1. Had my first dance in Nino Bien with Cherie. I was a bit nervous at the time but gained confidence as the night went on. Ruben y Cherie are wonderful to be around with.
2. Danced behind Javier and Andrea at P&B. Nervous of bumping into them.
3. Had a great night with L-A-F-S at P&B. It was great feeling though nothing happened.
4. Danced with Andrea Misse for the first time.
5. Watching the French woman dancing with the blind man.
6. Met with Sally. You are a wonderful woman!
7. Dinner with F&E at Cafe del los Angelitos. Talks about meaning of tango.
8. All those private with J&A.
9. Met with the fellow NY tangueros and tangueras and had a tanda or two with them.
10. Knowing that I will be back to BsAs very soon.
From Ideal, I went to Club Gricel. Nito was teaching there. NDM was there too. He is a great teacher. Learned a few things by just sitting and watching. But I was tired and sleepy.
Dancing two tandas with NDM and we decided to leave. I went to P&B by myself. Saw the waiter at P&B and he got me a decent table. P&B tonight was dead. I danced with a German and a French. Both had problem with their own axis.
By 1:00am, I was ready to leave for El Beso, crowded, which I was told by the German. I loved the crowd, more dancers, better level of dancing and most of all great energy.
Saw Javier's friend M, gave her a big kiss on the cheek. And walk down the block to El Beso.
The place was packed. A lot of hot chicas, great dancers. Saw Gustavo there, so was Issac from crossroad. They both danced like Javier, very good dancers, especially Gus.
I thought I made a mistake to get in to el beso at 1:30am. Should have come here first. I would get a lot more dances. But I was extremely tired and my whole body was stiff. I danced with someone from NY and LA, then I walked out there around 3:00am in the morning.
On the way back to the apartment, I was already planning my next visit.
It happened at Ideal, sans the dips and the open embrace.
I was continuing my tango marathon on Sunday. After a trip to the flea market at the cemetery, I went to Ideal. It was quiet then. A few old milgueros and milogueras were dancing on the floor. I was quite tired. For a moment or two, I dozed off. I was debating if I should go back and take a nap before heading to Club Gricel.
I had been sitting there for about an hour, didn't even put my shoes on. Finally I decided to leave. Then I caught the sight of this woman with short hair. She seemed to know every one, and had been getting dances.
I cabeceoed her. And we had a lovely tanda. She understood the embrace. She is from Paris (french again).
My sense of tango had come back after the tanda. Then I saw this petite pretty woman whom looked like Eva Longoria. Cabeceoed her, she responded, but another guy mistook it and walked towards her. She looked away and chatted with the woman sitting next to her but the guy was so eager to dance that he actually asked her. Oh, only if people followed the code.
He was a lousy dancer and a Pugliese tanda was playing. Saw the look on her face, eyes wide opened, thought that it was not a very happy one.
Then I saw the French woman was dancing with this guy who had no sense of direction and wore a pair of sunglasses. Why would she dance with the dude? She had got all the good ones to choose from. Her eyes were wide open. She danced with her eyes closed with the others.
Then I realized this was the blind guy whom someone had nmentioned to me. I watched her being careful with the people around, yet at the mean time tried to enjoy the dance with him. At that moment, I felt my eyes were watery. I was touched by the sight of a wonderful woman and a courageous man.
At the end of the tanda, she walked him back to his seat, which not far from mine. She walked pass me and I touched her elbow. She stopped, I told her that it was emotional to see her dancing with this man. I had tears in my eyes, and she said that it made two of us.
We danced our emotion away with a milonga tanda. After that, I had my dance with the Eva Longoria looking woman. And that was it for me at Ideal. I had witnessed something special. And that moment will always be remembered. A kiss and a wave goodbye to the French woman, I walked out of Cafeteria La Ideal.
That was not the best milonga I've been to, but definitely a special one...
Went the Barrio Chino in the morning with NDM. Had nice lunch and got ready for my planned milonga marathon.
First stop Nino Bien's Saturday martinee: Los Consagrados. Got there around 5:20pm. Saw the waitress, she recognized me and we greeted with a kiss on the cheek. I went to Ruben y Cherie's regular table. It was empty. No one was there yet. I changed my shoes and ordered a cafe con leche. This is a porteno's martinee milonga. All the regulars have their regular table.
I cabeceoed a lovely lady at the table to our left. She was there last week but we didn't dance. The floor was roomy at the time. We had a nice tanda. She was really light on her feet. No wonder she danced tanda after tanda.
The young and pretty chica came shortly after, same dress, same table, same time. I waited she settled down and cabeceoed her for her first dance. We had a lovely tanda, and the floor wasn't crowded yet.
Cherie came around 6:30, rougly the same time that she said she would be there. We had a nice Pugliese tanda. I danced with the chica again, and with two more portenos. And it was 9:00pm. Time for the next stop.
I said goodbye to Cherie y Ruben. Thank them for their good company. They are wonderful milonguera y milonguero, genuine people. It was a great pleasure to have known them. I will miss them.
Second stop: Maipu 444. Had dinner at the restaurant next door, Asador and spaghetti. Food in the stomach, I went up to Maipu 444. The place was packed, a lot of young chicas. No star tonight, but very good dancers on the floor. The host was warm, handshake and all that. But I was stuffed to the worst chair in the room: in the back between the men's and the lady's room.
No matter, I would get my dances once I got on the floor. The floor was small, a little bigger than P&B. DJ was good, great control of the flow with selection of tandas.
My first dance went to a Porteno,who is petite and just barely up to my chin. She was clearly a pre-intermedite. I had to cover a lot of her steps. Then again, it must be my lead (90% is leader fault.) She kept saying " muy lindo." during the break. I couldn't say the same about her though.
Second dance went to a LA native who is going to spend a year here.(how fortunate!) She seemed to get a lot of tandas. Other than another dutch woman, all six of my other dances were with portenos (some cute ones too). I am really getting good with this cabeceo thing.
I would have stayed to the end if it weren't for my planned mission. By 12:20pm, I was ready to hop to the next milonga: Italia Unita.
Third stop: Italia Unita. Cost of entrance: 20 peso!!! The most expensive one. The place looked very classy. The floor was nice, not crowded at all.
That also presented another problem, there wasn't enough energy on the floor. The milonga felt dead. I stayed for about twenty minutes then moved on the last stop, El beso.
El beso was crowded at 1:30 am. I kept working my cabeceo and danced with five portenos. There was this lovely blond who is petite and very cute. I cabeceoed her. She came over and i was quite taken by her beauty.
But she was very nervous. Mayb I am too handsome, :). She told me after one song:" you dance so so." I was surprised. "you're very nervous." I told her with some body language that imitates nervousness. She relaxed, then we had two very nice song. At the end of the tanda, she smiled (beautiful teeth):"muy lindo."
I danced with two more portenos and a dutch. And it was the la Cumparita. It was only 4:00am in the morning. Sharing a cab back to the apartment with the dutch, she talked about not getting the dances at Maipu444. I was surprised: "Maybe it is your cabeceo." I told her. (another subject for another time.)
The night was still young and I haven't danced for 12 hours yet. Outside, the street was still very busy. Young people were walking ups and downs. Trendy clubs still got long lines outside. Cafes and pizzerias were still opened with many customers.
I love this town, where you can tango from dawn to dust.
Had a nice buffet dinner with NDM with a bottle of wine, cost only $20 each. I think I will go back again before I leave.
Went to Canning after. It was supposed to be the milonga for Friday night, but what a f@#$^!g nightmare. The level of dance was so bad while we got there. I just sat there most of the time and made snide remarks with NDM.
We went on to the floor and danced one tanda. During one song I was bumped four fucking times. It felt like back in Monday's DM luna milonga. You got people dressed in jeans with holes and sneakers. Most of the women didn't even know what cabeceo is. I looked and looked, no response (not even a signal of "NO"). I was frustrated.
Comparing to Nino Bien, the floor craft on this Friday was terrible. You got f@#$^!g old men who got no sense of direction, flinging the women with 4 inch heel around as a weapon and danced to every foot of free space possibly found. There was no flow of the floor. It reminds me NY, with actually some of the milongas in NY have better flow that one of Canning this night.
Saw Gustavo with his friends and Issac from Crossroad, it was interesting to see how they danced since we all studied with Javier.
Every single girl whom I danced with got some sort of flaws. Most of them don't have their own axis or wobbly, stiff embrace with the gringas. I danced with one Porteno. She told me she just danced in the milonga, and never took any lessons. No wonder she felt weird.
I was bit disgusted. We spent thousands of dollars to improve our dance. And you just come to milonga and dance. What the...!
Even my favorite Italian girl was felt rushing the steps. But she's got a good embrace. Plus I like her a lot. Other than that, the night was almost disastrous.
Sat with Javier's friend M a bit, and went over to Italian girl's table and we exchanged e-mail addresses and names. And hopefully will meet at the milongas some where.
I was feeling sore heels. I hadn't felt the wears on my heel for a long time. I know it was from dancing with these women whom don't f%$#@!g know how to embrace a man, don't f%$#@!g know how to stay on their axis, and don't f%$#@!g take any lessons.
There you go, Women don't get to be the only ones who b%^&*.
Hopefully Maipu 444 is going to be as good as last week.
