2011  Milonga in Teatro Colon

Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2003 05:00:12 -0800
From: randy cook <randycook95476@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Milonga in Teatro Colon

Milonga in Teatro Colon, just off Ave. 9 de julio,
Buenos Aires, Argentina

We planned on going to El Beso, but we got the
directions mixed up and wound up at this Teatro Colon
place instead. They say Pugliese used to play here,
but the management must have changed things a lot
since those days, because it wasn4t set up for a
really good milonga.

Somebody had covered the main dance floor with rows of
chairs, so that the only people who got to dance were
up on the stage. Apparently, they all belonged to a
tango club called "The National Ballet of Argentina",
and they wouldn4t let any of the rest of us come up
and dance with them. That was a pity, because they
were short on leaders. A lot of the women had to
dance with each other in long lines, doing these
super-high boleos.

The couples seemed cold. They were dancing in open
position, and their moves looked choreographed. The
men liked to play with the women4s arms and legs, and
they kept putting their hands around the women4s
waists like they were measuring them for a dress.
Maybe that was what was really going on--the women
needed a better wardrobe. They were wearing nothing
but panty hose and leotard tops most of the time,
though some of them wore these little white ruffs
around their hips. It wasn4t as sexy as if sounds.

Footwear left a lot to be desired. They were dancing
in flats! No high heels, red suede with black lace,
silver sparkles, gold buckles...nothing more exciting
than pastel pink.

Floorcraft was decent. The dancers managed to avoid
collisions in spite of high boleos and without a
consistent line of dance. But I wouldn4t try some of
their steps on a really crowded floor.

The orchestra wasn4t bad. Not Pugliese, mind you, but
professional quality, no doubt about it. They had a
good string section, but it must have been the
bandoneon player4s night off.

In general, I would say that the dancers showed
promise, though they were rather young and obviously
hadn4t spent much time going to other milongas. I
liked their body control and ability to dance on their
own axis. They did great giros. But someone really
needs to work with them on maintaining better contact
with the floor, on not lifting their feet so much when
they walk, on not bobbing up and down so much, and
especially on resisting the impulse to jump.

Teatro Colon has a great sound system. So all they
need to do is clear those rows of seats off the main
dance floor, move in some tables with candles and
roses, hire waiters to serve drinks and parrilla,
invite this National Ballet club to come down from the
stage and dance with the rest of the guests, and they
could have themselves a fine milonga.

That4s all for now.
Randy