind and adorable. A combination of friends, dancers and the barman makes this milonga downright magical.

A newcomer’s impression:

From the very first moment I stepped my foot in Floréo I knew what was in store: one of the coziest milongas in town. Despite the venue’s small size, the energy flows right out of its walls and this creates a magical feeling, even for someone who is there just to enjoy a drink and relax a little bit.

Wednesday

Tango bar

Tangobar is organized for many years in salle Dublin. Nowadays most dancers refer to this venue as ‘tangobar’ rather than ‘salle Dublin’. This alone is enough to give an idea of this milonga’s imprint.

The milonga is divided in two spaces: one with tables and chairs where one can get a drink and chat, and another, where lies the dancefloor and a small scene for the Dj. In order to enjoy this milonga, one should learn how to take advantage of both spaces.

The entrance fee is low, half of most milongas, yet you find there all you need for a great evening: a good floor, good music and a bar. Sometimes there is a passing Dj who can offer a nice surprise.

A word from the organizer:

Why do you organize this milonga?

We started ‘tangobar’ back in 2003. At that time there was no regular milonga during the week. So we decided to create tango bar.

What makes for a successful milonga?

A milonga is successful for me when people feel comfortable and they get in a ‘party-like’ mood.

Who are the Djs?

No guest Djs; Dj Dany boy, Tordo, Lyx, Jens-Ingo ‘triple westmall’ Brodesser, Chupito, Mariposa, Juergen, JPB, Gwenn, Claire.

A regular’s opinion:

I like the venue. It cuts my week in half. The environment is generally relaxed. There you go.

A newcomer’s impression:

I wanted to have a real tango experience in the middle of the week in Brussels and I found that in tango bar. The artistic decoration creates a strong feeling that helps lift the ‘Wednesday’s curse’ and reminds me of the well-known and much danced ‘Sonar y nada mas’.

Thursday

Patio de Tango

Patio de Tango takes place in Bouce à Oreille, a hall that houses many dancing events and shows. The decoration is one of the most sought after in Brussels. The venue is made up by different spaces (a dancefloor with numerous chairs, a hall with tables, a small terasse) to choose from. The dancefloor is tiled yet quite comfortable to dance on.

There are often guest orchestras and  demos by international dancers. It is, therefore, one of the most interesting places to listen and dance to live music. Take care, however, to not be surprised by the little available space on the dancefloor during the aforementioned evenigs, since these events attract normally many people.

Friday

La Cellule

Cellule is a milonga that got a make-over many times as the years went by. The public keeps changing even though the organizer stays the same. The milonga’s atmosphere can change from one week to another.

The dancefloor is quite big and one of the best in Brussels. The floor has been recently renovated. There is also a living-room space with couches and chairs where one can rest and observe the dancers while waiting for the next tanda. The lighting is adjustable, which permits the creation of various ambiances in the venue.

The milonga regularly presents orchestras, something which attracts a bigger audience. At these evenings, you are sure to find dancers from many different milieus.

A regular’s opinion:

Dancefloor is good and the place possesses a charm.

A newcomer’s impression:

A cosy place, good music, enough space to dance. You get warmly welcomed.

L’argonne

Argonne is not just a milonga. Depending on whom you ask, you will get answers as “tradition”, “inspiration” or even “a legend”. While this Argonne has only been here for only a little while, you need to know that it ‘s already on its third or fourth version. In any case, the organizers and the atmosphere remain the same.

Argonne offers a vast space to dance and chat. Everything in here has been restored by the organizers and the dancers themselves. The place is alive and every single piece of furniture has a story to tell. The dancefloor is good and well-thought of, with pillars that don’t obstruct dancing. The only thing to worry about is that even with plenty of dancers there, the space always gives the impression that there are not enough people. 

A small sample of this milonga’s extras: no ending hour, the aquarium in the toilets, soup for those that stay late… and even more to discover. 

A newcomer’s impression:

Argonne is one of the most authentic milongas in Brussels. The charismatic decoration of an industrial site, the warm welcoming and a special attention from the organizers’ part, all help to create a unique environment; up to the aquarium in the shape of a porthole in the bathroom. If we add to that the good floor and the music, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that this milonga will go to any lengths in order to allow its dancers to enjoy it for as long as they wish.

Saturday

Unlike week milongas who take place every week, most of Saturday milongas happen no more than once or twice per month. So, pay attention to the agenda.

Tango factory

The surroungings are made up by a dancefloor, a small living room, a bar and some low lighting. Tango factory is at first sight simple but one of the nicest milongas in Brussels. It attracts all kinds of audiences and this mix is one of its key advantages. Much credit for that goes to the welcoming.

The space you get for hanging around is not big and this quickly pushes the dancers towards the dancefloor. The floor quality is the disadvantage of this milonga. It is sometimes very slippery and it’s best to take with you somewhat shoes in case you need them. This won’t stop dancers from staying until the end of the milonga and even later, for the after parties.

Professional dancers invited by Tango factory to give workshops also play a part in these parties. They sometimes play music or give a demo; in any case they bring this little extra to the regular milongas. In their absence, it’s Brussels' best Djs who take it upon them to secure the great atmosphere.

A word from the organizer:

Why do you organize this milonga?

I organize a milonga as a means to diffuse argentine tango, to attract professionals from other countries and to help tango in Brussels evolve. But my main motivation is the pleasure of bringing people and friends together, from different places and different countries, to see people from different origins mingle, to share good times with great people and share my passion for tango, too.

What makes for a successful milonga?

The success of a milonga is showcased by its good ambiance, the respect on the dancefloor, the fact that people feel good and they have the feeling of being at a party.

Who are the Djs?

Daniel Rossi, Toufik Cherifi. Guest: many (regional and international).

A little something extra

What I think about when I organize a milonga… what makes me happy is to unite people, that we can have fun together… I wish this happened more often… more fun… but I also wish more people wanted to make progress, to evolve and not just stop at a certain level because "it’s good enough for this city..": That we were perhaps more open with newcomers, etc… Maybe it’s a Utopia… but I would like tango in Brussels to become a reference someday.

A regular’s opinion:

At Flavia’s you ‘ll find a cool, relaxed and restful atmosphere, a mix of good dancers and future stars of the dancefloor. Ideal for someone who take their first steps at a milonga. The place resonates with Flavia’s positive energy, who is always there with her beautiful smile to welcome the dancers of every level with her excellent Dj choices and magnificent evenings.

A newcomer’s impression:

The environment is very friendly. There are couches all around the dancefloor for dancers to rest. Many dancers chat in front of the bar. It’s a nice place to get invited.

La milonguita

After its early beginnings in a basement with just a few regulars, the milonguita kept on growing. Since 2015, it can be found in one of the most charming halls of Brussels, the House of Wings (La maison des ailes). It welcomes now numerous dancers, both from Brussels and other regions.

The long hall is equipped with a good floor and gets quickly full; sometimes a bit too full. So you need to come early or wait until the end of the milonga if you want to have some more space. The milonga’s entrance hall is always full of dancers chatting or getting some fresh air.

It gets quickly hot as the evening moves on, but the bar offers all that is needed for refreshment. You can also find the house’s special: a variety of gins made with Sven’s special recipes. Be careful, however, to not get carried away if you want to continue to dance.

A word from the organizer:

Why do you organize this milonga?

We like to bring together people who love dancing Argentinean tango. Since we own a dancing school, this motivates us to organize milongas. Not only for the people in our classes, but for all other dancers who get to know us and to inspire them maybe to follow our lessons or the tango workshops that we offer.

What makes for a successful milonga?

Cohesion on the dancefloor and enough people present to create a nice energy. We aim for a friendly environment, where everyone feels welcome, beginners and advanced dancers alike. We like the fact that our audience is diverse. There is a place for everyone, dancers from Brussels and other regions of Belgium (Antwerp, Bruges, Liège), or even abroad (France, Germany, the Netherlands). The fact that everyone finds their place, and can dance and have fun in our milongas is our greatest success.

Who are the Djs?

The regulars are: Toufik Cherifi, Charlotte Van Wouwe, Sven Brynaert and Daniel Rossi. The guest Djs are from Germany, the Netherlands, etc. In order to invite guest Djs we often get inspired during our journeys (to festivals/marathons).

A regular’s opinion:

The milonguita by Sonia and Sven takes place in a great hall equipped with a beautiful parquet. The atmosphere is relaxed and friendly, with a good mix of dancers (beginners and advanced). And, of course, the famous Gin & tonic bar by Sven!

A newcomer’s impression:

I was welcomed with a smile in a very pretty venue. It is perhaps a bit complicated to invite and get invited due to the space configuration, but there are good dancers.

La maison du peuple

This is one of the big Saturday night events. The milonga takes place once a month in the “maison du peuple”. The hall is in the art nouveau style with a very high ceiling and it lends a grandiose feeling to the milonga. The dancefloor allows for many dancers at a time. The only bad thing is that certain spots are too slippery - regulars will tell you where you should be careful. 

The music is generally attended to by Belgian Djs, from Brussels and elsewhere. The audience is also not limited to Brussels dancers, since many will come from other cities especially for these evenings.  

La tangueria

Tangueria is traditionally a Sunday afternoon milonga but the last year it is also being organized on certain Saturdays. If you want to learn more about this milonga, then keep reading. :)

Sunday

La tangueria

Tangueria is the biggest tango school in Brussels; and even if it isn’t, it is in any case the place where numerous regular dancers made their first steps. The school organizes every two weeks a milonga where students of every level and many dancers from Belgium mingle. I mention specifically ‘from Belgium’ since this milonga often attracts people from outside Brussels.

It is a charming venue, with a pretty decoration, even if one regrets not being able to have a better view of the dancefloor. The separate dancing hall is also very nicely decorated. On the walls hang the paintings of a Belgian artist who offers his own take of the tango world. Above all, however, this hall offers an almost perfect floor for dancing.

Oliver is the regular Dj but every second time the milonga invites another Dj in order to offer new sounds. The environment is generally pleasant and helps people end their Sunday pleasantly.

A word from the organizer:

Why do you organize this milonga?

Milongas are for us one of our principal activities. For the students of our school the milongas offer an opportunity to meet with each other, to dance with other dancers, to practice what they have learnt in class. The goal of our milongas is to get all dancers in Brussels in contact with one another. To bring together students from different schools, to welcome the new tangueros and those passing by Brussels, to reinforce ties within the tango community and to allow less experienced dancers get inspired through their contact with those of a higher level. Finally, they also allow us to pay the rent of our establishment, La Tangueria.

Milonga Querida

Milonga Querida doesn’t take place every month. You should wait for a month that has 5 Sundays. It confirms the belief that what is rare, is precious. Indeed, the venue is chosen with care, a place all wood and brick with a simply marvelous parquet. It is warm in the winter, and in the summer you can enjoy a small garden.

You can meet there more or less most of Brussels’ and other cities’ dancers since no other milonga is organised on that day. Everything is planned out so to better welcome you.  If plenty of dancers show up, there’s enough space - the dancefloor is big enough.

To cap it all, the organizer always picks her Djs with care. The atmosphere is a relaxed one.

A word by the organizer:

Why do you organize this milonga?

It’s a good way to unite the tango community for a few hours.  I like watching people dance in a venue that I picked out for them. Moreover, as a tango instructor in Belgium I think it’s important to propose and offer people the possibility to go dance and practice.

What makes for a successful milonga?

First and foremost comes the whole preparation. A pretty, welcoming venue, a smooth parquet floor if possible, plenty of chairs, some tables with tablecloths, a good sound system, a bar that offers some choices. Then comes the welcoming of guests. A smile, a good Dj, not too expensive and nicely presented drinks, a flexible timetable.

Who are the Djs?

I only have guest Djs. Juergen Mark, Jens-Ingo Brodesser, Charlotte “la Mariposa”,  Greg, Kostantinos (Nimes), etc…

A regular’s opinion:

An unpretentious milonga with unpretentious people, a friendly place where no matter the level, people share their love for dancing.

A newcomer’s impression:

Het tangoseizoen is weer van start gegaan, het ideale moment om de milonga’s van Brussel in de spotlight te zetten. Hopelijk krijgen jullie zin om te gaan dansen en om nieuwe oorden te ontdekken.

Elke milonga wordt op dezelfde manier voorgesteld: een beschrijving van de locatie, een kort interview met de organisator(en) en enkele indrukken van de dansers. Ik wil graag de organisatoren en dansers bedanken die de tijd hebben vrij gemaakt om mee te werken aan deze presentatie. Ik vermeld geen adressen, uren of tarieven van de milonga’s. Deze kan je geactualiseerd terugvinden op de website http://www.milonga.be.

Sommige milonga’s ontbreken, omdat ik geen antwoord kreeg van de organisatoren op mijn vraag tot deelname. Voor een precieze kalender met alle milonga’s van Brussel, stuur ik jullie nogmaals door naar http://www.milonga.be.

En nu, over naar de serieuze zaken.

 Maandag

 Milonga del Rio de la Plata

De “Milonga del Rio de la Plata” vindt dit jaar plaats in zaal Dublin. Na vorige edities in cafés en theaterzalen, verwelkomt Sandrina jullie nu in een zaal die volledig gewijd is aan dansen en tango. De zaal heeft een goede dansvloer en een ruimte om iets te drinken en rustig te zitten.

Het welkom is warm. Je vindt er mensen die regelmatig in Brussel dansen, maar maandagavond is tegelijk ook de ideale gelegenheid om nieuwe mensen te leren kennen. Zo was er deze week een danser uit China die tijdelijk in de hoofdstad verbleef. Andere keren waren er toeristen die na een citytrip nog even in de stad bleven hangen.

De milonga is kleiner dan milonga’s op het einde van de week en leent zich uitstekend voor nieuwe ontmoetingen. De sfeer is Argentijns, maar ook Uruguayaans. Je moet maar even met Hugo praten, dan begrijp je dat meteen. De dj’s zijn trouwe bezoekers van de milonga en ‘monumenten’ in de tangoscène van de Brussel.

De organisator(en) aan het woord:

Waarom organiseer je deze milonga?

De milonga ontstond tijdens mijn favoriete tango-avond, maandag. We begonnen in ‘Los Romanticos’ el Palacio Latino de Bruselas. Daarna verhuisden we naar Montecristo, een ander latino monument in het centrum van Brussel. Afgelopen jaar vond de milonga plaats in het Theater Gaîté en nu in Tangobar. De Milonga del Rio de la plata botste op moeilijkheden tussen de organisator en de uitbaters van Montecristo. Voor ons is het belangrijk dat we onze passie voor social tango kunnen beleven zoals in Montevideo en Buenos Aires.

Met een groep gepassioneerde tango-liefhebbers (die er nog steeds is) zijn we de Milonga del Rio de la Plata gestart, eerst nogal amateuristisch. Ieder kon zijn muziek opzetten. Hugo Godoy was onze eerste ‘huis’ dj. Daarna kwam Jose ‘El Chinito’ Torres uit Argentinië. Hij charmeerde onze oren met zijn gevoelige muziek en bracht ook zijn tangocultuur mee. Hugo en José gaven andere dj’s een duwtje in de rug en gaven hen hun vuurdoop. Er volgden lessen, workshops, concerten en spektakels. De Milonga del Rio de la Plata werd een plek om te experimenteren en bruiste van de creativiteit. En dit in een open multiculturele geest.

Uiteindelijk ontstond er een milonga met cortina’s. De eerste vier jaar vroegen we een vrijwillige bijdrage in de kosten, volgens de traditie van ‘al gorro’ (rondgaan met de hoed). Daarna werden we door een belasting van de uitbater van de bar bedreigd in ons voortbestaan. Hierdoor werden we genoodzaakt om een vaste inkomprijs te vragen. Zo kwam er een einde aan de traditie ‘al gorro’ en aan de sociale kant van ons project. Maar de spirit is er gelukkig nog steeds. In 2015 verhuisden we dus naar het prachtige Theater Gaîté, waar Daarkom gehuisvest is. Die prachtige plek werd gesloten en dus verhuisden we nogmaals. De sfeer van ‘Milonga del Rio de la Plata’ blijft, ongeacht de locatie van de Milonga. Kom hem ontdekken in de Dublinstraat.

Wat maakt een milonga voor jou geslaagd?

Een milonga is geslaagd wanneer mensen in alle vrijheid kunnen dansen, wanneer ze zich thuis voelen, wanneer ze zichzelf kunnen zijn. Codigo’s zijn noodzakelijk, maar respect op de dansvloer is het belangrijkste. Tango is voor mij vooral een sociale dans met een sterke culturele oorsprong die mensen met dezelfde passie samenbrengt. We proberen de dansers exquise muziek te geven en zij geven dan op hun beurt het beste van zichzelf. Die energie trekt beginners en geoefende dansers aan. Ieder moet zijn plek hier kunnen vinden en zich welkom voelen in de culturele mix die eigen is aan Brussel. Ik vind het belangrijk om die magie te creëren.

Wie zijn de dj’s?

Vooral Hugo en José, met soms enkele gast-dj’s.

De mening van de habitué:

Een gezellige milonga in een heel ontspannen sfeer. Ik zou je kunnen vertellen over theater Gaîté, een prachtige locatie, maar de milonga gaat daar niet meer door.

De mening van de nieuwkomer:

Ik was verrast door het onthaal op deze milonga. Je voelt je er thuis. De milonga is klein, maar het is dan ook maandag. Ik vond genoeg dansers om een aangename avond te hebben.

 La Practica del Lunes

La Practica del lunes gaat elke maandag door in zaal Le Cercle. De dansvloer (tegels, prima om op te dansen) heeft een gemiddelde grootte. Eromheen staan tafels en banken. Er is een tweede kleine dansvloer en ook een kleine tuin die gebruikt kan worden bij warm weer.

Aan de bar kan je drank bestellen en er zijn ook telkens enkele huisbereide gerechten, dat kan een quiche of een soep zijn. De muziek is een mix van klassieke en moderne tangonummers, met soms verrassende keuzes. Hier kan je dansen zonder je te vervelen.

Er hangt een gezellige sfeer en iedereen danst met iedereen. De dansvloer is steeds gevuld. Hoewel het een practica is, proberen de meeste dansers de ronda te respecteren. Er zijn best veel mensen die ook de codigo’s rond de dansvloer respecteren.

De organisator(en) aan het woord:

Waarom organiseer je deze milonga?

We organiseren een practica, dat is anders dan een milonga. Een practica dient om de kwaliteit van je dansen te verbeteren. Je kan iets herhalen of een idee of een beweging verder uitwerken, je kan ook stoppen en je partner of Roxina om feedback vragen. Het is mogelijk om met een partner te komen (de meeste dansers doen dat). Je krijgt de kans om te oefenen en te dansen op een grote dansvloer, in een ontspannen en vriendelijke sfeer. Het practica is er voor iedereen die tango leert dansen en wil oefenen, voor wie meer uit zijn tangolessen wil halen en voor wie wil vermijden te vergeten wat hij of zij geleerd heeft.

Wat maakt voor jou een practica geslaagd?

Een practica is geslaagd wanneer iedereen een fijne avond heeft, wanneer de ronda gerespecteerd wordt (beginners in het midden, gevorderden aan de buitenkant van de cirkel) en wanneer we dansen op tango en op minder traditionele muziek (zoals tango nuevo of andere pareltjes).

Wie zijn de dj’s?

De Dj’s zijn Dj La Portena, Dj Rico en Dj Francesco. Het zijn vaste dj’s omdat we de sfeer van een practica willen behouden. Die sfeer is meer vrij en ontspannen dan op een traditionele milonga.

De mening van de habitué:

Wat ik apprecieer aan La Milonga del lunes is dat het een echt practica is. Er hangt een relaxte en gezellige sfeer en men neemt het niet zo nauw met de codigo’s als op een echte milonga. Bovendien kan je rond de dansvloer zitten, is er altijd lekker Belgisch bier en lekkere quiche van kok Dirk (Dj Rico)!

De mening van de nieuwkomer:

De milonga del lunes is een practica met de sfeer van een milonga, de dansers respecteren er de circulatie op de dansvloer. Tegelijk is het vrijer omdat je kan uitnodigen zoals je wil en je de tijd kan nemen om te oefenen. De sfeer is familiaal en eenvoudig. Het is gemakkelijk om er dansers te ontmoeten.

Dinsdag

Floreo

De milonga vindt plaats in een klein café in het centrum van Brussel, een charmante plek. De dansvloer is klein, de kleinste van de stad, maar de dansers drukken zich er graag dicht tegen elkaar om te dansen. Floreo belichaamt de roots van tango: elkaar ontmoeten, zich amuseren en als het kan ook dansen.

Het café is telkens gevuld met dansers en klanten die iets komen drinken. Rond de dansvloer wordt gepraat en iets gedronken. Sommige avonden is er naast tango ook voetbal op het tv-scherm in de bar. Als je goed oplet, vind je in de toiletten ook tango-graffiti.

De muziek wordt verzorgd door dj’s van Brussel of gast-dj’s. Er hangt een vriendschappelijke sfeer. De muziek altijd van goede kwaliteit.

De organisator(en) aan het woord:

Waarom organiseer je deze milonga?

Ik organiseer deze milonga omdat ik zes jaar geleden op dinsdagavond vrij was en op geen enkele andere avond kon dansen. Het ontstond als een grap onder vrienden en voilà, zes jaar later bestaat die grap er nog altijd.

Wat maakt een milonga geslaagd voor jou?

Voor mij begint een goede milonga met goede muziek en een aangename plek. Je hebt een organisator nodig die anderen plezier wil bezorgen, zonder aan geld of aan zijn reputatie te denken.

Wie zijn de Dj’s?

De Dj’s zijn meestal van Brussel. Ze komen regelmatig en met plezier omdat het hier als thuis aanvoelt voor hen. Er is geen druk. De gast-dj’s zijn vrienden uit het buitenland die af en toe komen. Charlotte, Jean-Pierre, Catherine, Hugo.

Wat extra uitleg

De organisator van een milonga staat in voor de goede sfeer. Tegelijk leeft een milonga dankzij zijn dansers en draagt iedereen er dus toe bij om een aangename sfeer te creëren.

De mening van de habitué:

Floreo is mijn favoriete milonga van de week. De energie in die kleine maar fantastische bar in het hart van Brussel maakt me altijd gelukkig. In wat voor stemming ik er ook toekom, ik ga altijd gelukkig naar huis. De verwelkomende en ontspannen sfeer brengt het beste in de mensen naar boven. De synergie van vrienden, dansers en de barman maakt deze milonga magisch.

De mening van de nieuwkomer:

Vanaf de eerste minuut dat ik binnen ben in Floreo, weet ik waaraan ik me kan verwachten: één van de meest gezellige milonga’s van de stad. De plek is klein, maar de energie spat er van de muren. Dat geeft een magisch gevoel, zelfs wanner je enkel wil rusten en van je glas genieten.

Woensdag

Tangobar

Tangobar wordt al jaren georganiseerd in zaal Dublin. Vandaag spreken de meeste dansers over ‘tangobar’ en niet over ‘zaal Dublin’. Dit geeft je al een eerste idee van de impact van die milonga.

De milonga is verdeeld over twee ruimtes, een bar met tafels en stoelen om iets te drinken en te praten en een andere ruimte met de dansvloer en een plek voor de DJ. Om van deze milonga te genieten, moet je goed gebruiken maken van deze twee ruimtes.

De inkomprijs is beperkt, de helft van de prijs van de andere milonga’s. Nochtans kan men er alles vinden om een fijne avond te hebben: een goede vloer, goede muziek en een bar. Soms zijn de dj’s gast-dj’s die voor fijne verrassingen zorgen.

De organisator(en) aan het woord:

Waarom organiseer je deze milonga?

We begonnen met Tango Bar in 2003. Toen waren er nog geen vaste milonga’s doorheen de week. Daarom beslisten we om met Tango Bar van start te gaan.

Wat maakt voor jou een milonga geslaagd?

Voor mij is een geslaagde milonga, een milonga waar mensen zich op hun gemak voelen en zin hebben om te feesten.

Wie zijn de Dj’s?

Geen gast-dj’s. Dj Dany Boy, Tordo, Lyx, Jens-Ingo Brodesser, Chupito, Mariposa, Juergen, JPB, Gwenn, Claire. 

De mening van de habitué:

Ik hou van deze plek. Het breekt mijn week. De sfeer is ontspannen. Voilou.

De eerste indrukken van de nieuwkomer:

Ik hoopte om in het midden van de week een echte tango-ervaring hebben in Brussel en die heb ik gevonden in Tango Bar. De artistieke inrichting van de plek zorgt voor een intense ervaring. Woensdagen zijn niet langer vervloekt. Het herinnert me aan het bekende ‘sonar y nada mas.’

Donderdag

Patio de Tango  

Patio de Tango gaat door in Bouche à l’oreille, een zaal waar verschillende dansevenementen en spektakels plaats vinden. De inrichting is een van de mooiste van Brussels. De locatie bestaat uit verschillende ruimtes (een dansvloer met errond verschillende stoelen, een zaaltje met tafels, een klein terras) waaruit je kan kiezen. De dansvloer is betegeld maar comfortabel genoeg om op te dansen.

Er worden regelmatig orkesten uitgenodigd en er zijn ook vaak demo’s van internationale dansers. Het is een van de meest interessante plekken om een optreden van een live orkest mee te pakken en om op live muziek te dansen. Laat je niet verrassen door de overvolle dansvloer tijdens deze evenementen, ze trekken altijd veel volk aan.

 Vrijdag

Cellule

Cellule is een milonga die doorheen de jaren vaak van gezicht veranderde. Het publiek verandert regelmatig, hoewel de organisator dezelfde blijft. De sfeer in de milonga is elke week anders.

De dansvloer is vrij groot en is één van de beste van Brussel. De vloer werd onlangs vernieuwd. Er is ook een salon met sofa’s en stoelen om wat te rusten en naar de dansers te kijken in afwachting van een volgende tanda. Dankzij de modulaire verlichting heeft elke plek in de zaal zijn eigen belichting.

Er worden regelmatig orkesten uitgenodigd die dan veel publiek trekken. Buiten deze avonden, kan je er zeker altijd dansers van overal treffen.

De mening van de habitué:

De dansvloer is goed en de plek is charmant.

De mening van de nieuwkomer:

Een gezellige plek, goede muziek, genoeg ruimte om te dansen. Je wordt er warm onthaald.

 Argonne

L’Argonne is meer dan een milonga. Men zegt erover dat het een traditie is, een inspiratie of zelfs een mythe. L’Argonne is sinds enige tijd weer open. Het is ondertussen de derde of vierde versie van die milonga, met dezelfde organisatoren en dezelfde sfeer.

L’Argonne heeft een grote zaal om te dansen en te praten. De eigenaars en dansers knapten de zaal helemaal op. De plek leeft en het lijkt alsof elk meubelstuk zijn eigen verhaal heeft. De dansvloer is goed. Er staan enkele zuilen op, maar op goed doordachte plaatsen zodat ze het dansen niet hinderen. Het enige minpunt is dat je altijd het gevoel hebt dat er weinig volk is, zelfs op een avond met veel dansers.

Nog wat extra uitleg over deze milonga: geen eind uur, een aquarium in de toiletten, soep voor zij die wat langer blijven… en nog meer om te ontdekken.

De mening van de nieuwkomer:

Argonne is een van de meest authentieke milonga’s van Brussel en vindt plaats in een industrieel gebouw met een charismatische inrichting. Je wordt er warm onthaald door de eigenaars. In de toiletten is er een aquarium in de vorm van een patrijspoort. Voeg daar nog een goede vloer en goede muziek aan toe om het plaatje compleet te maken. Het zal je niet verrassen dat deze milonga geen vaste eind uur heeft, om zo zijn dansers zo lang ze willen te laten genieten.

Zaterdag

In tegenstelling tot de milonga’s op weekdagen, die elke week plaatsvinden, vinden de meeste milonga’s op zaterdag, een of twee keer per maand plaats, niet meer. Dus goed op de kalender letten.

 Tango Factory

Een dansvloer, een kleine zithoek, een bar en wat verlichting voor de sfeer. Op het eerste zicht lijkt Tango Factory een eenvoudige plek, maar hier vindt een van de meest sympathieke milonga’s van Brussel plaats. De milonga trekt een breed publiek. Deze mix is een van haar sterktes. Het onthaal zit daar voor veel tussen.

De plek om te zitten en te praten is beperkt. Dat zorgt ervoor dat de dansers snel de dansvloer opgaan. De kwaliteit van de vloer is aan de minder goede kant. De vloer is soms te glad en je kan best aangepaste schoenen voorzien. Dit verhindert de dansers echter niet om tot op het einde van de milonga te blijven of zelfs tot de afterparty.

Elke professionele danser die door Tango Factory wordt uitgenodigd om workshops te geven, neemt ook deel aan de milonga. Soms als Dj, soms voor een demo. Het zorgt voor een extraatje op deze milonga. Wanneer er geen gast-dj is, zijn het de beste Dj’s van Brussel die voor de muziek zorgen.

De organisator(en) aan het woord:

Waarom organiseer je deze milonga?

Ik organiseer deze milonga omdat het een manier is om Argentijnse tango te promoten, om professionele dansers van andere landen aan te trekken en om de tango in Brussel verder op de kaart te zetten. Maar mijn grootste drijfveren zijn: het plezier om mensen en vrienden uit verschillende regio’s en landen samen te brengen en om te zien hoe deze mensen van verschillende nationaliteiten elkaar leren kennen, om mooie momenten te beleven met toffe mensen en om mijn passie voor tango te delen.

Wat maakt een milonga voor jou geslaagd?

Het succes van een milonga zit in de goede sfeer, het respect op de dansvloer, het feit dat de mensen zich goed voelen en zich op een feestje wanen.

Wie zijn de Dj’s?

Daniel Rossi, Toufik Cherifi. Verschillende gast-dj’s uit andere regio’s of andere landen.

Wat extra uitleg:

Het doet me plezier om mensen samen te brengen, zodat die een fijne tijd hebben. Ik zou willen dat dat vaker gebeurde, dat er meer plezier gemaakt kon worden. Maar ook dat de mensen meer zin zouden hebben om bij te leren, om te evolueren en om niet te stoppen op een bepaald niveau. Ik zou willen dat men opener is tegenover nieuwkomers, misschien is dat een utopie. Ik droom ervan dat tango in Brussel ooit een referentie wordt.

De mening van de habitué:

Bij Flavia vind je een ontspannen, coole, relaxte sfeer, een mix van goede dansers en danseressen en de toekomstige sterren van de dansvloer. Het is de ideale plek om je eerste passen op een milonga te zetten. De plek bruist van de positieve energie van Flavia die altijd aanwezig is met haar warme glimlach. Ze verwelkomt dansers van elk niveau met een onberispelijke keuze aan dj’s tijdens magnifieke avonden.

De mening van de nieuwkomer:

Er hangt een sympathieke sfeer. Er staan sofa’s naast de dansvloer om even uit te rusten. Veel dansers staan te praten voor de bar. Het is een goede plek om je te laten uitnodigen.

 La Milonguita

Na het begin in een kelder met slechts enkele dansers, zette La Milonguita door. In 2015 heropende de milonga in een van de meest charmante zalen van Brussel, Het Huis der Vleugels. De milonga verwelkomt nu talrijke dansers uit Brussel, maar ook uit de nabijgelegen regio’s.

De langwerpige zaal heeft een goede dansvloer die snel volstaat, soms een beetje te vol. Je kan dus best vroeg komen of wachten tot het einde van de milonga om wat meer plaats te hebben om te dansen. De inkomhal van de milonga staat steeds vol met dansers die aan het praten zijn of wat frisse lucht willen.

Het wordt snel warm in deze zaal, maar gelukkig biedt de bar het nodige aan ter verfrissing. Je vindt er ook een exclusiviteit van het huis: een brede waaier aan Gins, bereid volgens de recepten van Sven. Pas op dat je er niet te veel proeft als je nog wil dansen.

De organisator(en) aan het woord:

Waarom organiseer je deze milonga?

We vinden het fijn om mensen die van Argentijnse tango houden samen te brengen. Omdat we een dansschool hebben, leek het ons logisch om ook milonga’s te organiseren. Niet alleen voor mensen die onze lessen volgen, maar ook voor andere dansers die ons dan zo leren kennen en misschien geïnteresseerd raken om lessen of workshops tango bij ons te volgen.

Wanneer is voor jou een milonga geslaagd?

Wanneer er cohesie op de dansvloer is en er genoeg dansers zijn om een goede energie tot stand te brengen. We willen een gezellige sfeer creëren waarin iedereen zich welkom voelt, zowel beginners als gevorderde dansers. We vinden het positief dat ons publiek divers is. Er komen dansers van Brussel en van overal in België (Antwerpen, Brugge, Luik, …), soms ook uit het buitenland (Frankrijk, Duitsland, Nederland). Het feit dat ieder tijdens onze milonga’s zijn plek vindt, kan dansen en zich goed kan voelen, is voor ons het grootste succes.

Wie zijn de Dj’s?

De Dj’s die regelmatig komen zijn: Toufik Cherifi, Charlotte Van Wouwe, Sven Breynaert en Daniel Rossi. De gast-dj’s zijn mensen van Duitsland, Nederland,… We laten ons inspireren door mensen die we tijdens onze reizen (festivals/marathons) ontmoeten om bepaalde gast-dj’s uit te nodigen.

De mening van de habitué:

La Milonguita van Sonja en Sven vindt plaats in een geweldig goede zaal met een goede dansvloer met parket. De sfeer is ontspannen en gezellig, met een goede mix van dansers (beginners en gevorderden). En natuurlijk, is er de beroemde Gin & Tonic bar van Sven!

De mening van de nieuwkomer:

Ik werd met een grote glimlach verwelkomd in deze mooie zaal. Door de inrichting van de zaal was het niet eenvoudig om iemand uit te nodigen, maar er waren goede dansers.

 La maison du peuple

Dit is een van de grootste milonga’s op zaterdagavond. De milonga vindt één keer per maand plaats in ‘La Maison de Peuple’. De zaal is in art nouveau-stijl en heeft een hoog plafond. Dit geeft de milonga grandeur. De dansvloer is groot en kan plek geven aan veel dansers. Het enige minpunt is dat de vloer op sommige plekken te glad is. Dansers die er regelmatig komen kunnen je vertellen waar je voorzichtig moet zijn.

De muziek wordt meestal verzorgd door Belgische dj’s uit Brussel of andere regio’s. Het publiek bestaat niet enkel uit dansers uit Brussel. Veel mensen doen de moeite om zich voor deze milonga te verplaatsen.

La Tangueria

De milonga in La Tangueria vindt traditiegetrouw plaats op zondagnamiddag, maar sinds een jaar ook soms op zaterdag. Om meer te weten over deze milonga, nodig ik jullie uit om verder te lezen.

Zondag

La Tangueria

La Tangueria is de grootste tangoschool van Brussel, of toch in elk geval de plek waar veel dansers ooit begonnen met tango. De school organiseert elke twee weken een milonga waar leerlingen van verschillende niveaus en dansers vanuit heel België elkaar ontmoeten. Ik zeg ‘vanuit heel België’ want deze milonga trekt vaak veel mensen van buiten Brussel aan.

De locatie is charmant en mooi gedecoreerd. Wel is het spijtig dat je geen goed zicht hebt op de dansvloer. De afzonderlijke danszaal is eveneens mooi gedecoreerd met schilderijen van een Belgische schilder die zijn visie op tango verbeeldt. Maar het allerbelangrijkste is dat deze zaal een bijna perfecte dansvloer heeft.

De vast Dj is Oliver, de eigenaar. Eén keer op twee verwelkomt de milonga een gast-dj om zo andere geluiden te doen weerklinken. De sfeer is meestal aangenaam en maakt dat je er een fijne einde van de week kan beleven.

De organisator(en) aan het woord:

Waarom organiseer je deze milonga?

De milonga’s zijn een van onze hoofdactiviteiten. Voor de leerlingen van onze school zijn de milonga’s een goede gelegenheid om elkaar te ontmoeten, om te dansen met andere dansers, om in praktijk om te zetten wat ze tijdens de lessen leren. Onze milonga’s hebben als doel om alle tangodansers met elkaar in contact te brengen, leerlingen van verschillende scholen samen te brengen, nieuwe tangueros en mensen die tijdelijk in Brussel zijn te verwelkomen, om de banden binnen de tangogemeenschap te verstevigen en om minder ervaren dansers de gelegenheid te geven om zich te laten inspireren door dansers van een hoog niveau. Tenslotte helpen de milonga’s ons ook om de huur van onze plek te betalen.

Wat maakt voor jou een milonga geslaagd?

Een goede sfeer, mooie muziek die de dansers inspireert, een minimum aantal aanwezigen (in la Tangueria is een honderdtal het minimum). Wanneer de mensen lachen en gelukkig zijn is een milonga geslaagd. En wanneer de vrouwen niet gefrustreerd zijn omdat de mannen hen niet uitnodigen.

Wie zijn de Dj’s?

Onze vaste Dj is Oliver, hij draait ongeveer op de helft van de milonga’s. DJ Ben is een van onze favoriete dj’s, dat is al meer dan tien jaar zo. Jens-Ingo nodigen we regelmatig uit met zijn vinyl of met zijn pc, want hij is de meest internationale Dj van België. Een keer per jaar doen we een DJ-uitwisseling met Sergio om het publiek van de twee milonga’s aan te moedigen om zich meer met elkaar te vermengen. Verder breiden we onze ploeg uit met DJ Greg, José, Nico, la Mariposa, Marie Jeanne… Soms kunnen we profiteren van een Dj uit het buitenland die op bezoek is, bijvoorbeeld van de USA, Duitsland, Nederland of Italië.

Wat extra uitleg:

Voor ons is het doel van een milonga om tangueros samen te brengen. We vermijden dat ze gedwongen worden om te kiezen tussen verschillende kleine evenementen die op hetzelfde ogenblik plaats vinden. We hebben heimwee naar de tijd toen alle dansers in Brussel naar dezelfde milonga gingen om samen tango te beleven. De sfeer is achteruit gegaan sinds er meer organisatoren zijn. De concurrentie is nu een reëel probleem voor zij die er voor kozen om van tango hun beroep te maken. Ik heb de indruk dat er op dit moment een groter aanbod aan milonga’s is dan dat er vraag naar is. We zouden veel meer dansers moeten hebben in Brussel om weer een evenwicht te vinden.

De mening van de habitué:

In Tangueria voel ik weer hoeveel ik van tango houd. Het is een plek waar je vrienden van overal kan ontmoeten en fijn kan dansen, er ligt een excellente dansvloer en je kan even gaan zitten om van de muziek en de dansers te genieten, of om even te rusten en iets te drinken. Ik heb veel vertrouwen in de kwaliteit en diversiteit van de lessen en de workshops die er gegeven worden. Het is een mooie familie.

De mening van de nieuwkomer:

La Tangueria is geen gewone locatie voor tango. Je komt er toe in een wereld die volledig gewijd is aan tango. Souvenirs, foto’s en objecten die her en daar staan geven me meteen zin om te dansen, zelfs al heb ik mijn schoenen nog niet aangetrokken.

 Milonga Querida

Milonga Querida vindt slechts af en toe plaats. Om ernaar toe kunnen gaan moet je wachten op een maand met vijf zondagen. De milonga doet de uitdrukking ‘wat zeldzaam is, is kostbaar’ alle eer aan. De plek werd met zorg gekozen, een ruimte helemaal in hout en steen met een prachtige dansvloer van parket. In de winter is het er aangenaam warm en in de zomer kan je genieten van een kleine tuin.

Je vindt er meestal dansers uit Brussel, maar ook vaak van buiten Brussel, want er wordt op dezelfde dag geen enkele andere milonga georganiseerd. Er wordt alles aan gedaan om de dansers goed te ontvangen. Zelfs wanneer er veel dansers zijn, is er voldoende plek op de ruime dansvloer.

Om het plaatje helemaal te doen kloppen, kiest de gastvrouw haar Dj’s met zorg. Er heerst een ontspannen sfeer.

De organisator(en) aan het woord:

Waarom organiseer je deze milonga?

Het is een goede manier om de tangogemeenschap samen te brengen. Ik vind het fijn om mensen te zien dansen in een zaal die ik voor hen gekozen heb. Bovendien denk ik, als tangolerares in België, dat het belangrijk is om dansers de gelegenheid te geven om te dansen en te oefenen.

Wat maakt voor jou een milonga geslaagd?

Eerst en vooral is een goede voorbereiding van belang. Een mooie, uitnodigende zaal, indien mogelijk een dansvloer met goed glijdend parket, voldoende stoelen, enkele tafels met tafelkleedjes, een goede geluidsinstallatie, een gevarieerd aanbod in de bar. Daarnaast is het onthaal door de gastvrouw of gastheer erg belangrijk. Verder een goede dj, niet te dure drankprijzen, goede service aan de bar en flexibele uren.

Wie zijn de dj’s?

Ik heb enkel gast-dj’s: Juergen Mark, Jens-Ingo Brodesser, Charlotte “la Mariposa”, Greg, Kostantinos (Nimes), etc… 

De mening van de habitué:

Een pretentieloze milonga, een gezellige plek voor iedereen, ongeacht zijn of haar niveau, veel gedeeld dansplezier.

De mening van de nieuwkomer:

De zaal is mooi en er is plaats voor alle dansers. Ik voelde me echt op mijn gemak.

 Pianofabriek

Deze milonga wordt georganiseerd door dezelfde organisatoren als die van Maison du Peuple (zie zaterdag). Je vindt er dezelfde ingrediënten en hetzelfde publiek. De sfeer is een beetje anders omdat deze milonga op een namiddag/vooravond plaats vindt. De zaal is ook kleiner en heeft een

dansvloer van parket.

Tango Factory

De milonga van Tango Factory vindt soms ook plaats op bepaalde zondagen. Het is dezelfde milonga als op zaterdag.

 Seizoensmilonga’s

 Milonga in de Kiosk

C’est la rentrée et c’est le moment idéal de vous présenter les milongas de Bruxelles. J’espère vous donner envie d’aller danser et découvrir de nouvelles ambiances.

Chaque milonga est présentée de la même manière : une description maison, une petite interview des organisateurs, et quelques impressions de danseurs. Merci aussi aux organisateurs et aux danseurs qui ont donné de leur temps pour permettre de préparer ces présentations. Je ne mets pas d’informations sur les adresses, les horaires ou les tarifs, vous pouvez normalement trouver toutes cela actualisée sur le site http://www.milonga.be/.

Si certaines milongas ont présentation écourtée, c’est juste que je n’ai pas eu de retour des organisateurs. Si vous souhaitez un calendrier précis avec toutes les milongas, je vous renvoie encore une fois vers http://www.milonga.be/.

 Et maintenant, passons aux choses sérieuses.

Lundi

Milonga del Rio de la Plata

La « Milonga del Rio de la Plata » a lieu cette année à la salle Dublin. Après les versions précédentes dans les bars et théatres, Sandrina vous accueille dans une salle dédiée à la danse et au tango. L’espace possède une bonne piste de danse et un espace pour boire et s’assoir tranquillement.

L’acceuil est chaleureux. On retrouve les habitués de la milonga mais le lundi, c’est aussi l’occasion de faire des rencontres inhabituels. Cette semaine, c’était un danseur de Chine de passage pour une semaine dans la capitale. D’autres fois, ce sont des touristes qui s’attardent en début de semaine après un week-end de visite.

La milonga est plus petite que les milongas de fin de semaine et elle s’apprête bien à ces rencontres. L’ambiance est argentine mais aussi uruguayenne. Il vous suffit de parler avec Hugo pour comprendre cela. Les Djs sont des habitués de la milonga et des “monuments” du tango à Bruxelles.

Le mot de l’organisateur

Pourquoi organises-tu cette pratique ?

La Milonga trouve son origine dans ma nuit de tango préférée, le lundi. On a commencé au "Los romanticos" el Palacio Latino de Bruselas, ensuite au Montecristo, un autre monument latino du centre de Bruxelles. L’année dernière, c’était au Théâtre des Gaîtés et maintenant au Tangobar. La Milonga del Rio de la plata a rebondi sur les difficultés, entre l'organisateur et les gérants du Montecristo, pour vivre notre passion du tango social comme à Montevidéo et Buenos aires.

Avec un groupe de passionnés, toujours là, nous avons ouvert la Milonga del Rio de la Plata, d'abord en amateur. Chacun pouvait mettre sa musique et la partager. Hugo Godoy etait notre premier Dj ‘maison’, et puis Jose 'el chinito’ Torres est venu d'Argentine avec sa sensibilité et sa culture du tango pour charmer nos oreilles. Ils ont donné le coup de pouces à d'autres DJs qui ont fait leur baptême du feu à côté de cours, d'ateliers, de concerts et de spectacles. La Milonga del Rio del Plata est devenue un domaine d'expérimentation et de créativité dans un esprit d'ouverture multiculturelle.

Et puis, une Milonga avec cortinas a émergé, offerte avec une participation volontaire aux frais pendant quatre ans par la tradition « al gorro » du chapeau. Puis forcés à une taxation par le gérant du bar pour continuer à exister, il a fallu imposer une participation obligée.  Fini la tradition «al gorro » et le côté social de notre projet jusqu'à la fermeture de l'établissement. Mais la volonté était là. Nous sommes donc passé en 2015 au magnifique théâtre LA GAITE occupé par le Daarkom.  Ce magnifique endroit a fermé et donc nous déménageons une fois de plus. L'esprit de la « Milonga del Rio de la Plata » reste cependant quelque soit l'endroit.  Venez la retrouver rue de Dublin. 

Qu'est ce qui fait qu'une milonga est réussie ?

 Une milonga est réussie si les personnes peuvent danser en liberté, si elles se sentent à la ‘casa’, peuvent être elle-mêmes. Les codes sont nécessaires, mais le respect l'emporte sur la piste de danse et est prioritaire. Le Tango est surtout une danse sociale pour moi avec un fond culturel profond, qui unit les gens par une passion commune. La musique exquise crée une atmosphère que sentent les danseurs et en retour, ils donnent le meilleur d'eux-mêmes. Cette énergie attire les débutants et les danseurs hautement qualifiés. Tout le monde doit trouver sa place et se sentir accueilli dans ce mélange culturel, propre a Bruxelles. Je tiens à organiser cette magie. 

Quels sont les DJ ?

Principalement Hugo et José, avec quelques DJs de passage à l’occasion. 

L'opinion de l’habitué :

Une milonga très conviviale et une ambiance très détendue. J'aurai pu parler de l'espace qui me plaisait à la Gaité mais elle changé de lieu.

L'impression d’un nouveau venu :

J’ai été surprise par l’accueil de cette milonga. On se sent comme à la maison. La milonga est assez petite mais c’est lundi. J’ai quand même trouvé assez de danseurs pour passer une bonne soirée.

Practica del lunes

La practica del lunes a lieu tous les lundis dans la salle du cercle. La piste principale avec un sol en carrelage (pas de soucis pour danser) est de taille moyenne avec des tables et des bancs tout autour. On trouve une seconde piste plus petite et beaucoup moins utilisée et un petit jardin pour quand il fait bon.

Vous pouvez acheter des boissons aux bar ainsi que de la restauration maison. En fonction de la saison, ça peut être une quiche, une salade grecque, une salade de fruit ou une soupe. La musique mélange classique et moderne, des choix parfois étonnant mais de quoi danser sans se lasser.

L’ambiance est conviviale et les danseurs vont facilement les uns vers les autres. La piste est donc toujours remplie. Même si c’est une pratique, les danseurs qui s’entrainent essayent de respecter la ronda et pas mal de personnes respectent aussi les codes autour de la piste.

Le mot de l’organisateur

Pourquoi organises-tu cette pratique ?

Nous organisons une pratique, ce qui est différent d’une milonga. Pratiquer sert à développer sa qualité de danser. Vous pouvez répéter et développer juste une idée ou un mouvement, et aussi arrèter et demander à votre partenaire ou à Roxina des commentaires. C’est tout à fait possible de venir avec un partenaire (la plupart des danseurs le fond). C’est une opportunité de pratiquer et de danser sur grande piste, et dans une atmophère décontractée et amicale. La pratique est pour tous les élèves de tango qui veulent pratiquer et qui veulent obtenir plus de retour de leur classe de tango, et également éviter d’oublier ce qu’ils ont appris

Qu'est ce qui fait qu'une pratique est réussie ?

Une pratique réussie est lorsque tout le monde passe un bon moment, en respectant la ronde (les débutant au milieu, les plus avancé sur l’extérieur du cercle), et en dansant sur une variété de tango et de musique moins traditionnelles (comme les tangos nuevos ou d’autres perles).

Quels sont les DJ ?

Les DJs sont Dj La Porteña, Dj Rico et Dj Francesco. Ce sont des DJs fixes car nous voulons garder l’esprit d’une pratique, qui est plus libre et plus décontracté qu’une milonga traditionnelle.

L'opinion de l’habitué :

Ce que j'aime à la practica del lunes, c'est que c'est une vraie pratica. C'est une ambiance relaxe et conviviale, où on ne se prend pas la tête avec tous les codes d’une vraie milonga. En plus on peut s'assoir autour de la piste, il y a toujours des bonnes bières belges et les bonnes quiches du chef Dirk qui fait aussi DJ Rico!

L'impression d’un nouveau venu :

La practica del lunes est une pratique aux airs de milonga dans le sens où les danseurs respectent assez bien la circulation de la piste. Elle est pourtant libre car on peut inviter comme on veut et qu’on peut prendre son temps pour s’entrainer. L’ambiance est familiale et simple. C’est facile pour rencontrer des danseurs.

Mardi

Le floréo

La milonga se déroule dans un petit bar du centre de Bruxelles, un endroit charmant. La piste est petite, la plus petite de la ville mais les danseurs se serrent volontier pour y danser. Le floréo revient aux bases du tango, on se rencontre, on s’amuse et si on peut on danse.

L’ambiance est celle d’un bar mélangeant des danseurs et des clients venus pour un verre. On boit et on discute autour de la piste. Certains soir, le tango se mélange avec le foot qui passe à la télé du bar. En étant attentif, on peut aussi trouver des graffities tangos dans les toilettes.

La musique est assurée par les DJs de Bruxelles ou des DJs de passage. On reste encore une fois dans une ambiance amicale, mais avec la qualité musicale.

Le mot de l’organisateur :

Pourquoi organises-tu cette milonga ?

J'organise cette milonga car, il y a 6 ans, le mardi était libre et je n'avais pas d'autre jour où je pouvais danser. Ça a commencé un peu comme une blague entre potes et voilà, 6ans et demi plus tard la blague continue.

Qu'est ce qui fait qu'une milonga est réussie ?

Une bonne milonga , pour moi, commence par une musique de qualité, un lieu chaleureux. Pour cela, il faut un organisateur qui ait à cœur de faire plaisir aux autres, sans penser à l'aspect financier ou à sa renommée. 

Quels sont les DJ ?

Les DJ qui viennent sont tous bruxellois en général. Ils sont habitués à venir et le font avec plaisir car c'est un peu comme à la maison". Pas de pression. Les guest sont des potes étrangers qui viennent de temps en temps. Charlotte, Jean-Pierre, Catherine, Hugo.

Un petit mot en plus

Une milonga doit proposer une ambiance mais elle vit aussi par ses danseurs donc, par moment, il ne faut pas oublier que c'est à chacun de participer à la créer.

L'opinion de l’habitué :

Le Florée est ma milonga préférée de la semaine. L’énergie dans ce petit mais super bar dans le coeur de Bruxelles me rends toujours heureuse. Quelque soit l’état dans lequel j’arrive, je rentre toujours à la maison heureuse. L’ambiance accueillante et relaxée rends les personnes douces et adorables. La synergies des amis, des danseurs et du barman rendent cette milonga juste magique.

L'impression d’un nouveau venu :

Dès la première minute où je suis entré au Floréo, j’ai su à quoi m’attendre : l’un des milongas les plus cozy de la ville. Malgré la taille réduite de l’endroit, l’énergie dépasse largement les limites de ses murs et cela donne un sentiment magique, ^même si vous voulez just vous reposer et apprécier un verre.

Mercredi

Le tango bar

Le tangobar est organisé depuis de nombreuses années dans la salle Dudlin. Aujourd’hui la majorité des danseurs parlent de cette salle comme du tango bar et non comme de la salle Dublin. Ceci suffit à vous donner une idée de l’empreinte de cette milonga.

La milonga se divise en deux espaces, un espace bar avec tables et chaises pour prendre un verre et discuter, et un autre espace avec la piste et la petite scène où se trouve le DJ. Pour apprécier la milonga, il faut savoir tirer profit de ces deux espaces.

L’entrée est réduite, la moitié du prix des autres milongas, et pourtant on y retrouve tout ce qu’il faut pour passer une bonne soirée : un bon sol, de la bonne musique et le bar. Parfois, les DJs sont de passages et offrent de bonnes surprises.

Le mot de l’organisateur :

Pourquoi organises-tu cette milonga ?

Nous avons commencé le tango bar en 2003. A l'époque, il n’y avait pas de milonga régulière en semaine. Nous avons donc décidé de créer le tango bar

Qu'est ce qui fait qu'une milonga est réussie ?

Pour moi une milonga réussie, c'est  une milonga où les gens se sentent à leur aise et ont envie de faire la fête.

Quels sont les DJ ?

Pas de guest, Dj Dany boy, Tordo, Lyx, Jens-Ingo Brodesser, Chupito, Mariposa, Juergen, JPB, Gwenn, Claire.

L'opinion de l’habitué :

J'aime le lieu. Ca coupe ma semaine. L’ambiance est détendue en général. Voilou.

L'impression d’un nouveau venu :

En milieu de semaine, je voulais avoir une véritable expérience tango à Bruxelles et je l’ai trouvée au tango bar. La décoration artistique de l’endroit donne une sensation intense qui retire la malédiction du mercredi et me rappelle le si connu et dansé “sonar y nada mas”.

Jeudi

Patio de Tango

Patio de tango se déroule au Bouche à oreille, une salle qui accueille de nombreux événements de danse et spectacles. La décoration est une des plus recherchée de Bruxelles. Différents espaces composent le lieu (piste avec de nombreuses chaises, salle avec des tables, une petite terrasse) et vous permettent de choisir l’endroit. La piste est en dalle mais assez confortable pour danser.

La milonga reçoit régulièrement des orchestres et proposent des démonstrations de danseurs internationaux. C’est donc un des lieux les plus intéressants si vous souhaitez écouter un orchestre en live et danser au son des instruments. Attention toutefois à ne pas être surpris par le peu de place sur la piste lors de ces soirées, puisque ces événements attirent beaucoup de monde.

Vendredi

La cellule

La cellule est une milonga qui a changé de visage de nombreuses fois au fil des années. Le public change régulièrement même si l’organisateur demeure le même. L’ambiance de la milonga peut changer d’une semaine à l’autre.

La piste est assez grande et est une des meilleures de Bruxelles. Le sol a été changé il y a assez peu de temps. Il y a aussi un espace salon avec des canapés et des chaises pour se reposer et regarder les danseurs dans l’attente d’une prochaine tanda. L’éclairage est aussi modulable ce qui permet de donner plusieurs atmosphères au lieu.

Régulièrement, la milonga propose des orchestres, ce qui attire un public plus important. Lors de ces soirées, vous êtes sûrs de pouvoir trouver de nombreux danseurs de divers horizons.

L'opinion de l’habitué :

La piste est bonne et le lieu a du charme.

L'impression d’un nouveau venu :

Un endroit cosy,  de la bonne musique, de l espace pour danser. On vous y accueillera chaleureusement.

L’Argonne

L’Argonne n’est pas qu’une simple milonga. Selon la personne avec qui vous en disctuez, elle vous dira que c’est une tradition, une inspiration ou encore un mythe. Si cette “Argonne” est ouverte depuis assez peu de temps, vous devez savoir que c’est en fait la troisième ou quatrième version de cette milonga. Dans tous les cas, les organisateurs et l’ambiance restent les mêmes.

L‘Argonne offre un vaste espace pour danser et discuter. Tout a été restauré par les organisateurs et des danseurs. Le lieu vit et il semble même que chaque meuble a une histoire. La piste est bonne et bien pensée avec des colonnes qui ne perturbent pas la danse. Le seul soucis est que même avec un bon nombre de danseurs, l’espace donne toujours l’impression qu’il manque du monde.

Un petit extrait des plus de cette milonga : pas d’heure de fin, un aquarium dans les toilettes, soupe pour ceux qui restent tard... et encore plus à découvrir.

L'impression d’un nouveau venu :

L’Argonne est une des plus authentique milonga de Bruxelles. L’atmosphère est créée par la décoration charismatique d’un site industriel, l’accueil chaleureux et l’attention particulière de la part des propriétaires, jusqu’à l’aquarium en forme de hublot dans les toilettes. Si on ajoute le bon sol et la musique, ce n’est pas surprenant que cette milonga ne fixe pas de fin pour permettre aux danseurs d’en profiter aussi longtemps qu’ils le souhaitent.

Samedi

Contrairement aux milongas de semaine qui ont lieu chaque semaine, la plupart des milongas du samedi ont lieu une à deux fois par mois, pas plus. Attention au calendrier donc.

Tango factory

Une piste de danse, un petit salon, un bar et un peu de lumière pour l’atmosphère. La Tango factory est un endroit à première vue simple mais elle offre l’une des milongas les plus sympathique de Bruxelles. Elle attire tous les publics et ce mélange en est l’un des points forts. L’accueil y est pour beaucoup.

L’espace de discussion n’est pas très grand et ceci pousse rapidement les danseurs vers la piste. La qualité du sol est le côté négatif de cette milonga. Le sol est en effet parfois trop glissant et il vaut mieux avoir prévu des chaussures qui accrochent en cas de besoin. Ceci n’empêche pas les danseurs de rester jusqu’à la fin de la milonga et même plus tard pour les afters.

Chaque professionnel invité par la tango factory à l’occasion de workshops joue aussi un rôle dans cette fête. Parfois DJ ou offrant une démo, ils apportent un petit plus aux milongas régulières. En leur absence, ce sont les meilleurs DJ de Bruxelles qui se relaient pour assurer l’ambiance.

Le mot de l’organisateur :

Pourquoi organises-tu cette milonga ?

J’organise une milonga parce que c’est un moyen de diffuser le tango argentin, d’attirer des professionnels d’autres pays et de développer le tango à Bruxelles. Mais ma motivation principale est le plaisir de réunir des personnes et des amis, de différentes régions et de différents pays, de voir des personnes de différentes nationalités mélangées, de partager des beaux moments avec des personnes chouettes et de partager ma passion du tango.

Qu'est ce qui fait qu'une milonga est réussie ?

Le succès d’une milonga se voit avec la bonne atmosphère, le respect sur la psite de danse, le faire que les gens se sentent bien et qu’ils s’imagine dans une fête.

Quels sont les DJ ?

Daniel Rossi, Toufik Cherif. Guest : Plusieurs (regional et international)

Un petit mot en plus

Ce que je pense quand j'organise une milonga... ce qui me donne du plaisir c’est réunir les gens, qu’on puisse s'amuser...je voudrais que ça arrive plus...more fun...mais aussi que le gens ont l’envie de progresser, qu'on puisse évoluer et non s’arrêter dans un niveau parce que ça va pour cette ville...qu'on peut être plus ouvert avec les gens qui viennent d'arriver, etc...peut être que c’est une Utopie...mais je veux que le tango à Bruxelles soit une référence un jour.

L'opinion de l’habitué :

Chez Flavia on retrouve une atmosphere reposante cool relax, un mix de bon danseurs et danseuses de tango et des futures stars de la piste. Idéal pour commencer à faire ces premiers pas dans une milonga. L’espace ressent l’énergie positive de Flavia qui est toujours présent avec son super sourire pour accueillir les danseur de tout niveau avec un choix de DJ impeccable pour des soirées magnifiques.

L'impression d’un nouveau venu :

L’ambiance est très sympathique. Il y a des canapés tout le long de la piste pour se reposer. Beaucoup de danseurs discutent devant le bar. C’est un bon endroit pour se faire inviter.

La milonguita

Après des débuts dans une cave avec juste quelques habitués, la milonguita a continué son chemin. Depuis 2015, elle a repris l’une des plus charmantes salles de Bruxelles, la maison des ailes. Elle accueille maintenant de nombreux danseurs en attirant aussi bien ceux de Bruxelles que ceux des régions voisines.

La salle en longueur possède un bon sol et elle se remplit rapidement, parfois un peu trop. Il faut donc savoir arriver tôt ou attendre la fin de la milonga pour avoir plus de place. L’entrée de la milonga est toujours rempli de danseurs barvandant ou prenant l’air.

Il fait rapidement chaud lors des soirées mais le bar offre tout ce qu’il faut pour se rafraichir. On trouve aussi une exclusivité de la maison - la variété de gins avec plusieurs recettes de Sven. Attention par contre à ne pas se laisser aller si vous voulez continuer à danser.

Le mot de l’organisateur :

Pourquoi organises-tu cette milonga ?

Nous aimons réunir les gens qui aiment danser le tango argentin. Comme nous avons une école de danse, cela motive le fait d'organiser des milongas. Non seulement pour les gens qui suivent nos cours, mais pour tous les autres danseurs qui apprendront à nous connaître et pour les inspirer à suivre éventuellement les cours ou stages de tango que nous proposons.

Qu'est ce qui fait qu'une milonga est réussie ?

Quand il y a de la cohésie sur la piste de danse et suffisamment de personnes présents pour créer une belle énérgie. Nous aspirons une ambience conviviale, ou tout le monde se sent les bienvenus, débutants à danseurs avancés. Nous aimons le fait que notre public est divers. Il y a de la place pour les danseurs de Bruxelles, tant que pour les danseurs qui vient partout de la Belgique (Anvers, Bruges, Liège, etc.) et même de l'étranger (France, Allemagne, Pays-Bas). Le fait que tout le monde trouve son espace, et que il/elle sait danser et s'amuser pendant nos milongas est la plus grande réussite.

Quels sont les DJ ?

Les DJ réguliers sont: Toufik Cherifi, Charlotte Van Wouwe, Sven Breynaert et Daniel Rossi. Les guest DJ sont des gens d'Allemagne, des Pays-Bas, etc. Nous nous faisons inspirer par les gens que nous rencontrons pendant nos voyages (festivals/marathons) pour inviter des guest DJ. 

L'opinion de l’habitué :

La Milonguita de Sonja & Sven a lieu dans une superbe salle, munie d'un beau parquet. L'ambiance est relaxe et conviviale, avec un bon mix de danseurs (débutants et avancés). Et bien sûr, le fameux Gin & tonic bar de Sven!

L'impression d’un nouveau venu :

J’ai été accueilli avec le sourire dans une très jolie salle. C’est peut être un peu compliqué pour les invitations à cause de la disposition, mais il y a de bons danseurs.

La maison du peuple

C’est une des grandes soirées du samedi soir. La milonga a lieu une fois par mois à “la maison du peuple”. La salle, style art nouveau avec un plafond très haut, donne une atmosphère de grandeur à la milonga. La piste permet aussi d’accueillir de nombreux danseurs. Le seul regret est que certains côtés de la piste sont trop glissants -  les habitués sauront vous dire où vous devez être prudents.

La musique est généralement assurée par des DJ belges, de Bruxelles et d’ailleurs. Le public ne se limite pas non plus aux danseurs de Bruxelles puisque pas mal de personnes font le déplacement pour cette soirée.

La tangueria

La tangueria est traditionnellement une milonga du dimanche après-midi mais est organisée depuis un an quelques samedis par mois. Pour en savoir plus sur cette milonga, je vous invite à lire la suite. :)

Dimanche :

La tangueria

La tangueria est la plus grande école de tango de Bruxelles, et si elle ne l’est pas, c’est en tout cas là où ont commencé de nombreux danseurs réguliers. L’école organise toutes les deux semaines une milonga où se mêlent les élèves de tous niveaux et les nombreux danseurs de Belgique. Je précise bien “de Belgique” car la milonga attire souvent au delà de Bruxelles.

L’endroit est charmant, bien décoré même si on peut regretter de ne pas avoir une meilleure vue sur la piste. La salle de danse séparée, est aussi très bien décorée. On y trouve les peintures d’un artiste belge qui offre son regard sur le monde du tango. Mais surtout, cette salle offre un sol presque parfait pour danser.

Le DJ régulier est Oliver mais une fois sur deux, la milonga accueille un DJ autre que le maitre de maison pour offrir de nouvelles sonorités. L’ambiance est en principe agréable et permet de passer une bonne fin de dimanche.

Le mot de l’organisateur :

Pourquoi organises-tu cette milonga ?

Les milongas sont pour nous une des activités principales. Pour les élèves de notre ecole les milongas sont l'occasion de se rencontrer, de danser avec les autres danseurs, de mettre en pratique ce qu'ils ont appris aux cours. Nos milongas ont pour objectif de mettre tous les danseurs de tango en contact les uns avec les autres. Réunir les élèves des différentes écoles, accueillr les nouveaux tangueros et ceux de passage à Bruxelles, renforcer les liens de la communauté de tango et permettre aux danseurs moins expérimentés de s'inspirer en fréquentant les danseurs de haut niveau. Enfin, elles nous permettent de payer le loyer de notre établissement La Tangueria.

Qu'est ce qui fait qu'une milonga est réussie ?

Une chouette ambiance, la belle musique qui inspire les danseurs, un nombre minimum de présents (à la Tangueria on vise la centaine minimum). Si les gens ont le sourire, sont heureux. S'il n'y a pas de femmes frustrées parce que les danseurs ne les invitent pas...

Qui sont les DJ ?

Notre house DJ est Oliver et il joue à environ la moitié des milongas. DJ Ben est une de nos habitués et préfèrés depuis plus de 10 ans déjà.  Nous invitons régulièrement Jens-Ingo avec ses LP mais aussi avec son ordinateur car il est le DJ le plus international de Belgique. Une fois par an on fait un échange DJ avec Sergio pour stimuler le public de nos milongas respectives à se mélanger plus. Dernièrement nous avons étendu notre équipe de DJ à Greg, José, Nico, la Mariposa, Marie Jeanne... occasionnellement nous profitons du passage d'un DJ de l'étranger aussi, des USA, d' Allemagne, des Pays-Bas, d'Italie...

Un petit mot en plus

Le but d'une milonga pour nous est de réunir les tangueros et de préférence d'éviter de les forcer à devoir choisir entre plusieurs petits événements qui ont lieu en même temps. Nous avons nostalgie des temps où à Bruxelles on se retrouvait tous dans la bonne ambiance à la même milonga pour danser et fêter le tango  ensemble. L'ambiance s'est détériorée dernièrement depuis que le nombre d'organisateurs s'est multiplié et la concurrence est devenue un problème de survie réel pour ceux qui ont choisi de faire ce métier... actuellement il me semble que l'offre de milongas dépasse la demande et il faudrait créer beaucoup plus de danseurs de tango à Bruxelles pour pouvoir retrouver un équilibre...

L'opinion de l’habitué :

A la Tangueria, je retrouve ce que j’aime au tango, un lieu de rencontres entre amis de partout et de danses fort agréables, une piste de danse excellente et la facilité de s’asseoir soit pour apprécier la musique et les danseurs, soit simplement pour se relaxer en buvant un verre. J’ai aussi une grande confiance dans la qualité et la diversité des cours et workshops qui y sont donnés et ce au fil du temps. Une belle famille

L'impression d’un nouveau venu :

En arrivant à la tangueria, on ne dirait pas qu’on entre dans une milonga, on entre dans une demeure dédiée du tango. Des souvenirs, photos et objets sont disposés par-ci par-là et donnent envie de danser même avant d’avoir mis les chaussures.

Milonga Querida

La Milonga Querida n’a pas lieu tous les mois. Pour vous y rendre, vous devez attendre un mois à 5 dimanches. Pour ceci, elle bien à l’adage “tout ce qui est rare est précieux”. En effet, le lieu a été choisi avec soin, un espace tout en bois et brique avec un parquet tout simplement merveilleux. L’hiver il y fait bon et l’été, on peu profiter du petit jardin.

On y retrouve généralement l’ensemble des danseurs de Bruxelles et d’ailleurs puisque souvent, aucune autre milonga n’est organisée à la même date. Tout est fait pour bien les accueillir. Si les danseurs viennent nombreux, il y a suffisamment de place - la piste est assez grande.

Pour compléter le tout, l’hôte choisit toujours ses DJ avec soin. L’ambiance est détendue.

Le mot de l’organisateur :

Pourquoi organises-tu cette milonga ?

C'est une bonne manière pour réunir la communauté tango en une soirée de quelques heures. J'aime voir les personnes danser dans une salle que j'ai choisi pour eux. D'autre part, étant enseignante de tango en Belgique, je pense qu'il est important de leur proposer et donner la possibilité d'aller danser et de pratiquer.

Qu'est ce qui fait qu'une milonga est réussie ?

Tout d'abord toute la préparation est importante. Une belle salle, accueillante, sol en parquet si possible, lisse, des chaises en suffisance, quelques tables avec nappes, une bonne sono, un bar varié. Après c'est l'accueil des hôtes. Etre souriante, un bon dj, les boissons pas trop chères et bien servies, un horaire flexible.

Quels sont les DJ ?

Je n'ai que des DJ guests. Juergen Mark, Jens-Ingo Brodesser, Charlotte "la Mariposa",  Greg, Kostantinos (Nimes), etc...

L'opinion de l’habitué :

Milonga sans prétention et sans prétentieux, lieu convivial ou quelque soit le niveau, le plaisir de la danse est partagé.

L'impression d’un nouveau venu :

La salle est belle et il y a de l’espace pour tous les danseurs. Je me suis senti vraiment à l’aise.

Pianofabriek

La milonga est organisée par les mêmes organisateurs que ceux de la maison du peuple (voir samedi) et on y retrouve donc les mêmes ingrédients et le même public. L’atmosphère est quelque peu différente puisque la milonga a lieu en fin d’après midi/ début de soirée. La salle est aussi plus petite avec cette fois-ci un parquet. 

Tango factory

La milonga Tango factory a aussi lieu certains dimanches. C’est la même version que celle du samedi.

Milonga saisonnière

Le kiosque au Parc royal

It happens you are waiting so much for an event than you count the days. It was my case this time, and it was also the case of several friends. Two weeks before the event, we were counting the days at each milonga we met. This kind of waiting time can be really bad when the event is finally didn’t reach your expectations. Las Perseidas organizers just offered the best marathon I participated in Poland until now.

The marathon took places in the Central Library of Agricultural University in the old town of Warsaw. The ballroom with wooden floor is huge and dedicated only to the dance. No comments about the quality of floor, it was perfect to dance. Tables were placed on 3 sides of the room with space to let people wander around without entering on the dancefloor. A good point in this room are the big windows which let daylight enter and change naturally the atmosphere of the room. The venue was decorated with flowers, a little touch to give a little of life to the majestic decoration.

Drink and food were organized in the hall just before the ballroom and an additional little cantina with the bar in another room. Food was provided all along the marathon on a big buffet. It was just impossible to starve: vegetables, fruits and cake all along the event, sandwich, soups and croissant at special moments. Variety of water was another touch of the organisation, simple water, water with lemon or mint... Brunchs (with crepes) on the terrace were good moment to meet dancers. The terrace was also a good place to cool-down on long chair on the sun during the day and with blanket during the night. The weather was nice to enjoy this terrace all along the event.

The number of participants was not so high, a little more than 200, but I felt like I was in a bigger event. This kind of event at one moment you loose the people you would like to dance with and that let you a little frustrated as you will not spend as much time as you want with the friends you see once per year. At the end, I have this impression (which is not the reality) I didn't dance with half of the women I know and that I danced with almost nobody unknown. This effect is just the result of the size of the event as now I really prefer small events for the intimate aspect .

I didn't have problems to invite during the event. As I already know a lot of people there, it was quite easy to cabeceu. It was not the case of some friends who were in Poland for their first or second times. Some got this newcomers difficulty to catch miradas on Friday and even on Saturday. On Sunday, this difficulty usually disappear with the last hours motivation and as men also get more solid miradas from women. The dynamic created by the men standing at the doors also didn't help in this situation. You see it when men want fast and easy invitations on Friday and decide to create a spot at some doors where all the women will look during the rest of the week end. As it happens often when this attraction point is created, just half of the room was used by the dancers for invitations. Really few were the dancers who wanted to sit far from these doors.

The selection of the participants was one of the great success of the event with a real variety of countries. In general, in Poland, you get at least half of polish dancers, one quarter of dancers from Ukraine and Belorussian, and you fill the rest with other countries. This time, and you could see it quite easily, the public was really more diverse. Polish dancers were not so many (from my perception 1/5 when they were 2/5) and representing the whole country (Warsaw, Lodz, Krakow, Wroclaw and some other cities, don't ask me the names !!!). I don't want to imagine how many hearts the organizers broke in Warsaw with this selection. (It is hard to be an organizer...). Each other country had a little delegation of dancers. Russia, Ukraine, Bielorussia were well represented of course, but also Norway and Finland (it is surprising so many Nordics dancers pass the baltics countries and so far from the sea). An important number of dancers came from the west Europe with Germany, France, Germany, UK, Belgium, Germany and even Portugal - a lot of Germans in fact. If you add Turkey, Israel, Greece, you get also a good south part.

The other great point of the event was the circulation. Rules were indicated in different places, in particular in the toilet (please don’t write again in the toilet you are watching us :p) and most of the dancers were social. You could see that with the fact the people decided to create a second line only when the first was completely full. As it happens everywhere, Friday was well crowded and a little messy but it was less messy than more of the event. Dancing was easy even with traffic. The problem came just from the entrances which were not yet well identified by the dancers, everybody entering just by one little side of the dance-floor. From Saturday, the craft-floor was very good as people were entering on 2 sides creating more flow. Organizers also created a little more spaces between some tables to show the different entrances to the dancers.

The atmosphere was a little too serious in the ballroom. The back of the room near the DJ was often empty as people preferred to stay in the first part near the door. On one side, it gave some tranquility to the dancers when they were in this part of the room, but on the other side, it was a little sad people just use half of the room. It was more relaxed outside comparing to the calm of the sacred dance room. The balcony with the calming sound of the water fountain was certainly the best place of the event to relax, to meet new people, to chat, to take sun, look at the city,... The difference of atmosphere let you choose which one you prefer but let you a little outside of the place to dance if you prefer casual atmosphere.

And to finish, my feelings about the DJ. As usual, if you are too sensitive to read comments about your favorites DJ, just pass the following section.

The selection of DJ was great but in the case of this marathon, the planning was also great. It gave each DJ the right moment to express their music (except maybe for John who got the off-peak hours). The links between the DJ is often not so clear. I know the secret behind the schedule but I will keep it for me.

Przemek Mielcarek (Thursday pre party) - I was not there. I have no idea how was the pre party. :)

Francesco Cieschi (Friday evening) - I didn’t know this Italian DJ before and it was a good choice to open the marathon. Catchy music but not too pushy for the beginning. It was a good set to meet people and dance the first tandas of the marathon.

Semeon Kukormin (Friday night) - I didn’t stay for the set (I prefered to sleep in the metro going back gome...). People seemed satisfied with the night. I heard it was a classic Semeon’s night. I still keep in mind he was really good for evening time last time I heard him and would like to hear him more outside of the night moment. 

Jakub Ciczkowski (Saturday afternoon) - Jakub’s set was the one who gave me the less the will to dance. The music was good but maybe too quiet for me. It was missing a little spicy / dynamic things. I spent half of the time speaking with friends while just hearing the music. I am used to dance a lot more during the afternoons, so it was surprising for me. In the end, it was a good afternoon mixing dances and chats.

John Yingren Tan (Saturday evening) - John got the worse time schedule of the event as most of the dancers left the event for dinner and rest. No big cinema opening as he is used to do and a calm music to keep the few couples still present. In fact, it was a good moment to dance with various new dancers. Most of the dancers came back late, at this moment John increased the energy of the music and put some surprises during the last tandas of the set. But he had not enough time to finish the crescendo of tangos. It gave a good opening to Mik. 

Mik Avramienko (Saturday night) - I stayed only for the first hour of the set of Mik. The music was dynamic and I dance almost all the tandas. I could have stayed more just to hear a little more of the set but I left completely exhausted after the full day of dance. From what I saw, Mik seems to be very attentive to the dancers, standing beside his computer watching the dancers. You could eventually read in his mind “are they all enjoying the music ?”

Karolina Tkaczuk (Sunday afternoon) - Karolina played well during the afternoon and she also played well with the dancers. She has a lot of surprises in her tandas. Various nice song with women singing (Nina Miranda was cut...) and nice Biagi’s one. The energy can change quite a lot from one tanda to another and appeal the tastes of different dancers.

Larisa Geravker (Sunday evening) - I stayed only half of the set but the music was joyful to finish the marathon. Who can not like a DJ who prepare tandas of milongas with 4 songs. I finished with a tanda of milonga. It was perfect to end the marathon. Thanks to the DJ and my partner for this best one.

Prices:

marathon pass - 65 €

Free water, coffee, tea

A bar to sell alcohol, various polish beers.

Food:

Snacks, vegetables fruits during all the week end.

Two brunchs and two warm meal during evening/night. Additional food during the night.

Accomodation:

Various recommendations near the venue : http://lasperseidas.pl/language/en/accomodation/

This post comes in reaction of two distinct discussions. The first discussion is the brief complain of an organizer which could be resume as "come to my milonga and don't go to the other milongas". This opinion was really not well received by the tango community, as well in public as in private. The second one is an old discussion which came in my mind during the week end - the call of a dancer "let's go dance local". The writer was encouraging dancers who are travelling regularly for events, and going less and less to local milongas, to go back to dance in their cities as their participation in local tango community is necessary for the development of the tango, among others.

This year, I am going less to local milonga. I have several evenings busy with other activities of course. There are also milongas far from home or beginning late I can't attend except during holiday time. But after thinking longer, my planning and these logistics details are not the main reasons to avoid some milongas where I was going when I began to dance in the city. However, I don't think I am reluctant to go to dance in some places because I travel often. The reason is just the way some milonga are going. And when I speak with dancers, some reasons are common with a high amount of dancers.

Basics of the milonga - music and craftfloor. These two elements are for me fundamental. Regarding the music, you don't need to have famous DJ, just a DJ who is able to select music to dance and is able to take care of the dancers. Organisation of the music, type of music, perfect flow are not required. You can have a good milonga even with several mistake. But attention and dedication are important. The DJ should think a minimum to the dancers who are here to dance and give them the opportunity to dance on danceable music. If you have also a DJ who prefer to tie his shoelaces than taking care of the music, you should seriously think to find someone else.

I avoid milongas where I am sure to sit more than one hour because of the music.

Craftfloor is maybe more difficult to control. You don’t select your dancers as you can select your DJ. And organizers have to work a minimum on this element when it is not working. Once again, a perfect ronda is not required. I am not speaking of perfect milonga. But respect between the dancers and basic rules are necessary. If you have dancers who keep speaking on the dancefloor, if the couples keep pushing and kicking each other, if troubles are coming from each kind of unappropriated behaviour, your intervention is important. Sometimes, dancers don’t know the basic rules and it costs nothing to tell them how we share the space.

I avoid milongas where I will be kicked each tanda.

Maybe your problem will be here with the people dancing since a long time. For some people, longer you dance and less you have to take care of the other. You can be sure dancers with huge ego will not take it well but at some point, it is your job to explain them. Attitudes of the dancers can be very different from one milonga to another. When they know everything is allowed, why should they make efforts ? If you care a minimum, they will care.

I avoid milongas where organizers don’t care.

Behaviour of the organizer. Behaviours begins simply with the welcoming. Dancers don’t expect to be friend with all them and you also should not overdo and become an hypocrite. But politeness is a minimum. A smile or just a welcome at the entrance of the milonga will always put your dancers in good conditions, and this first impression can have a lot of impact for the rest of the milonga. If you decide to say hello to a group of dancers, say hello to 3 and ignore 1, what happens quite often between dancers, you just give a bad feeling. What can be tolerate for dancers, will not for organizers. How can you create a good dynamic from this ? You can be sure dancers will remember...

I avoid milongas where I am not welcome. 

Another point is all kind of story which happens during or around the milonga. I could list all kind of experience shared over the years but few examples to let you guess what I am speaking about :

The organizers criticize dancers on the floor (it is so easy to speak about beginners).

The teacher, in case of a school, forbid his students to go to other milongas (it can be a subtil way, or not).

The guy at the entrance don’t let some dancers enter because they have beards (in this case, the guy refused the two bests dancers he would have during the night...).

Someone organize a milonga but is not happy to do it.

I avoid milongas of the dark side.

Local conflict. This case is actually applying on 2 milongas in competition the same day because of an old story. For those who are new in town, it appears like the cash of two families because the grandfather of one family took the girlfriend of the grandfather of the other family, and there will be no end until one bites the dust.

I avoid milongas with western story.

Unfortunately if almost nobody know the reason of the conflict, everybody is involved in the story. Some dancers choose a milonga and go there regurlarly. Consequently, the community is cut in half and there are various other consequences. Dancers who don't want to take part of the story, stay home. Some guys don't know where will be the girl they want to dance with and stay home. Others know there will be few people at the milonga and stay home. At the end, a lot of dancers stay home and nobody is happy.