No Time to Tango

There have been many life changes for me over the last few years.  The biggest being that I moved from London where I could dance Tango every night of the week, to a place of no Tango.  Zip!  Fortunately, I still have the music.  It took some time to get used to, but slowly, other things replaced the Tango void.  This is interesting in itself as Tango used to fill a void.

I haven’t danced at a milonga in over a year.  Even so, I have still kept up the blog so that others may find out where to dance.

That time has come to an end.  Something had to give and keeping up this blog is one of them.  I need time to do other things.

So, this is the last post you will see on this blog and the calendar will be removed.  You can still find out about venues and read about my Tango journey.

Adios and Happy Dancing!

Arlene

Who is this blog for?

I created this blog primarily for the Dancer.  As it states in my header, this is Arlene’s London Tango.  The London Tango that I knew and loved when I first started dancing has changed dramatically.  With the influx of Tango Shows and the advent of Argentine Tango being featured on Strictly Come Dancing, London has become inundated with Milongas and teachers.  Everyone wants to dance Argentine Tango and many people think they can teach.

I try to keep an open mind, but Argentine Tango evokes many emotions, it can be difficult.  I was lucky to learn in a time when the milongas were limited and we all knew who the teachers were.  We also knew who everyone else was, whether we talked or danced with that person or not.  It seems that almost overnight we have acquired venues to go to every night of the week.  Sometimes there is more than one choice.  There are teachers who I have never even heard of or who have started teaching so soon after learning how to dance.  It can be difficult to keep up with it all.

When I set up the Milonga Calendar, I used to include practicas and special workshops.  Because of the influx of teachers and classes and new Milongas, I have decided to keep things simple and just focus on the regular weekly Milongas.  If you want a class, there is usually one before the Milonga.  I also list special events such as shows, concerts, festivals and special one-off milongas.  They are all on the calendar.  If it is Tango related, and it is happening in London and I know about it, it will be listed on the calendar.

If you teach a class, you can have your name listed on the sidebar or you can advertise on two Facebook groups:  1) Argentine Tango in London and 2) London Tango (I am not affiliated with this group except as a member).  You can also join the Yahoo Tango-UK group.  Interestingly enough, I get a lot of my information about closures or special events from these three sources.  I do not endorse teachers.  I no longer know who many of them are, and if I do know them I would not know how to recommend them if I haven’t had a class with them.  I have danced with many who have become teachers.  I don’t even want to go down that road.  The less said the better.  Teachers, can’t live with ’em but can probably live without a lot of them.  The choice is yours dear Dancer.

If I am not listing a milonga it is probably because I don’t know about it or I know about it and it isn’t a regular one.  There are some people who start milongas and the venues keep changing or events get cancelled regularly.  To me, these are not reliable milongas, so I don’t list them.

I have my favourite milongas.  They have stood the test of time and are still going strong.  They must be doing something right.  I haven’t been to every milonga.  I can’t do everything.  However, I have listed them for you, with links to the websites.  As a dancer, it is up to you to take some responsibility before you go out.  I might have missed something.

I also have links and posts that go further afield, like Buenos Aires, the Mecca of Argentine Tango.  There are links to Tango in Europe.  If anyone has a good tango link to a place they like to dance in Europe, and I don’t have it, please let me know.

If there is something you would like to know about or see regularly on this blog, please let me know via a comment.

In the meantime, Happy Dancing!