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Dancing Tango In Buenos Aires Tango in Buenos Aires is found all over the city, from the streets of San Telmo to the dance halls in the suburbs. You can find it everywhere – it’s the heartbeat of this fabulous and much loved city.
Tango and the locals
Our landlady was one such die-hard. She’d spend her mid-week mornings sleeping in, getting over the previous night’s dancing and in the afternoon, she’d take yoga classes to strengthen and stretch her core muscles – making her dancing even better. She had a few apartments, so gained her living from rental income. This took up little of her time, allowing her to live the life of a true ‘tanguera’.
She often accompanied us to milongas ensuring we always got good tables and easy eye contact. This is a must if you ever want to dance tango in Buenos Aires. The age-old etiquette is hard to understand, but if you want a dance then you need to keep your head up and make eye contact with your potential partners.
A glimpse into the etiquette
The men will nod or wink, but rarely approach. Once they’ve placed their interest in you, they’ll meet you on the dance floor and share three songs with you, before returning to your respective seats.
You can easily tell the regulars at the milongas and after a while you spot the more famous dancers on the circuit doing the rounds at the better nights of tango in Buenos Aires. Their elegant and complex kicks and moves captivate their audience who watch on almost trance-like.
Daytime tango in Buenos Aires
During the day, the most tourist friendly place to dance is the Confiteria Ideal. This is such a great spot as it’s centrally located downtown. It’s also one of the oldest dance halls in the city. It’s worth a visit, even if you’re not dancing. Its tall marble pillars typify a traditional dance hall. These are set off by the marble floor and the glowing chandeliers. It’s got bags of character and will cast your imagination back to the by-gone era of tango in the 1930s.
During the day it’s a practice hall and at night it fills up with lessons early evening and ‘tangueros’ later on. Often there’s live music and tourists are very welcome.
For classes during the day, our recommendation would be the ‘Escuela Argentina de Tango’ in the Gallerias Pacifico on Florida. It’s on the second floor of the Gallerias Pacifico shopping mall. The best thing to do when you get to the mall is to just ask one of the security guards and they’ll point you in the right direction. They have the best teachers and all the classes are taught in English.
Check out www.eatango.org for more information about the ‘Escuela Argentina de Tango’.
In many of the tourist spots around town, you’ll also find buskers bidding for your cash. Around San Telmo, Recoleta cemetery, El Caminito in La Boca and along Florida you’ll find free mini-shows on the streets. Give them a couple of dollars and they’ll dance for you – they may even dance with you!
Night time tango in Buenos Aires At night the tango comes alive and the tangueros come out. Most milongas get going late into the evening and finish in the early hours. Some of our favourite nights were Tuesdays and Fridays at Salon Canning or on a Thursday at the classy Niño Bien.
Be prepared to get dressed up and look glamorous; the porteños like to look good and so make an evening of it. In fact, the pressure of looking good is so much so, Buenos Aires has the second highest rate of plastic surgery in the world!
These late night evenings and early mornings of tango in Buenos Aires, often offer surprises. Sometimes there’d be an impromptu show danced by the locals who were friends of the organisers, or a tango orchestra would appear from behind a curtain. Equally fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable.
Some nights of tango in Buenos Aires are more friendly to tourists than others. For dancing, I’d recommend you go with other tourists. Most porteños don’t dance with strangers – some will, but most don’t. They’ll watch you and if you’re good then they may dance with you. At least with a group of you together, you’ll be able to get a dance.
Many hotels will advise you and may organise groups of dancers. Alternatively, meet other tourists at a tango lesson and arrange to go out together in the evening – we found this was very easy.
If you’re interested in watching only, then my recommendation would be Salon Canning or the Confiteria Ideal. There are often groups of non-dancers. So find a seat, sit back and enjoy the evening over a couple of beers and some empanadas.
A few tips for dancing at milongas:
Dancing tango in Buenos Aires is a wonderful experience and will really light up your enthusiasm. Stuart and I left even more passionate about this sensual dance and love it even more! Return from dancing tango in Buenos Aires to the Main Tango Section
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