Milonga in Buenos Aires
La Gran Milonga Nacional is a celebration of our beloved Tango culture, which is held every year taking over a good stretch of Avenida de Mayo with live orchestras and outdoor milongas (tango dancing). Since I haven’t gone to a tango event for quite a while, I took the street and checked it out.
As I walked towards Av. de Mayo, I could hear luscious sound of tango music getting louder and louder. They had set up 3 stages along the avenue and one stage in every 2-3 blocks. There were tons of chairs set up in front of the stage for those who just wanted to sit and enjoy the music but they also set up huge speakers behind the chairs pointing outwards to a huge empty space, and that was where the ‘fun’ activities took place: la milonga al aire libre (the outdoor or open air tango dancing)!
The people who were dancing were not professionals and they were not there to perform. They were just people, like you and I, who came to this event, took advantage of the live music and danced tango. There were old couples, young couples, people dressed up in suit, people in khaki and sneakers…from all walks of life embracing each other, twirling and swerving among each other to the beat and sound of bandoneon.
Watching them dance, somehow gave me this very warm and fuzzy feeling even though it was an exceptionally cold and windy summer night. Without them, the music would just remain as notes and rhythm, the event would just be a regular outdoor concert, but it was because of the dancers, everything came alive with soul and passion!
For more information about Tango and Milongas visit our Spanish School in Argentina or enter https://vamospanish.com
