Dancing Tango in Buenos Aires - No 2

Dancing Tango at "La Milonguita"

After years of experimenting around the world, there is a desire to return to Classic social Argentine Tango, because we know it's much more than "look at me".

Tango is a passion that was distilled into an experience far beyond a dance or a night out, in the crowded city dance halls of Buenos Aires. It is deeply rooted in a tradition and culture that must be experienced and absorbed to understand.

Here is the second of two posts from Argentina, on the culture and tradition that is still upheld by those who know, and where to find it.

Read the first post HERE>>

Susana Miller is an icon of Classic Argentine Tango. She has danced, learned, taught with and been friends with some of the legendary dancers of the 20th century and later.

My dancing generation learned by watching the old milongueros.

The milonga scene, its codes and secrets, were within reach every night. We learned the essential (that which is hidden in plain sight) by observing them obsessively:

• the perfect rondas (circulation), like a ballet agreed upon in advance,

• the body grounded, with a low axis like a Ferrari, and the music could be seen in their bodies as they slid through the embrace.

• If space was tight, they danced on a single floor tile, thanks to an incredible body awareness. They could do in one square meter what others did in the whole salon.

• They had low tolerance for even the slightest contact with another dancer—they were untouchable.

• No one could brush against the woman while she was in their arms. A touch on the dance floor could sometimes trigger a scuffle.

• They couldn’t repeat a step to teach it, which caused some frustration in students.

But those of us who learned from them—yes, we could repeat it and teach it.

After ’55, porteños stopped dancing in the city centre. The dictatorship forced them to retreat into neighbourhood clubs. The brave milonguero troops resisted, in very few places, the not-so-subtle ban of the dictatorship. Those 30 years (’55–’83) were the lost link for tango as well.

Later, in the revival around the ’90s, tango was reborn like the Phoenix from its near ashes, after years of cultural and tango censorship.

But today, almost 40 years after tango’s return, it can be confusing to grow without good role models. There’s disorientation, clichés, collisions on the floor, and a loss of codes.

Tango is a communal passion—it needs magic, mystique, and shared codes.

Without the presence of a critical mass of milongueros, there is no tradition—an indispensable compass for growth.

Nowadays, some are racing against time, sliding through steps at high speed. To challenge the music, to insert more steps than there are beats, is to lose the music.

And the music comes first—it is queen and teacher, and it inspires the dance.

There was a generational gap—many, with 20, 30, or 40 years of experience, were gone. They don't have a model of “old milongueros” at every milonga, to admire and follow.

The new generations must search for the right ecosystem: an experienced generation, and those who love and respect the dance for everything it represents and offers.

The milonguero has little visibility, they live to dance, not dance to live. Without role-models, there is no tradition—and without traditions, there is disorientation.

Even though in tango you are always starting over, it is not easy to unravel its mysteries without a living history.

Tango is not easy, and for my generation, it wasn’t either. But we learned by dancing with living history, with the old masters. Just a gesture, a glance, a hand at the right moment.

Translation by Tomas Augusto