Berlin - Monday: Milonga Popular

Graffiti art, Spree-side gallery

Milonga Popular at Freudenzimmer, Mehringdamm 61, 10961 Berlin (in Kreuzberg) is not well-advertised publicly though it is well-known.  I found out about it through word-of-mouth though its events are on Facebook. Perhaps because of this semi-underground vibe I heard it described as the home of the tango hipsters of Berlin.  At one time there were more of these in Berlin.

I didn't know any of this when I arrived. Like many milongas in Berlin it was not especially easy to find. There is no photo because since it lies down a dark alleyI was thinking more about whether to proceed.  As I hesitated someone exiting told me to go to a door in the bottom right-hand corner and up some stairs until I saw the red candle.  There were no signs but I heard the music as I went up.

A class or practica was in session as I arrived around 9pm. In Berlin this common.  The four practicas I saw in Berlin were all indistinguishable from a class in Britain with active teaching, demonstration and repetition. In London, classes unfortunately precede many milongas.  Some admit they go to these as ice-breakers, just to meet people easily, with whom they might then dance in the milonga.  I think that is perfectly possible - and cheaper - in the milonga itself.  

The difference in Berlin is that I had a sense that people go to class and practicas with a view to going to milongas whereas in Britain some people go to class in preference to a milonga.  Going to class is a sort of end in itself, like going to pottery.  Unlike having the pot as the goal of the class, social dancing is not always the goal of people who go to Argentine tango class.  That is a valid choice.   Sometimes the goal is just to move up to the next class.  This view of technical progress in social dancing dominates among people learning to dance tango this way.  A couple of years ago as a visitor to a class in London I met a woman who, in the two years she had been learning, had never been to a milonga.  

In the past dancint tango was learned socially for enjoyment, for pleasure.  You can still find this today.  Of any milonga I have been to Milonga Popular stands out as the milonga where new dancers learned from experienced dancers, not by being taught, simply by dancing.  

Milonga Popular had a cool and happy vibe with a mix of dance experience, mostly young, new and inexperienced women dancing with mostly young to middle aged, experienced guys.  A gentle young guy I chatted to said it was characteristic of this milonga, less so of others.  In the event I found this skew common in the more trendy Berlin milongas, though never more so than in Milonga Popular. Learning to dance from more experienced dancers is a great principle but age-wise, this is often the way things pan out.  A woman I partnered had only been dancing a few months though if it hadn't come up, I wouldn't have known - she was lovely to dance with. I realised this was probably the case with many of the young women here learning to dance mainly by dancing with experienced guys.

Three of the four people I spoke with there all mentioned the feeling of the music.  I have rarely heard that from new dancers in the UK.  There is nothing nicer.

The main seating area, a relaxed open-plan area on one side of the room, was dark.  Another side of the room is dominated by the entrance, a stage and DJ box and next to that, a bench, which takes perhaps six people.  From here you are next to, virtually on the floor.  The bar is on a third side of the floor, opposite the DJ.  Some guys stood there.  Because of the location and the light guys who want to invite girls by look need to come over and stand very near the bench, making something of a mockery of the concept of discretion in that custom. I was tired from travel and not planning to dance but the view of the floor from here was excellent so I chose to sit on the bench despite the lurkers.  The floor seemed to be a kind of smooth plywood but I found it fine. 

There was a very large room for coats and shoes behind the main room. Going by the latest Facebook event for Milonga Popular I think this may now be a second dance room.   Off this was a fairly small and poky ladies room.

Felix Naschke was the DJ. The traditional tandas that there were, were good. There were great Biagi vals and milonga tandas which I danced; a d'Arienzo milonga and Caló, d'Arienzo, Biagi and De Angelis tangos. But it was mostly tanda after tanda of high energy and drama with little respite.  There was though, an enjoyable D'Agostino/Vargas. Of the softer music, D'Agostino seemed to be the most "on trend" in Berlin.  The music is light, distinctive and I find it very relaxing.  It is not as quirky as some of the other soft, but still classic music, which I also like but heard less of.  Other tandas which I did not recognise or enjoy were a strident Salamanca and one of Domingo Federico - again high energy.

I was dancing one of the fevered Biagi milongas, Flor de Montserrat, I think with a young woman.  Being new in the other role this milonga perhaps wasn't my wisest choice but when the music pulls you up you sometimes only realise this later.  The venue was noisy and I could not understand why the music was so quiet.  I was desperate to signal the DJ for more volume but couldn't see him through the crowd and pillars. When finally in view I saw him, head down, pre-listening on headphones to potential future tracks.  Eventually he saw me and to his credit the volume immediately went up - but the track was almost over.

I danced with the charming and gentle young man I had been talking to, the only guy I danced with that evening.   He invited me to a difficult De Angelis. Later we danced another wild Biagi track.  He danced softly and I felt that he preferred softer music, guessing Demare - does anyone dislike Demare?  This turned out to be true. He said he had occasionally taken over from a DJ who wanted to leave. 

I asked what music he liked.  Canaro, he said, which, in view of the atmosphere in Milonga Popular, was surprising.  I liked him more.  Few DJs would be so honest as to cite Canaro as the first orchestra they mention liking.  If you want to dance easily with a beginner, choose a  Canaro tango.  Many are steady and calm.  God knows why so many teachers choose extravagant Di Sarli in class.  But Canaro's music has its complexities.  The nuance is less in the rhythm, more the tone which, across his tangos is extraordinarily varied.  Neither is Canaro one-sided, rhythmically.  Tangos by Quinteto don Pancho (also Canaro) are much livelier and Canaro milongas are frenzied. 

I asked the young man he liked Fresedo and was taken aback when he said "Who?" and asked me to spell the name.  This was before I realised how little Fresedo seems to be rated in Berlin.  

There was one other guy I would have liked to dance with. He was slightly older and danced a milonga very quietly and musically, with containment and none of the smooth, solemn or aggressive confidence you see in some of the most sought-after guys in European cities, events or good milongas.

Somehow, between chatting and watching, I managed to stay about three and a half or four hours. Someone told me that at about 1AM there are free cocktails, but I left around that time and may have this wrong...