4934  The bar versus other venues for milongas

Date: Tue, 8 May 2007 13:46:22 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Trini y Sean (PATangoS)" <patangos@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] The bar versus other venues for milongas
To: Felix Delgado <felixydelgado@hotmail.com>, Tango-L

Hello Felix,

In Pittsburgh, we've had a history of having milongas in
bars. Some have been more successful than others. Since
1999, when the first weekly milonga started, I can only
count on 2 people actually coming into tango from the local
bar scene. (They developed into two of the best dancers in
the community.) Bar patrons, however, sometimes come just
to watch the dancing but not to participate, which is fine.
There have only been 2 incidences that I know of in which
inebriated bar patrons were asked to leave the dance floor.

However, you might enjoy some unexpected surprises by
having a milonga in a bar. The most successful milonga was
one Sean & I hosted for two years during the community's
early attempts at establishing a weekly milonga. The dance
floor was in an area separate from the bar, but pool
players had to cross the dance floor to play pool. It
didn't pose a real problem. In looking back, what that
weekly event really did was solidify the community. It
gave people a more relaxed venue for socializing. They
could talk over drinks, food, and smokes. Friendships
developed. So people came to the milonga not just to dance
but to also visit with friends. Before that, people just
did small talk at the one weekly practica. With the new
milonga, people started hanging out at the bar after the
milonga ended, just to chat.

We didn't realize at the time that it would also set the
tone for how people expected interactions to be for future
weekly milongas. I was at a weekly milonga the other night
in another city, in which the men outnumbered the women.
The men started to leave while it was still early. To me
it was strange because I have never known that to happen in
my community. When there is a gender imbalance, folks
still stick around to socialize until maybe the last hour
of the milonga.

As far as your question as to what makes a good tango
venue, the most important factor, in my opinion, is the
attitude of the hosts. The floor, sound system, and
proximity are important. But in my experience, it is how
friendly the host determine the eventual success of a
milonga.

It is also useful to keep in mind that milongas can come in
different flavors. Some can be more serious than others.
A milonga at a bar can be nice to experiment with new
things and be more dressed down than a major milonga.
Useful for encouraging beginners to just come out and dance
for fun.

Hope this helps.

Trini de Pittsburgh

--- Felix Delgado <felixydelgado@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Our tango group is looking for a location for a milonga.
> One suggestion has
> been to host it at a campus bar that is available on a
> slow night. They have
> a successful salsa dance on another night. The dance
> floor is pretty nice. I
> sometimes go to and enjoy the salsa dance. However it is
> a bit noisy (the
> dance floor is near the bar, not in a separate area) and
> people cross the
> dance floor to get ot the rest rooms. To me tango is
> different than salsa in
> that you need to concentrate more and I prefer quieter
> places. With tango
> recordings being older and not as loud, I can imagine the
> bar noise being
> distracting. I would prefer a place that we could
> dedicate to tango, but
> several members of our group are excited about holding a
> milonga in a bar
> and say that having a milonga in a public place will
> attract people. I don't
> think we want to attract the people who come there to get
> drunk and I think
> we could find a better place.
>
> Does anyone have experience with hosting or going to
> milongas in a bar? What
> characteristics make a good milonga venue, other than a
> good dance floor and
> sound system and proximity to tango people? Is access to
> alcohol a
> necessity? What about food service?
>
> Felix
>
>
> Download Messenger. Join the i?m Initiative. Help make a
> difference today.
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>

Date: Wed, 09 May 2007 04:20:09 +0000
From: "Felix Delgado" <felixydelgado@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] The bar versus other venues for milongas
To: felixydelgado@hotmail.com, tango-l@mit.edu

I'd like to thank everyone who responded (over 20, mostly off list). The
responses were varied but there were a few common themes. A successful bar
milonga is helped by a separate room for the milonga and having a classy
environment, for example as part of a nice restaurant, which would draw a
quieter bar crowd, or people who don't just come to drink. The disadvantage
of a bar milonga is the need to bring in revenue for the bar owner. Since
tango dancers don't drink a lot, this is a risky relationship. Bar milongas
can sometimes bring in new people to tango, but it's probably not the best
location for recruiting.

We met with the management of the campus bar we were thinking about for a
milonga on their slow night (Monday). The manager kept on emphasizing the
need to bring in people who would spend some money (buy drinks). We couldn't
charge admission because some people just come to drink and the manager
didn't want to lose them. And even though there were only about 15 people
there last night, a few of them were obviously drunk and were shouting. Not
a good environment for tango, we thought. So we decided we would look
elsewhere.

Again, thanks for the input.

Felix

>From: "Felix Delgado" <felixydelgado@hotmail.com>
>To: tango-l@mit.edu
>Subject: [Tango-L] The bar versus other venues for milongas
>Date: Sun, 06 May 2007 13:40:23 +0000
>
>Our tango group is looking for a location for a milonga. One suggestion has
>been to host it at a campus bar that is available on a slow night. They
>have a successful salsa dance on another night. The dance floor is pretty
>nice. I sometimes go to and enjoy the salsa dance. However it is a bit
>noisy (the dance floor is near the bar, not in a separate area) and people
>cross the dance floor to get ot the rest rooms. To me tango is different
>than salsa in that you need to concentrate more and I prefer quieter
>places. With tango recordings being older and not as loud, I can imagine
>the bar noise being distracting. I would prefer a place that we could
>dedicate to tango, but several members of our group are excited about
>holding a milonga in a bar and say that having a milonga in a public place
>will attract people. I don't think we want to attract the people who come
>there to get drunk and I think we could find a better place.
>
>Does anyone have experience with hosting or going to milongas in a bar?
>What characteristics make a good milonga venue, other than a good dance
>floor and sound system and proximity to tango people? Is access to alcohol
>a necessity? What about food service?
>
>Felix
>
>Download Messenger. Join the im Initiative. Help make a difference today.
>https://im.live.com/messenger/im/home/?source=TAGHM_APR07
>

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