Berlin milongas: people & dancing

People

Berlin has very different crowds attending the various trad milongas. It is good to have milongas that cater for different tastes. Leaving aside the non-trad milongas that I did not go to, I found that in Berlin people separate largely or at least most obviously by age. The young crowd dance in a fashionable, traditional way which is probably the aim of most people dancing in Europe today.

The younger set also have some particularly good DJs.  One local teacher said that these days in Berlin almost no DJ bills themselves as non-trad which was interesting though from the milonga listings and the one, packed, alternative milonga I saw this does not seem to be the case even if it is indicative of the way things are going and perhaps have been for some years. 

Milonga Popular, Alma (hosted at Tango Loft), Nou on Fridays and Cafe Dominguez were where I saw Berlin's "in" crowd, in as much as an outsider can tell. They were also at Loca (hosted at Tango Loft) along with a mix of other dancers too and there were a few at Max and Moritz though fewer than I had expected from hearsay. When I talked about these milongas with local dancers who did not go to these places, they shied away and would not consider going. It is the same in London though. Some who might go to Tango on the Thames or La Mariposa will avoid Tango Etnia or Corrientes. The  music, atmosphere and dancing is different. As in London, these Berlin milongas clearly have quite a reputation. The women at these milongas are almost exclusively young, in their twenties, maybe their early thirties, with the odd exception. At Café Dominguez there was a mix of ages with the skew still towards young women.  There were also one or two children. I'm not sure why Café Dominguez attracts this different crowd. Possibly during the week older dancers with families and careers might not tend not to go out to Alma and Loca and Milonga Popular. Perhaps these people,  like me prefer a weekend afternoon milonga.  Two (young) women I met there from Hamburg told me the scene is older in that city but better in Berlin.

There were older couples at Roter Salon and Villa Kreuzberg and at the Werkloft with Michael Rühl.  At the latter two venues older dancers tended to arrive in couples and for the most part to stay dancing together.  I would say the dancing is different to the trad tango I saw younger couples dancing and dancing to a broader definition of traditional music.  Some of the dancing was very nice.  I remember couples at Villa Kreuzberg and the Werkloft who were lovely to watch.

Among the older dancers, where these were less experienced, I was surprised how many (although not the majority) danced in open hold, even when dancing with the people who would seem to be their life partners. In contrast at Milonga Popular where there seemed to be quite a few new women dancers, most were in the embrace. 

Dancing

I found getting the dances I wanted generally quite hard in Berlin. But at places with good music and dancing there were the youngest dancers, many very accomplished. I found Berliners looked through me but this is often the case when you are a stranger in a local tango scene. There is a pool of young, good, attractive women dancers there, known to the local men and I have seen everywhere I have been in the UK and abroad that most people prefer first to dance with those they know. It is not surprising then that these women are the ones the men choose rather than a very tall, middle-aged visitor of middling dance ability with no interest in making her dance look elegant at the expense of distraction from good feel with the current partner.  I had some very nice dances but I did not accept some dances I perhaps should have done, I am glad I did not accept a few other dances and I accepted a few dances I wish I had not.

That is probably par for the course. On a first trip you expect to take the rough with the smooth. I expected to make dance and social gaffes and hoped to be forgiven them. The milonga is not known to be a forgiving environment or even for giving chances, but some people are understanding of the challenges faced by visiting dancers and more tolerant of the mistakes people make. It is true that I did not really find this to be the case in Berlin, but then it is often not the case anywhere else either. I mean only to report this but not to condone it.

A charming young guy I met in Milonga Popular told me that Germans dance with people they know. I heard this time and time again from locals while I was there and from friends and good dancers who had visited Berlin before me and found it "unfriendly" or hard to get dances. But I talked to men and women, locals and visitors and found them just as pleasant as you find anywhere else. I can't say that I found being "looked through" something peculiar to Berlin. It is perhaps marginally more the case in Berlin. While I was there someone told me they experienced exactly the same in Paris and in other cities.  I have seen the same in Amsterdam, Zurich, London and across the south of England.  Once you get to know people there tend to be more invitations.

If you go alone to the Berlin milongas with good music and you go primarily to dance  then as is probably true in most other big cities I suggest you need to be an excellent dancer, or willing to accept  most dances that come your way, or be young or already well known there or have friends there. Alternatively, go, as I did, with a variety of objectives  in mind other than just dancing.

Berlin: Music

Art on the Berlin wall from the Spree side gallery.

I had not realised before I went to Berlin that where the good music is, the young people follow. I had expected milongas with good music to attract people of all ages who like good trad music.  I found at Roter Salon and Villa Kreuzberg that many of the dancers over say 40, danced a broader spectrum of tango music.

I most enjoyed the music from Ismael (Alma in Tango Loft on Tuesday) Raimund (Café Dominguez), Francesco (Nou on Friday) and Leandro (Max and Moritz). I also liked a lot of Francesco & Gaia's music at Loca in Tango Loft on Thursday).  I learnt much and enjoyed novel experiences listening and dancing to Michael Rühl's music on two occasions. Several people told me Felix Hahme plays good trad for an older crowd and so despite my abortive experience at Villa Kreuzberg I would try it again. 

The trad music played for the younger crowd while it has many, mostly classic tracks, can be hard edged (in feel) with drive and high energy - d'Arienzo, Tanturi, Biagi, some Troilo, some Caló. This is great dance music but can feel relentless if not softened by other aspects of those same orchestras or by different orchestras. The music can also be quite dramatic and extravagant (Di Sarli, Pugliese, De Angelis,  Varela and perhaps others I did not know) especially when it is from the 50s. This is what seems to be reckoned good for dancing among the younger set in Berlin. That said, the choices were often excellent. I heard tanda after tanda of great classics in some of the younger milongas and enjoyed it, softened sometimes by mid-era Di Sarli, Rodriguez or D'Agostino and once by an excellent deep Laurenz tanda at Nou (DJ Francesco) as the penultimate one.

Fresedo, Lomuto, OTV, Canaro, the softer Caló, is not necessarily music you will hear often in Berlin.  I heard some softer music at Café Dominguez.  Elsewhere I asked one of the younger DJs if they played Fresedo as I did not remember hearing any, although I often arrived late.  The answer was yes, but that Fresedo was not such an interesting orchestra. These orchestras are rated "low energy", a term I heard more than once, and consequently not good, perhaps even embarrassing.   The same DJ said they did play those orchestras but only early on (when is pretty much before people arrive).  I think this is a mistake. Good tango music for good dancing need not always be high energy.  Many people enjoy a mix, a broad spectrum. But if the scene values very visually elegant, smooth, dancing suggesting a restrained power and a deliberate style, which among the younger crowd is understandably often the case, then it is not surprising when that is the kind of music that will be rated.

Berlin milongas: floorcraft, conditions for dancing etc.

Milongas I visited

I went to Berlin during the last week of February, 2015.  Apart from a couple of brief forays I pretty much only went to places billing 100% trad music. Berlin does have a significant number of alt/electro/mixed milongas. I even once heard that called the Berlin style but I am sure it would be disputed by the many trad dancers and DJ there!

The places I went to were:

• Monday: Milonga Popular, DJ Felix Naschke
• Tuesday: Clärchens Ballhaus, DJ Felix Naschke and Alma (monthly) milonga in Tango Loft, DJ Ismael Ludman
• Wednesday: Roter Salon, DJ Michael Rühl
• Thursday: Villa Kreuzberg, DJ Felix Hahnme and Loca (monthly) milonga in Tango Loft, DJs Francesco Cieschi and Gaia Pisauro
• Friday: ART. 13, DJ Joerg (sp?); Panoramico, DJ Andreas Smidt in the traditional room, DJ Alexander Darda in the alternative room; Nou - DJ Francesco Cieschi
• Saturday: Ballhaus Walzer- linksgestrick milonga had moved to the Werkloft above Tango Loft for that day, DJ Michael Rühl
• Sunday: Cafe Dominguez DJ Raimund Schlie and Max and Moritz, DJ Leandro Furlan.

More details about these forthcoming.

I didn't notice the floor surface at any of these places to be poor.

Dancing in Berlin starts & finishes late. Don't expect many people before 10pm. Dancing often isn't well underway until 11 or even later.

Entry to milongas cost €5 just about everywhere. It was €6 at Panoramica.

Drinks

Every milonga I went to had a bar. More people drink than in the UK, possibly because the city transport system allows for it. I guess the bars subsidize the entry to an extent. Wine was roughly €4.50 a glass in most places. You can ask for tap water with your wine. Unlike in the UK, thereafter you are expected to pay for water. It can between cost €2,00 per glass in Tango Loft to €3 or €3.50 for a large bottle in the Werkloft.

Food

There was tea (and I guess coffee) and cake to buy at Cafe Dominguez. Max and Moritz is at the back of a (I think traditional German) restaurant and the dance floor at Clärchens Ballhaus is at the front of a restaurant.  Villa Kreuzberg and Tango Loft had restaurants next door/attached.  There were restaurants nearby most of the other milongas apart from Panoramica where I did not notice any because it was a on a very large street (Karl-Marx-Allee) with large Soviet style office-like buildings.

Lighting and space

Many milongas in Berlin are dark, which makes cabeceo difficult if you are a visitor. Most that I went to were in fairly large rooms with ample space. The only milonga I attended and thought crowded (which I quite like for dancing) was Cafe Dominguez.  I had a sense that in Berlin not a few people think you need space to dance. One person said the Werkloft was a small space for dancing but I found there was if anything, empty space. I have found the Thames Valley (Eton) milongas in the UK, some London milongas and even the Counting House in Edinburgh are generally more crowded.

Roter Salon, Panoramica and possibly Nou(?) and Milonga Popular(?) had red or slightly coloured light which meant that although you have an impression of darkness, you can still somehow see across the room quite well. One woman said she liked the light because it was flattering! Villa Kreuzberg and the Werkloft were just very dark. That makes cabeceo difficult, especially in larger rooms, so no surprise then that a good proportion of their clientele were couples.

Floorcraft

...can be slightly chaotic in Berlin and a little disconcerting but not much more than that. It only takes two guys weaving in and out of the ronda to screw up floorcraft. I rarely found or saw guys trying to cut in front of others or taking each others space. Again, using the Thames Valley, Eton special event milongas in the UK as a yardstick, the milongas I went to were not as busy nor the dancers quite as careful. But at the Berlin milongas I went the dancers were almost universally of a competence to avoid collision; surprising then that the ronda could be a bit variable. However, the partners of four dancers at one of the best milongas, Cafe Dominguez, kicked me while I was sitting down and only the last guy, whose partner by sheer good luck avoided badly impaling me with a heel, apologised. I heard the intaken breath from other seated dancers around me as it happened. But there would seem to be a view from most leaders that if your feet are not tucked under your chair on your own head be it...

Milongas I would like to try

I enjoyed seeing the Berlin scene but I am not sure that I would go back to Berlin just to dance a  lot and I doubt I would move there for the tango scene, as many do. I heard conflicting views about people who do this - that it is the obvious choice for people who want to dance a lot in a European city and also that it is a crazy thing to do to move somewhere for the dancing.  If I were to go back, milongas I didn't get to see but would like to, would be:

La Berlinesa - I heard more than once that this is a very small but nice traditional milonga.  It was always reported as having a small attendance.  I am not sure why that is and am curious to find out.  

El Ocaso - The favourite milonga of many was Café Dominguez.  Those same dancers also recommended El Ocaso on Wednesdays in the Kulturbrauerai.  This apparently also has good trad music with mixed ages.

Bailongo I heard was a good, trad milogna with a concrete(?) floor and is in a sportshall. It was on on Saturday while I was there, with Francesco Cieschi as DJ.  I would have gone there to see a different venue and because I liked a lot of Francesco's music but I forgot it was on and went to the Werkloft instead.

I would go back to Art 13 and I would stay longer next time. Unlike most of the others it is a beginners milonga but it is attached to class/practica directly before. I like dancing with new dancers (especially women or if they are dancing in the woman's role).  Apparently some experienced dancers arrive later.  We saw some arriving as we were leaving. The music was in the format of two trad tandas, one alt tanda.

Milongas I heard mentioned

Several people mentioned Tangotanzen macht schön but nearly always with the caveat that the dancing was not that great.

I had asked about Bataclana and was told it was a small milonga that nobody knew much about, with mixed alt and trad music. 

Bebop I was told has a good floor, no Cortinas, mostly traditional Music with tandas always of 4Tango-4Tango-3Vals-3Alternative/ and 4Tango/4Tango 3Milonga/ 3 Alternative.

Ballhaus Rixdorf I heard conflicting things about so I wait to find out for myself.  Apparently there have been milongas there for the last twenty years.

If anyone has any reports about any of the milongas mentioned or others I would love to hear them.

Berlin - where to get information about milongas

Before I travelled I asked for advice for places specifically that played traditional music (and ideally that had traditional social dancing).  I asked friends and the very helpful local organisers of Hoy Milonga Berlin (milonga listings) and Tango Kultur Info, an online magazine related to the tango scene in Germany.  There is also summary information and addresses on Tango Kalendar Berlin. I found Tango Kultur's milonga listings for Berlin the most comprehensive and detailed list of of tango events in that it sometimes describes the type of milonga. I also found it fairly reliably updated. Jan Schlottke of Hoy Milonga Berlin, and Uwe Wildberger from Tango Kultur also kindly shared much useful information.

Some milongas list scant information or they are not listed. For El Ocaso (Wednesday) & Milonga Popular (Monday) and indeed any milonga with little information on TangoKultur, check the Facebook pages.

Also check TangoKultur daily for the milonga you have in mind for that day and not just there -  check the links for the relevant milonga on TangoKultur for the most up-to-date information. While I was there the Saturday dance usually at Walzerlinksgestrickte which this time was at Ballhaus Rixdorf, as sometimes happens, then changed its venue the day before to the Werkloft.  I found this out only as I was leaving Nou the night before.

I wanted to hear the best Berlin had to offer, musically and to dance to good music every night I was there. I decided to write some notes here about trad tango in Berlin because  it was clear to me even before I went that given the considerable choice of milongas each day in Berlin there was more to know than the brief descriptions on TangoKultur. The trad milongas differ hugely in quality of music and clientele.

It is useful to ask people,  especially of a similar age and gender and who look as though they have an approach to dance close to your own, where they find good dancing. Just asking what the mean by "good" is enlightening.

I am grateful for the advice I had on where to go for trad music from more people than I realised at the time, so many thanks to Kirsty Bennett, Simon Francis,  Sven Froese, Chris Jordan, Kerstin at TangoKultur,  Vanessa Leamy,  Philipp Liehm,  Henry Mathias, Rosanna Raissa, Antje Rickowski,  Jan Schlottke and Uwe Wildberger.

Milongas - segregation or inclusion?

I wrote this piece as context against my notes about traditional tango music and dancing in Berlin because opinion is only useful if you know where it is coming from. 

I like milongas which have the right physical conditions for dancing, which play good traditional music in cortinas and where people, especially those who are not good friends, when they are not chatting will observe the non-verbal behaviours for dancing found in traditional milongas that are to do with tact and courtesy, invitation and acceptance.

There is one particular new milonga I like in St Andrews, Scotland, more of a practica, even though it's not at all traditional.  It is attended almost entirely by young and new dancers.  They have picked up on the idea of invitation by look. I go sometimes even though there are no tandas and up to half the music can be alternative.  I go because I like the feeling there, the atmosphere.

I am twenty years outside the very young bracket and I came to tango dancing not quite three years ago; so if I go alone to dance as the woman in a place where I am not known I do not want to to compete with a room of young girls. Many men will dance first with who they know and after that with the young - sometimes the other way round!  This is not uncommon in tango as in life and young women who dance with experienced partners can pick up the dance very quickly and become good dancers.  Similarly, I do not want to go to milongas known to be frequented primarily by couples who tend to go to dance together.

Milongas like these (and others specialist milongas - those with alternative music or those regularly featuring live music) arise in places with an established, often sizeable community of dancers, or one with a very strong and specific dancing culture. They cater for different tastes in music, dance, etiquette.    There is much to be said for this separation since reconciliation between people who like different kinds of music for dancing is unlikely.  The trick is finding a milonga that suits you.

Sometimes hosts will deliberately set up beginner milongas.  I like milongas with variety - a mix of ages and experience. I think I like a dance with a local feel, non-specialist, a milonga for everyone who likes good trad music, where there are people who arrive alone, people in couples, new dancers, experienced dancers and visitors. If only life were that simple!

I think places where experienced dancers dance with new dancers are healthy environments, but not necessarily common. The local milonga playing good music in tandas with cortinas, and the right physical conditions for dancing, is vanishingly rare.  By "a milonga for everyone", I mean everyone who comes to feel the music, to dance, not to put into practice their latest move from class or to try and remember, while in someone's arms with sublime music playing, the latest message about technique. "Everyone" by no means excludes brand new dancers.  It positively includes them because there is no faster, better way to learn to dance than by dancing with people who can already dance.

I was looking for a tag or label for this post - an antonym for segregation. Roget's suggested connection. I looked for a synonym for inclusion.  I hadn't expected the dictionary definitions for inclusion to align themselves so explicitly with what I think dancing tango and the milongas are about:   "admittance, involvement, embodiment, encompassment, embracement....".

Why I don't need saving, or, a response to "Tango: Let's break the rules"

Tango:  Let's break the rules was posted on Facebook by Yann Lohr and reprinted here.

It's well intentioned, I'm sure.  At first I wondered if the piece was a spoof and if the 60 odd shares of the English version were mostly ironic.  But then I saw it's heading up to 200 shares of the original French version. After reading some of the comments I began to have second thoughts, especially when people as august as Melina Sedo espouse related ideas.  My response, in summary, is thanks, but no thanks.

I still saw dance partners sitting all night long... as if nothing could ever change in tango.

Some of us enjoy sitting, chatting, watching, listening. We are not all desperate to dance and we certainly don't want to be harangued into it or "given back our rights" to make us get up. This sort of stance sends the message to many men that you will be doing us poor things a favour if you grant us a dance. Thanks but I'll make up my own mind, when and with whom.

Real empathy would be swapping roles. Be a woman for a night. Dance that role. Sit and wait, try out your mirada. See how far you get. Encourage your guy friends to try the same thing. Trying it out might lead to a genuine understanding and then perhaps change though it may not be the kind you anticipate.

Is Tango still a place where some of women’s rights are denied.... your RIGHT to dance 

A right? Dancing is not a right. Making men dance is not a right. Dancing is a pleasure. Being chosen is an exquisite pleasure on both sides. Women choose, just as well and as much as men. Women choose yes they will dance or no they will not. It's interesting that this post seems to assume that women just do dance if asked. Why is that? I don't think it's because we all do. Perhaps some guys just think we all do. Why would that be? Because some guys won't notice, won't brook a refusal?

the RIGHTS of women, i.e. to invite who they want to dance with.

The way this reads, despite the reference to cabeceo at the end, it sounds like a direct invitation is what's implied. Of course women can ask guys if they want to. Some do. I do sometimes though if I do ordinarily it's men I know.  But men, like women, don't like to be put on the spot by an overt invitation and may refuse with all the avoidable difficulty and embarrassment that can cause.  Why don't some women invite guys, directly or by look? Because many of us don't want to. Why? Because we prefer to be invited. We understand that the dance needs to be wanted on both sides. Women can and do invite men to invite them.  That is the mirada and cabeceo in operation.  How is this disempowering? 

As men, we know that if we pay for admission, we WILL dance, no matter the size of the ballroom or the number of the dancers.

Good dancing is not about quantity.

or possibly you train at home, in class or during practice for your ochos, boleos, or ganchos to be the queen of the night

These would be excellent reasons for a guy not to invite a girl.

I get the sense from this quarter that after I've been "saved" from not dancing, the next treat in store might be to be kindly taught on the floor by a man who knows what he's talking about and who wants to empower me in how I could improve the look and feel of my dancing which would improve my "chances" of dancing ...

Think of coming to the milonga with the confidence that you WILL dance, because you have the social right to invite the partners you like or want to discover.
Or you could come to the milonga with the everyday confidence that you will dance because you're nice to dance with, because you're known where you dance or perhaps because you're not demanding. Or perhaps you'll come with the confidence that you'll have a nice time because you'll enjoy watching the floor, listening to the music, chatting with your friends because you don't actually feel like dancing and certainly don't want to be press-ganged into it.

Can you feel again the enthusiasm you may have had when you first stepped in a Milonga telling yourself "tonight, it's all night long!"Mmm. "Sore feet, aching legs, bed too late, up too early, I didn't get a chance to chat to my girl friends and three of my toes are out of action for a week because of the clodhoppers I accepted...."

I've been many place, it's experience speaking
Experience of being never knowingly refused, by the sounds of things.

...outside Argentina where the problem may not be that important,
I'm curious why would women sit any less in Argentina? They're nicer to dance with? More men dance? If those things were true, they would be interesting in themselves.

We know very little about how to use [cabeceo] correctly

Actually, I find it the norm in milongas where you find good dancers

The writer is of course free to set up a milonga where it's the thing for women to invite men. It'd be genuinely interesting to see the kind of dancing that goes on there. I and many are happy with the way things stand though, thanks.

Image courtesy of Rossographer via Creative Commons license.

"A man is generally what he feels himself to be."

There is an exchange in Sam Peckinpah's hellish film, Cross of Iron between Captain Stransky (Maximilian Schell) and Sergeant Steiner played by James Coburn, who manages to pull of laconic, careful, disillusioned and dangerous all in a look or a word.

Stransky: May I suggest to you that you do not underestimate your present company. Everything you are and may become is dependent upon this present company.

Steiner: No, I will not forget that, sir. But I may add that a man is generally what he feels himself to be. 

This, said to the visible discomfort of the people around him.

I like people who are themselves and not what they think they ought to be or what someone else tells them they should be like.

I look for a musical connection with a real person.   I like people who dance the music simply and without ostentation, who feel the music, not who think the dance.  These (for me) "real" dances can come from the most unexpected quarters, not least because they are often so unobtrusive.

I appreciate nice clothes or someone who smells lovely but these things aren't essential, even less so with people I know.  I dance with the guy with unruly hair I have to push away because he has a great embrace, with the girl who dresses quietly because it suits her and no-one else dances like her, with the guy whose stubble burns my cheek if we dance more than a tanda because he's fun and original and still the right side of respectful.

I like to dance with people who are light-hearted, who smile and who look as though they are enjoying the dance.  Perhaps playful people dancing in the guy's role bring more equality to the dance. If that's true maybe it’s because there's more opportunity to respond.  I like people who share their personalities in the dance. I don't know that you can see so easily whether people do that especially because they are often small and discreet in their movements.  The milonga is a visual place, superficially but necessarily.  After that it's about what you feel.

When I am in the embrace I like to know whose embrace. If you were to put me into someone's arms with my eyes closed I would like to be able to tell who it is right from the start in the many ways that you do know.

Before I danced the other role, back when I assumed along with most everyone else that classes were the way to learn to dance tango, I must have been complaining to a friend about not wanting to be being pulled into the embrace by a guy in class or about how the teacher encouraged me to really embrace a guy I didn't want to.  My friend, sympathising, said how awful it must be to embrace someone you don't really want to and that luckily few women were so obnoxious that guys did not want to dance with them in the embrace. Now I find it to be true! Most women I invite I find are lovely to dance with. I do not find this true in quite the same way with all guys. I love to dance with women who are relaxed,  unafraid, who love the connection and who I can feel responding to the music.

Sometimes young guys are as inclined to propel you around as to embrace you. But not always.  I think  sometimes that just comes with time in life and in the milongas.

I like to dance with guys with a great embrace, a place I like to be, where I feel relaxed and happy and where I can trust him not to do unpleasant things. I think I most like to be in the embrace of a guy who I can feel has experienced life and is relaxed and at peace with himself, self assured, quiet, understated, sensitive to the music and to his partner.  I like to feel in a guy's embrace and his dance, looked after, cared for.

Good music

I wrote this piece as context against my notes about traditional tango music and dancing in Berlin. because opinion is only useful if you know where it is coming from...

My setlists show what I play; classics from the 30s and 40s because I think good dancers dance well the pieces that they know and love. Even while we have individual preferences, many enjoy the best of all the main orchestras  from the Golden Age of tango. Variety is sought by many especially in a milonga frequented by people with a range of ages, experience and tastes.

I like the strength and gentleness of De Angelis in the 40s, Martel's voice with it's unstable edge, in contrast to the soothing reassurance of the singer Carlos Dante. I love De Angelis' wild instrumental, El huracán from '48.  I like the unpredictable insanity of Biagi, the creativity and drive of d'Arienzo. I like the relaxed lightness in D'Agostino, the disguised loneliness and darkness in Rodriguez, the solitary pride, quirkiness and gentleness in Lomuto and his romantic vals.  I like the sweetness and romance of Fresedo's songs and his adventurous instrumentals.  I like the energy, the early sophistication and invention of OTV, the humour and unexpected complexity of Donato and the smooth luxury of Demare.  I like Tanturi being demanding and tempting fate, the different sides of Canaro, Caló, Laurenz, di Sarli and Troilo, the strangeness of Pugliese and the disconcerting similarity of some of his pieces to those of his mentor, De Caro, decades before.  I like the contrast, the variety, the richness, the spectrum, the best of it all.

I dislike the dramatic, exaggerated, empty showiness of most of the 50s and later. The orchestral sound of much of that is not suited to tango music and I don't like the 50s "reverb" effect which sounds like instruments playing in an empty room. I can think of nothing I like from the twenties, the undeveloped, sheer head-nodding dullness of much Guardia Vieja.

I like my tandas with four tangos, not a cowardly, kindergarten trio.  I generally prefer the same orchestra in one tanda, but not always.  Of course I want cortinas.  It goes without saying I don't want tango nuevo, non-tango or even cover versions of classics by modern bands.  Sorry, but I stick by the saying: the best tango orchestras are the dead ones.  In some ways I wish it were otherwise but then there is so much in that canon and I doubt I will ever tire of it.

 The music determines if I dance and who I dance with.  I like music so good it pulls you to your feet.  

Berlin: About recommendation

All recommendation comes from an angle. You won't necessarily see the whole picture.  If you are middle aged or older and like dancing tango with people who enjoy embrace and connection there is no point asking a young guy where he likes to dance if he likes exuberant dancing movements associated with tango dancing to music which is not tango music with girls his age. 

There are several milongas a night on offer in Berlin.   I wanted to make best use of my time there which meant matching what I wanted with what was on offer so I asked around and got many helpful and accurate recommendations about where I would find traditional music.

The mistake I made about Berlin was an assumption that where there would be good music there would be people of all ages dancing that music.  I found this to be true only really in Cafe Dominguez and Max & Moritz.  I heard it is also true of El Ocaso.   Milongas in Berlin are even more specialised than I had realised. I found they were most distinguishable by location, music, age and ability of the dancers and sometimes a combination of these.

The other misapprehension I had was about music.  In the UK I have sought out milongas and DJs that play what I think is good traditional music but I was not really aware how selective I had been.  Nor had I remembered the extent to which I generally avoid (dancing at least, at) milongas  that I don't think play good trad and I had forgotton how disappointed I am when I do go but unsurprisingly don't then have a good (dancing) time.  Despite the wide variety of the music I have listened to more or less consciously over the last year or so locally and further afield in the UK and the wide variety proposed by international DJs on Tanda of the Week, I found the kind of traditional music played in Berlin in some places narrower and in others much broader than I expected. This was interesting in itself.

It is good to know what you are going for and to be flexible to opportunities that arise.  If you want to dance a lot, then unless you are young (for women), elegant and a good dancer consider that going to the milongas with the young "in" set may not be your best option. I went to Berlin because I had a sudden opportunity, to forget a sadness, to see the scene in Berlin that plays trad tango music, to hear the kind of music their DJs play, to see something of the city, to meet new people,  and to dance if the opportunity arose.

So I found in Berlin that tastes do vary widely even within the trad music scene - in dancing, in venue and in type of music.  Then it occurred to me that if I was going to share thoughts about what I found there, for those to be of any use I ought to say something about the kind of things I like so I will try to do that next.

Berlin - practical information for travelling tango dancers

I went to Berlin in large part to explore the tango dance scene there and to find out where you can dance to good traditional tango music. This is part guide, part travelog.

Getting there: I found a flight through Skyscanner as I had a last minute opportunity to go away. I booked accommodation for seven nights through Airbnb which I've used for solo travel successfully several times before in Britain and abroad. That combination gave me the most flexibility on flights and where I wanted to stay and was about £100 cheaper than the cheapest package deal for those dates where there would have been less flexibility on accommodation type and location. I know from previous travel for tango dancing that getting back easily to your accommodation late at night is an important consideration!

You can get a shuttle train into the city from Schönefeld airport train station which is five minutes away outside the airport under a covered walkway.  You need to stamp your ticket on small, discreet machines for this purpose on the platform before travel.

Where to stay
I stayed in a  lovely warm, quiet apartment in the area called Mitte and found it an ideal base.  It was shared with two women I barely saw. As a poor sleeper arriving back late I valued the electric black-out shutters that are common in apartments on the Continent.  I was within a few blocks of Nou and Clärchens Ballhaus and within half an hour's walk of Roter Salon and El Ocaso, all milonga venues. The U6 and U8 Ubahn were nearby.  Both of these bisect the city north-south, making it easy to get to Tango Loft to the north (two stops on the U6) and to the other trad milongas, south, mostly in Kreuzberg. 

Mitte felt safe.  So did the little I saw of the area around Mehringdamm (Milonga Popular, Villa Kreuzberg and Walzerlinksgestricht). The area immediately around Kottbusser Tor subway (for Max and Moritz, Tangotanzen macht schön and Art 13) was  different in character but I really saw very little of it. It reminded me a bit of a mini Elephant and Castle near where I used to live in Southwark, London. I don't think it would be worth staying in that area for those milongas.  This map of Berlin (click to enlarge) is marked (by stars) with the trad milongas I went to or that I missed and would explore next time. It may help you decide where to stay.

Bikes: You might hire a bike if the forecast is good.   "Call a bike" was the system in operation on my street.  It works using your phone and unlock codes for the bike.  The terminal on the street had instructions in English. 

Berlin is flat but cold and can be quite windy in February.  Some people will cycle on pavements and not a hoodie on a stunt bike as I often see in the UK.  In Germany, where I have found the sense of civic coherence to be strong, this surprised me.  A very courteous Austrian dancer living in Berlin told me the city had fared badly in a recent survey of bike-friendly cities. I said I had not seen the separate cycle pavements I remembered from my childhood in northern Germany. "That's because we are in the east side of Berlin", he said. Here they didn't plan for bike paths during rebuilding as they did in the west and so they have been incorporating them into the road system only in the last few years. When I arrived I didn’t have a sense of the size of city and the forecast was mixed so I decided to use public transport but a bike is handy to get back from milongas reasonably safely & quickly.

Public transport  - Berlin has a fantastic, fast, efficient, regular and ubiquitous public transport system.  There are also overland trains (S-Bahn).  Midweek and on Sunday I couldn’t get a U-bahn (underground train) after around 0030 so was reliant on nightbuses. But on Friday and Saturday the subway and the metropolitan S-Bahn run through the night.  Berlin has trams, too, the M version of which also runs all night including during the week.  I liked that the subway is not anything like as vertiginously or suffocatingly deep as in London.

You can get multi-day, multi transport-tickets at the airport and at self service machines on platforms. The multi-day tickets can cover all kinds of transport.  I recommend it for hassle free travel. You can also get individual travel tickets for  E2.70 for inner Berlin.  I could not pay for a single journey using debit card in the ticket machines so you may need change.  You can get a combined museum & transport ticket for I think not much more than the multi transport ticket. I know you can get them at the airport. Note, the ticket tells you to validate (stamp with platform machine) before travel.

I got around very well using Google maps public transport system for Berlin. Some Berliners use a public transport app but I didn't need it.

On my first night after the milonga at about 0045 I realised I'd missed the U-bahn but simply could not find a bus stop by Milonga Popular. Bus stops do not always have shelters. Eventually I found it  Sometimes they just look like this (H for Haltestelle - bus stop):

Cashpoints - In the confusion of leaving Villa Kreuzberg on Thursday I forgot to go to a cashpoint before reaching Wedding, one of the transport stops for Tango Loft. There is a Commerzbank and a Sparkasse near Wedding. I had had no problem using the exteral ATMs in Mitte but the machines at the first bank now didn't like my card & I couldn't get inside the door to the machines in the other bank. I understand now that some ATMs inside bank foyers in Germany are closed from 10pm till morning.  In my case though I had just seen a man leave so it was very possibly user error! I had just enough cash to get in but make sure you have enough with you when you leave the centre.

General

Berliners dont jaywalk with anything like London insouciance. Right of way rules here.  Each has his proper turn and his alloted slot. For a people I don't remember being great queuers I find this puzzling. But if you watch film footage of early Berlin in the Story of Berlin museum, law-abiding pedestrians aren't at all in evidence!

I liked that it is built into the traffic system that vehicles turning the corner coincide with the signal for pedestrians to cross the road. It establishes the right balance between vehicles and pedestrians which I think is falling away in Britain.

On the other hand, you will find few zebra crossings in Berlin and from the time when I learned to drive in Germany I remember almost no roundabouts.  Perhaps these  traffic features, reliant on human judgment, are unsuited to the cultural temperament here which seems to prefer the more unambiguous electro-mechanical systems.

Do not stand on the yellow line by the doors on a crowded bus, even though the doors don't open inwards.  The bus won't go,  the driver will say something stern over the loudspeaker & everyone will stare!  On the other hand when I thought I'd missed the subway train there was a platform announcement which I belatedly realised said something like "Does the lady on the platform want to get on?" In which case everyone will laugh... :)

Take a phone charger & adapter in your bag for when you stay out later than planned and run out of charge at 3AM when you're figuring out how to get home...

Expect bars (but not restaurants or milongas) to be smoky.

Ladies - it is stating the obvious but bears reiterating - pack very comfortable daytime shoes if you want to stay the course.

Safety

This is mainly intended for women like me who are visiting alone. Berlin generally did feel, and I was told is, a fairly safe city.  I did not really have problems walking late at night which is to say between 0100 and 0400. In fact the first two days I reluctantly asked at least four random guys on the street for information or directions at 0100 or later & they couldn't have been more helpful. But I was also hustled and bumped by a random, obviously crazy guy in the fairly busy, very public Kulturbrauerai area around 2030 and kerb-crawled by a crowd of guys in a car at 0330 a few hundred meters from where I was staying which was surprising - you just never know.  It isn't that fun walking alone at that time but there were cars and people around on the streets though I don't think I saw another solo female about at that time. A bike might at least feel safer.

On the way to Tango Loft I walked down Lindowerstr from Wedding public transport station.  It is dark with guys hanging about and I did not choose to do so again.  Instead I got off at Reinickendorfe Strasse instead and walked down the street of the same name, bigger, busier & more brightly lit, until Gerichtstrasse (for Tango Loft).  Going home you can get a night bus into Mitte and beyond by Reinickendorfer Strasse subway. I was accompanied twice to public transport in the early hours, once very late/early from Tango Loft, for which I was grateful.

Milonga Popular & Tango Loft are both down dark alleys. If I hadn't met people coming the other way to ask I would've hesitated to go down them alone especially as I wasn't sure I was in the right place. If going alone and for the first time see the photos on my individual milonga reviews (forthcoming) to help you identify them.

I saw quite a lot of random drinking in the street right across the city - mostly young people with beer bottles but nothing that was particularly out of hand and nothing compared to what you will see any weekend night in many British city centres.

Many thanks to Sven Froese for clarifications about transport and banks.