3547  Milongas Buenos Aires & fees

Date: Mon, 27 Jun 2005 12:52:43 -0300
From: Alberto Gesualdi <clambat2001@YAHOO.COM.AR>
Subject: Milongas Buenos Aires & fees

Dear friends from Tango list

I was just about to end a personal research of local milongas world in Buenos Aires, when the posting of Janis Kenyon reach the list, concerning the fees that are charged at the entrance of local milongas.


I think that a final little twist of my work ( which I was making for a local school of tango ) would be interesting for your information.

Not all milongas of Buenos Aires are charging fees of 8, 9 or 10 pesos at the entrance.


After the Cromagnon disco tragedy , a deep revision of local safety measures , and maybe for the first time ever, a serious concern from local govenment enter into effect.

The places that are mostly affected from local government measures , are those places that run on an exclusive milonga activity . Since the new measures allow only a maximum quantity of people inside, related to the area in sqm of the place. This could produce in some places as El Beso ( maximum people 150 ) to raise their entrance fees to be able to cover the costs.

But ..... the local world of milongas has more than one kind of place as hosting of the event .

My count as per June 26th, 2005 , is a tentative list of 97 "scenaries" .That could be raised up to around .... 250 possibilities to dance in different days , during a week .

I prefer to use the word "scenaries " , since many milonga organizers use the same place , different days , with different name for the event they are doing. El cachafaz for instance, is at the same place that Nino Bien, a Social Club founded many years ago by spaniard inmigrants from the area of Leon in Spain, therefore the Club4s name is Centro Region Leonesa.

Or Viejo Correo that has as many different names,depending the day is hosted and the organizers that day.

Some milonga organizers run their milonga more than once a week , so that why this 97 "scenaries" run to around 200 possibilities for dancing within the week ,considering an average 1,5 times or 2 times during the week for the milonga to run with the same organizer.

And this counting include only some of the suburban milongas, so the final counting would be higher,considering all the suburban milongas that are increasing.

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Another reading of the count , considering the type of place , would give this tentative reading

6 cultural centers ( where four of them are gratis entrance )

3 Social circles ( one of them is Circulo Trovador, a suburban milonga not too far from the city, that work as "emergency proxy portena milonga" during the closing of milongas of the city ) .The Circles are also a kind of social clubs, sometimes as Trovador , founded by italian inmigrants, sometimes just founded by neigbours to have a social centre, many years ago, as Circulo Social Mariano Acosta.

13 Clubs . This Clubs hold many situations, Club Gricel is a private place run by the Chidichimo family, other clubs are centers for cultural activity , with some kind of assistance from local government . Some are very traditional and old such as Sunderland Club, or Club Inca . Also clubs that represent the main inmigrantion activity , such as Club Espanol and Club Italiano.
Also there is one special "Club", the one of orchestra Fernandez Fierro, that started their own dancing place, with the orchestra playing live every wednesday if they are not on tour.


3 or 4 Confiterias and Bares .Ideal is the beacon of them , but also there is tango activity at the Bar del Viejo Hotel in San Telmo,an historical place .And of course, La viruta is located at the Confiteria of Club armenio .

There is 1 gay milonga , La Marshall, at San Telmo neighbourhood .It used to run in almagro at a salsa school, but have to move.

There are Salons , the counting here is a bit erratic, since some organizers announced themselve as Salon (like Parakultural at Salon Canning ) , some announces as Nuevo Salon Belgrano, Nuevo Salon la Argentina .
Some are keeping the name "Salon" from their beginning and keep the idea of a salon ( see footnote about kinds of places ), like Salon Reduci and Salon Sur


There are also places to dance at open air ,at abandoned factories,hotels, etc.etc..

To conclude with : there are so many possibilities to dance , as many fees of entrance are . Not all entrance fees are costly, as a wide search could offer options for everyone.

warm regards
alberto gesualdi
buenos aires

footnote: Janis Kenyon made an interesting classification some years ago about milongas of Buenos Aires , they were Salon de baile, Confiteria bailable , Club de barrio, Baile joven, Aire libre. I am not sure actually this categories are still valid for most places , since there has been an increasing mix of circumstances . A great part of milongas from Buenos Aires , seems to be "halfbreed" now .

2nd footnote: please note all the potential woulds and maybe I used, this is not a definite work, it is always open to revision
Confiterias, Salons, Clubs, Open air, Young people




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