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 […]
Practicing Tango
Tanguera Escondida returns with more thoughtful and humorous observations on the benefits of practice and a salad with tuna: A couples months ago I said something truly ridiculous to my tango partner, Klondike. He had remarked that I’d danced beautifully at a recent milonga with good posture and elegance. I really took this compliment to […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
How Many Tandas?
Half a tanda or 10? When do you leave a tanda, and for how many do you stay? The latest from guest writer Tanguera Escondida. One of my worst experiences in tango happened recently. I was sitting along the wall at a popular milonga when a dignified-looking man approached, wearing a pin-striped suit and button-up […]
Articles about Bay Area Milongas
The Tradition Continues at Nora’s Tango Weekend
Stanford Tango Week, later to become Nora’s Tango week, is believed to be the first Argentine Tango Festival in the United States. Nora, along with her late-husband Raul Dinzelbacher, were the first Argentine Tango instructors at Stanford Tango week in 1991. Nora was involved with Stanford’s yearly Tango festival until 1997, when the Stanford Dance […]
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. […]
Milonga Spotlight: Cellspace
It’s a Wednesday Night and you are in the Mission. You are at 18th and Bryant to be exact. You find yourself attracted to the colorful murals flanking the outside walls as the music of Piazolla, Bajofondo or Tom Waits drifts out on to the street. As you enter, an ever changing art gallery greets […]
Looking for Tango on Valentine’s Weekend?
With Valentine’s Day quickly approaching, this is a good time for a round-up of upcoming SF Bay Area Tango events. For some reason, many consider Argentine Tango to be romantic, passionate or sensual. Perhaps it’s the physical closeness of the dance, the intertwining of legs or the serious, contemplative look on dancers faces. For those […]
Milonga Spotlight: CMC Mission Milonga
The CMC Milonga is a wonderful intimate milonga in the heart of the Mission. It’s held in a beautiful Victorian concert hall with smooth wooden floor and outdoor patio. This monthly Milonga, held every 2nd Saturday of the month, often includes live music and dance performances by local and international Tango guests. Plus, all ages are welcome […]
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 […]