It's time to re-share this post on Tango Floor Craft and Etiquette for newer dancers and a refresher for those who may have forgotten. If you dance frequently enough, you have experienced a chaotic dance floor. A chaotic dance floor has no flow, people weave in and out of lanes, and couples enter with no regard for those already on the floor. Accidents and near collisions happen almost everywhere you look. I believe this happens mostly due to the fact that people have not learned proper tango … Continue reading
Articles by Guest Writers
The Art of the Cabeceo
The cabeceo is considered the “Argentine” method of asking someone to dance. And truth be told, it is not easy for us North Americans to feel comfortable staring at someone so directly. But once you get the hang of it, it’s definitely a great way to acknowledge your mutual interest in dancing together. I have […]
More Tango Confessions by Tanguera Escondida
Another humorous story by guest writer Tanguera Escondida: Situations In Which Followers Should Be Paid To Go To Group Classes I recently decided to take a group class with one of my favorite instructors in the Bay area. I love his focus on the basics, his salon tango embrace, the way he walks around the […]
Tango and the Feminist
A new guest post By Sasha Cagen “You’re not getting the lead,” he tells me. Gruff, mid-fifties, beady eyes, a ponytail dwindling halfway down his back, Ponytail Man chose me as his partner for this advanced tango class at Floreal, a traditional milonga in Buenos Aires. It’s nice to be chosen, but now I’m not […]
Tango Confessions by Tanguera Escondida
SF Loves Tango is thrilled to introduce Tanguera Escondida, our new guest writer. “Tango Confessions by Tanguera Escondida” will be a regular series at SF Loves Tango. Tanguera Escondida (TE) shares her stories, with honesty and a wry sense of humor, the joys and frustrations of dancing Tango in the Bay Area. TE frequents all the […]
Is Tango Better than Sex?
Guest writer, Sasha Cagen, returns with an even more enticing topic… The Tangasm. I do remember my first one quite fondly. It was at El V, and I literally left the dance floor a little breathless and light headed and would have gone for a cigarette if I smoked. Better than sex? I can’t say […]
Celebrating 20 years of Tuesday Night Tango
The El V Story by Andrea Bindereif “Where did the time go?” asks Julian Ramil, and as they both shake their heads his wife Claudia repeats: “Yes, where did the time go?” We were talking about El V, one of the best-known milongas in San Francisco and beyond, and which was about to celebrate […]
Articles about Bay Area Milongas
Pushing Boundaries with Fusion Tango
Some would say true creativity can only happen when we push the boundaries on tradition. Tango has evolved a lot in the past 20 years. But then again, it has evolved a lot since its humble beginnings on the streets of Buenos Aires in the late 1800’s. Although many still revere the “Golden Age” of […]
Milonga Spotlight: El V
El V has a reputation. El Bailongo del Valenciano or “El V” as it’s affectionately known, has been described as the milonga in San Francisco most like one you would find in Buenos Aires. Some say it’s snobby, or intimidating, or that it’s hard to get a dance there. Others return week after week, in […]
Studio 1924 Slumberlonga
Do you often wish the milongas would last longer? Do you wish you could dance in your PJs? Then the upcoming slumberlonga is just what you need. Starting this coming Sunday, August 31st, Count and Melissa will be hosting their third Slumberlonga at studio 1924. The upcoming Slumberlonga celebrates the second anniversary of Studio 1924 […]
Alex Levin Benefit Milonga
There is something about the nature of Tango that fosters a close-knit community. We develop our regular haunts, and see other tango regulars at these places. Sometimes we see each other two, three, or more times a week. With Tango, there is a lot of waiting, watching, and socializing, more than most other social dances. […]
Open to Possibilities
Most people will agree that the best dances happen when both the leader and follower are both leading and following each other. In other words, Tango is a conversation in which both partners contribute to the dance. There is something magical that happens when the music flows into our bodies and is expressed as a […]
Milonga Spotlight: Milonga Malevaje
The Bay Area has a lot of Tango dancers. But we would not know it if we attend the same venues and see the same people all the time. Only upon venturing out of ones usual spots does it become obvious the abundance of tango dancers in the Bay Area. Someone mentioned to me the […]