One of the things Buenos Aires is best known for is its tango. In the last couple weeks, I’ve been trying to surround myself with tango. Here is some of the evidence:
1. My tango shoes. I bought these for my tango class (which once again was cancelled this week due to strikes, but oh well). Yes, they are incredibly high to dance in.
2. The world tango museum. I went here a couple weeks ago to see exactly what it showcased. It wasn’t very big, only a couple rooms, but it was good to see that someone was preserving tango artifacts.
3. Cafe Tortoni tango show. My friends and I went to a tango show at this historic cafe. It’s a little hard to navigate through all the tango shows here in the city. They range from very expensive to very cheap and I’m pretty sure their quality corresponds to their price. This was a somewhat cheap show. There was one guy and one girl dancer, an accordion player, a piano player, and a singer. It was relatively good quality, but most of all just gave me a taste of tango tourism.
3. Milonga. Last Friday, my friends and I went to a milonga, where locals go late at night to dance tango. Unfortunately, no one asked us to dance, although supposedly my friend went the night before and was asked multiple times. I still have yet to figure out exactly how to work the milongas, but it was fun to see. This picture is from around 11:30pm, before the milonga really started filling up.
4. Carlos Gardel’s house. Once again, a very small museum, but nice to see that it exists.
5. Probably even cooler than the actual Carlos Gardel museum was the surrounding area. There was Carlos Gardel street, pictures of Gardel on buildings, and music written on buildings. I can truly say this part of the city was obsessed with Carlos Gardel.
6. Tangoing at an estancia. Last Saturday, I visited an estancia. These two dancers showed some traditional folk dance and afterward, joined in a tango. It was cool to see them enjoying the dance.
All in all, I still have a lot of tango to experience, but this shows I’ve at least gotten to see a little bit of the dance born in this city!
Location: Scalabrini Oritz 1331, Buenos Aires, Argentina
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I hope you’re loving the city as much as I did! Transportation can be a drag, but there are so many places to go! Plan a trip to Mar del Plata when it starts to get warm 🙂
I love the thought of music on the side of buildings!