Over the May Bank holiday weekend I decided to combine another trip to Cambridge, to visit Nottingham for the first time and go to five milongas in those cities. To my knowledge, no hosts yet in Britain are combining their milongas into, say, a Bank Holiday weekend of local dancing to make it worthwhile for dancers from outside the area to visit. Given that lacuna, this was my personal, ad-hoc take on the Tango Train idea. A propos, Berlin’s Embrace festival looks similar - I think it is a kind of festival of local milongas. Best of all “PS: To participate in EMBRACE registration is not required! Registration only for workshops and classes.” Archived here.
I had loved Cambridge, wanted to see more of the city and to dance with people I knew and had not seen or managed to dance with last time. Camtango was running a Spring Festivalito so I expected good numbers. I was a bit worried because the weekend was workshop-heavy which tends to attract the type of dancer I don’t prefer. Still, it has the advantage of being only two hours from Nottingham. With Radio 4 for company and my own thoughts I arrived relaxed but road-blitzed and giddy after an eight and a half hour drive on Bank Holiday Friday. I decided to take things easily.
Access
I stayed in an Airbnb nearby and walked to the venue. The area is in any case residential and outside the city so parking should not be an issue.
Welcome
I think you walk straight into the hall which surprised me slightly, or at least finding the desk on the edge of the salon surprised me a little. I really like the separation they have in Buenos Aires where you are greeted and pay and then the curtain (often) separates arrival from entry to the salon. But I had a simply lovely welcome from Juana, whom I didn’t know; really one of the nicest welcomes I can remember in the UK. She strikes me as born to host.
Salon
The salon was nicely presented. There were plenty of tables and chairs though no obvious solo seating that I recall. There were fairy lights, uplighters, standard lamps and adorable pink hanging Chinese lanterns. The photos really don’t do it justice but you can see below how well the uplighters illuminate without blinding. On the other hand, the room especially when looking towards the further end felt darker than it appears here.
Cloakroom
I asked where I could leave my things and was directed to a spacious room for larger bags, coats and with seating to change shoes.
Refreshments
The kitchen, also strung with fairy lights, looked warm and atmospheric. I was delighted to see wine was for sale - £2.50 a glass. A condition of the hire was that drinks had to stay in the kitchen. There was nice cake, fruit, pretzels.
Seating
I asked a couple if I could join the end of one the (large) tables and we fell into chat. Once I got up I lost my chair - twice. The first time I moved to the other end of the table and when I lost that too I went to another part of the room with a spare chair between tables. With tables now appropriated one does not like to crash another group or couple’s table. In practical terms it did not matter too much as the drinks were in the kitchen. When I went back to my handbag for things - still attached to the original chair - people were very nice - Oh, sorry, was this my chair? etc. One says "No" of course, "not at all", but that’s just what the British do. Some cultures find this confusing, even duplicitous.
Lighting
The lighting was a bit dark for unambiguous invitation by look and harder when you don’t know the people. Someone who went to the same venue on the Saturday night (I didn’t) said they found it hard to see for invitation by look. The uplighters were very good but the standard lamps at eye level are blinding when the bulb is visible and facing you making invitation/acceptance impossible. Even without the bulb showing, because of their level they put the person you are looking at in silhouette.
Because it was dim, I wasn’t sure if my local friend with whom I love dancing was inviting me from the far end of the hall, or whether it was the woman next to me. One doesn’t like to presume in these circumstances. I had already danced with him, the girl next to me was popular for dance and I wasn’t sure if they had already danced. I looked away so they could make the arrangements without confusion. Oscar Casas incidentally is interesting on this.
She said to me later she wasn’t sure if we were in a good spot for invitation. She was considering moving. I generally find it doesn’t really matter where you sit. I notice if a guy wants to dance with you enough he will find you. With that view, seat-hopping becomes unhelpful.
Floor
The markings showed the floor was used for sports. It was not great but not terrible. It was harder for me to tell because my shoes were not very worn in. I danced little but mostly with very nice dancers and find I have less trouble with floors when these are the guys I dance with.
Invitation
Nobody walked up to invite me verbally, which was lovely.
Dancing
As it was Friday night and people were coming and going at different times depending on when they had arrived and how far they had travelled, there was a sense of fluidity in the crowd that I liked. It reminded me of Buenos Aires where none of the best DJs that I noticed did any “mood” or “arc” DJing. They simply play a spread and variety of music for those who are there at the time. At one point I counted 22 people down two sides, plus roughly similar numbers down the other two sides, a few in the middle, a few seated and a few who’d already left.
The dancing was mixed. There was enough space so the ronda was fine. The DJs from out of town, their friends and partners danced for the most part noticeably amongst themselves. That is common when people dance away - they want to see friends and also get the best dancing they can. They were visibly enjoying themselves - girls with girls as well as guys with girls. There seemed to be an apparent split in good (guy) dancing between this group and most other dancing. It can be hard to tell when you are not local but I saw some exceptions: the friend I danced with, a visually striking visiting guy - but quiet dancer - that someone told me was a nomad with a blog and a very quiet local dancer apparently from Mexico. The scientist from Mexico danced mostly in the inner ronda and was lovely to watch. I liked that he danced with new girls as well as with girls with more experience. I was not feeling up to dancing with girls that night. It is harder besides to do so when you are not known. I did dance a couple of tracks - badly - with a favourite I already knew from there. Then a very pretty girl sent me a look to dance (milonga). I was flattered and danced but not on form.
Music
The DJ was Ricardo Peixoto. I liked a lot of the music. It was the best set I heard that weekend. I have found in the past that he plays many great tracks and great tandas but often with a lot of energy. On a packed floor on the main night of an event it can encourage wild dancing even among usually social dancers and becomes stressful. I have quit the floor more than once under those circumstances. This time there was more balance in the set and it was no coincidence that even though I was new to the place, the evening felt more relaxed than other times I have heard him play. That said, of the three tandas with guys I most enjoyed they were all fast - Tanturi, D’Arienzo and a fast vals; but then these would all get me up so I don’t know that one can extrapolate much from that. In Buenos Aires the guys I liked dancing with and the DJs who spoke about the older bailarins often said that they liked music más picada. I think this means spicier or in musical terms with rhythm and energy. D’Arienzo was the obvious choice but also some Troilo, some Tanturi, things like that. Música picada is in many other orchestras too but the energy is different.
Unless you talk to the DJ or have some fail-safe way to know the music such as a friend with whom to check facts you may get some facts about what the music was wrong. Of course, any DJ who cares can counter this by posting the music online afterwards. A recent example is on the new Barrio de tango website. I did talk to Ricardo though more by chance and found him courteous and knowledgeable about music. I am sure he knows far more than I about dates and developments in music. He said in 1942 the orchestras became more sombre in tone and that some say it was because of D’Agostino, some say it was a track of Caló’s. It had been thought to be unsaleable though it is popular now. I still think of D’Agostino as light and relaxed more than sombre but I know what he means. It is not D’Arienzo in the 30s. So he knows about these sorts of interesting things.
Not all the music was to my taste: the Di Sarli with Florio, the Pugliese with Chanel but some people like that.
The Rodriguez began with Qué lento corre el tren which is lovely then Iré which I know but not well enough to know if it makes me want to dance. Then there were two more famous tracks. The Fresedo was one of the lovely, soft, sweet selections with e.g. Cordobesita and friends. The whole tanda was great as was the D’Arienzo, the Troilo and the Donato. The vals were nice and the the milongas slightly more unusual. The rhythmic Tanturi was fabulous save the opening track which I can’t remember and probably didn't know. I was puzzled by its use as an opener and asked about it. He said it was the best Tanturi track. I was invited to it by a lovely dancer which is why I accepted.
Legacy
When I left Juana gave me a warm embrace. I read something last year about memory. It was along the lines that researchers had discovered the way we experience something and the way we remember it are not the same. Apparently the things we remember are the things that gave us most pleasure or pain in the experience (so the most intense moment) - together with, crucially, how the experience ended. It is called the Peak End rule. By that Juana was the key person there. Had some guy dumped me mid tanda and with a look of contempt left me standing on the floor but that at the end Juana had still hugged me, by the Peak End rule, looking back, your mind kind of averages out the experience so perhaps I might have left thinking things had been OK overall. Luckily that didn’t happen. Although I didn’t dance much through choice, I liked the dances I had. I chatted, watched, listened and had a nice time - and the ending was great.
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