A fairly uncrowded milonga. Floor space! How novel! I think my most recently asked question is, "What is a milonga?" In fact, the majority of the questions I get are about terminology. Keeping it short, I'm limiting myself to one topic: events!
For your reading pleasure:
Milonga - A social tango dance event
People come in their fancy pants (or their not-so-fancy pants) and dance with lots of fun people. There are usually, but not always, food, drinks and a lesson to precede the event. Some people choose to only dance with the partner they came with, but most enjoy dancing with lots of different people <- my preferred way of operating. The next milonga in St. John's will be my Birthday milonga!! I am extremely excited!
For your reading pleasure:
Milonga - A social tango dance event
People come in their fancy pants (or their not-so-fancy pants) and dance with lots of fun people. There are usually, but not always, food, drinks and a lesson to precede the event. Some people choose to only dance with the partner they came with, but most enjoy dancing with lots of different people <- my preferred way of operating. The next milonga in St. John's will be my Birthday milonga!! I am extremely excited!
Practica - A practice session for tango dancers
A bunch of tango dancers get together and dance. People often teach each other, although it is considered polite to ask someone before giving them advice. Practicas in St. John’s are hosted by Tango on the Edge on Sundays (7pm) and Thursdays (8:30pm). The music may or may not be organized in tandas.
Dancing a chacarera at a milonga. Photo by Sean Jessome.
A brilliantly floor-navigating beginner class. Lessons - Pretty self-explanatory
The term is straight-forward, but in terms of tango history, lessons are a pretty new way of learning tango. Back in the day, most people learned from going to practicas. As I often tell my students, historically, most men would learn tango from going to practicas and dancing with other men. It would be a long time (usually years) before they'd get to dance with women. This means, if you're a man who gets to dance with women and you've been dancing tango less than 2 years, you are one of the luckiest men in tango history.
The term is straight-forward, but in terms of tango history, lessons are a pretty new way of learning tango. Back in the day, most people learned from going to practicas. As I often tell my students, historically, most men would learn tango from going to practicas and dancing with other men. It would be a long time (usually years) before they'd get to dance with women. This means, if you're a man who gets to dance with women and you've been dancing tango less than 2 years, you are one of the luckiest men in tango history.
Did I leave anything out?
Next time: Birthday milongas!
Next time: Birthday milongas!
