130 visiting the milongas in Buenos Aires
Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2001 16:56:05 -0300
From: Janis Kenyon <jantango@FEEDBACK.NET.AR>
Subject: visiting the milongas in Buenos Aires
Everyone knows that the country is in economic turmoil.
Be cautious when walking the streets in the day and at night.
Carry only the money you need. Don't carry your credit cards.
When going to the milongas, check your bag or purse.
There have been recent incidents in two milongas where
women have had their purses stolen or money taken.
Pass this tip on to any friends who are going to Buenos Aires.
They will thank you for it.
Pichi
Date: Sat, 4 Aug 2001 21:37:28 +0300
From: Jean-Baptiste DE GANDT <jbdegandt@NORDNET.FR>
Subject: Re: visiting the milongas in Buenos Aires
Please keep cool with that sort of problems . I have been in most
famous milongas of Buenos Aires, during the Tango Festival , and I really
found
them safer than in most of places in Europe .
I wouldn't like people don't go to Buenos Aires because of that sort of
report . A friend of mine has been stolen in "Le latina" in Paris who
seems so intimate , and I never saw a report on Internet about it !
In BsAs milongas , I often have let my bag under the table while dancing
even in big and dark spaces ( La Cathedral for instance ) , and so the
other dancers do . I wouldn't advise to do so in a lot of places in Europe
.
In outdoor milongas in the streets for the festival , dancers used to put
together their bags in the middle of the dance circle .
Of course , it can be risky outside in the city in the middle of the
night ,
and you have to follow the recommandations of locals ( ask for this sort
of taxis , trust the guy who works at the door of the milonga , better not
to walk alone in the streets , ...) . And I am not sure going out for a
walk after the milonga in Triangullo New York is really safer !
Jean-Baptiste
-----Message d'origine-----
De : Janis Kenyon <jantango@FEEDBACK.NET.AR>
À : TANGO-L@MITVMA.MIT.EDU <TANGO-L@MITVMA.MIT.EDU>
Date : vendredi 3 août 2001 23:00
Objet : visiting the milongas in Buenos Aires
>Everyone knows that the country is in economic turmoil.
>Be cautious when walking the streets in the day and at night.
>Carry only the money you need. Don't carry your credit cards.
>When going to the milongas, check your bag or purse.
>
>There have been recent incidents in two milongas where
>women have had their purses stolen or money taken.
>
>Pass this tip on to any friends who are going to Buenos Aires.
>They will thank you for it.
>
>Pichi
>
Date: Sun, 5 Aug 2001 16:25:13 -0400
From: Natarajan Balasundara <rajan@EMC.COM>
Subject: Re: visiting the milongas in Buenos Aires
Jean-Baptiste DE GANDT wrote:
> A friend of mine has been stolen in "Le latina" in Paris who
> seems so intimate , and I never saw a report on Internet about it !
Well, I do not know if this is the same friend of yours, but a few months ago
a couple from Berlin after all night dancing, around 2 AM, could not
find their leather bag with valuables inside-- they were quite distraught
and sad that night. But, they were there again the next night with one
more couple. When I asked them about it, they laughed it off saying that
is life and they could not miss dancing with their friends whom they had
accidentally bumped into earlier in the day...apperently they had
calculated everything about being careful in paris except that they had
not considered it necessary to be careful inside as well. But that is the
only incidence I remember having danced there more or less regularly
for over a year.
> And I am not sure going out for a
> walk after the milonga in Triangullo New York is really safer !
Good news for new york may be that it could be more safer than paris
(https://www.cnn.com/2001/TRAVEL/NEWS/08/03/crime.france.tourists.reut/index.html)
Albeit, I can not be as sure about how safe it is inside a milonga in New york.
During the recent New york tango festival, I happend to be passing
by a 'black-tie' milonga(the only one which I have ever been to in New york).
A little after mid-night, there was a break featuring 'fashion show' which
was set to booming latin(?) music and towards the end of the show, there
was an enormous thud-- a huge speaker had come undone from its stand
in the middle of the wall and was now on resting obliquely on the floor
after bouncing off the heads of two tangueros sitting beneath it.
The dudes, true to their macho spirit(dancing tango has to do some good),
were saying they were ok-- although visibly there was a cut on the
forehead of one of them and there was splatter of (their own) blood
on their shirts. The paramedics, the cops were all in few moments later.
While, true to New york spirit, the milonga went on after a brief pause soon
after the intial shock of the accident was absorbed into the events of the
night -- perhaps to soothe everyone's nerves -- even as the cops were
'taking a look' at the accident and the paramedics were checking the
pulse of the victims in a corner of the floor.
On the other hand, I found it quite safe walking back towards
grand central at around 3:30 - 4 am that night after the milonga.
If there is any moral in the story as it relates to tango, I guess it
would be that milonga orgnizers should do a better job of
securing the loudspeakers...
rajan.
Date: Sun, 5 Aug 2001 16:53:30 -0700
From: Michael B Ditkoff <tangomaniac@JUNO.COM>
Subject: Safety in New York (Was " visiting the milongas in Buenos Aires")
Rajan wrote in response to Jean-Baptiste DE GANDT wrote:
>
> During the recent New york tango festival, I happend to be passing > by
a 'black-tie' milonga and towards the end of the show, > there> was an
enormous thud-- a huge speaker had come undone from its > stand> in the
middle of the wall and was now on resting obliquely on the > floor
> after bouncing off the heads of two tangueros sitting beneath it.
>
> On the other hand, I found it quite safe walking back towards > grand
central at around 3:30 - 4 am that night after the milonga.
>
> Rajan:
You don't know the half of it. The injured tangueros were back in class
THE NEXT DAY. Not only did I find it safe to WALK in New York that early,
I found it also safe to ride the subway system without any fear. (of
course, there will always be come confusion when you ride the nation's
busiest subway system.) On some trains, it looked like rush hour
Michael
Date: Sun, 5 Aug 2001 17:43:25 -0400
From: Manuel Patino <white95r@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: visiting the milongas in Buenos Aires
> During the recent New york tango festival, I happend to be passing
> by a 'black-tie' milonga(the only one which I have ever been to in New
york).
> A little after mid-night, there was a break featuring 'fashion show'
which
> was set to booming latin(?) music and towards the end of the show, there
> was an enormous thud-- a huge speaker had come undone from its stand
> in the middle of the wall and was now on resting obliquely on the
floor
> after bouncing off the heads of two tangueros sitting beneath it.
The speaker also hit me as I was sitting next to the two gents in the
corner. The fellows and myself *did not* say we were OK. All machismo aside,
they were almost completely unconscious and could not respond. I was also in
shock because of the suddeness of the impact and it's force. I think it was
a huge stroke of good fortune that no one was killed or much more seriously
injured. Needless to say, the evening was quite finished for myself, my wife
and our friends (and the other 2 gents, I presume). Also, make no mistake
about it, a huge loudspeaker will hurt you if it falls on you.
Oh yeah, I did not feel unsafe at all walking around and making my way in
Manhattan. I think that we were safer there than one could be in many other
cities.
Manuel
Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2002 11:22:25 -0300
From: SMC Administracion <adm@SMCAR.COM.AR>
Subject: milongas in Buenos Aires
Clayton Beach quotes a guy named Alberto saying:
Alberto says:
> >It is very obvious that you have not been to a real milonga, like ina
> >milonga in Buenos Aires, where those who bump (read don't know how
>todance)
> >get their ass kicked out of the room, along with those who refer to
> >dancers
> >as "leads" and think a milonga is a playground. :-)
I wonder who this Alberto is , and what does he think a "real milonga" is.
I never have seen , in this three years that I begun going to milongas, I
repeat, NEVER,
someone getting their ass kicked out of the room for being a bumper.
Local dancers have some attitude ,maybe a raise of the eyebrows or some
words, but
not a physical aggresion as mentioned by this "Alberto" .
The only incident I could recall is once at a milonga in the outskirts of
Buenos Aires ,around
30 km away from downtown , where a man got drunk and get rude with the
ladies that he
take to dance. A friend of mine , asked the patron of the milonga to take
care of this situation,
and the patron take the man gently from the arm, talk to him in a corner ,
and convince to leave
the place , but there was no physical aggresion ,anyway.
Milongas are not "real" only in Buenos Aires. Any place in the world,
where a group of people
would gathered to dance tango , is a milonga. Each tango community has their
"local flavour" ,and
there are excellent places to dance (fortunately) not only in Buenos Aires.
Also , the word "porteño" is out of fashion . What port ?? Buenos Aires port
?? It is full of containers
and the river is almost invisible , little by little all the riverside has
been occupied by shoppings, office
buildings , international hotels . Only in front of local airport Jorge
Newbery there is a little of river to see.
Maybe if you walk to the southern part of the riverside (Costanera Sur)
you can have a look of the river .But even in that place, the Ecological
Reserve hides the river from you
(the Reserve is an artificial island that was made with the mud that the
river left over a lot of debris thrown
when the higways of the city were built ,many years ago . Over the mud,
vegetation , birds and other
small animals have their haven)
Clayton,tango list : do not take seriously what this "Alberto" says .
Warm regards
Alberto Gesualdi
Buenos Aires
