Tango Noticias

La Cage auxFollesArgentin By Natalie PepaWe heard about a newmilonga—the first openly gaymilonga in Buenos Aires. Ona Wednesday evening, after SalonCanning, six of us walked some fourblocks to La Marshal.On the ground level we parted heavyred velvet curtains and found ourselvesin a room with a bar at the end. Stairs tothe right and tango music led us up tothe milonga. At the landing, a youngman took our 5 pesos and we walkedinto a medium-sized room with a woodendance floor.The majority of the patrons wereyoung men, but we saw a handful ofwomen and two or three oldergentlemen. A friendly woman greeted usand immediately set about preparing atable for us. Above, behind a glasswindow, Mario waved to us inrecognition. He is the DJ at El Arranque,Nino Bien and others.Men danced together and dancedvery well. We recognized several fromseveral current tango shows.Considering their capabilities, it wasinteresting to see them dancing in anunassuming way, obviously there toenjoy the dance rather than to show offtheir acrobatic skills. Some couplesalternated leading while others stayed inthe same role throughout.Shortly after we were seated one ofthe organizers took the mike. "We havevisitors with us tonight and would like towelcome them," he announced. Heintroduced us and told about our recentqualification in the semifinals of theMetropolitan Tango competition. How didhe know? Well, Mario was the DJ duringthe event! We were then asked to danceand did so. Even though we knew ourlevel was nowhere near theirs, our dancewas received with warmth and applause.When we sat down, two of the men cameto our table and asked our male partnersto dance. To my amazement, mypartner—a true milonguero—took theinvitation and was off dancing toD’Arienzo.The atmosphere was relaxed andamiable, the music great. Rules about"cabeceo" (nod of the head - how oneinvites and accepts a partner to dance atanda in the milongas of Buenos Aires)were out the window and we all endedup dancing for several hours. Thefollowing week we came back with alarger group as the organizers hadencouraged. This milonga is well on itsway to success.La Marshal is open on Wednesdaynights at 11 PM and is located at4185 Cordoba.1 Tango Noticas July 2004