Knowing people

Gordon Johnson

On Sunday, I danced in Milonga La Garua (free entry), in Bilbao's casco viejo.  About a year ago, for a few months I had enjoyed Spanish/English conversation exchange online with a woman from that city who happens to dance tango. I sent her a message on Sunday lunchtime when we arrived in Bilbao to say I was planning to go to the milonga that evening and it would be a lovely opportunity to meet her if she was going.  She spotted me when I arrived, we danced.  She was a wonderful dancer.

The barman was great with my thirteen year old son, feeding him peanuts and keeping half an eye on him.   

We all know one another here, one of the habitués said.  It was a nice atmosphere. The vice-president of the tango association that organised the milonga kindly and chattily collected me from the end of that bar by the entrance where the non-dancers sit and brought me to the far end where the dancers congregated.  She introduced me and some Spanish visitors to the milonga at large.

Someone who travels told me this part of Spain: Bilbao, a small village near San Sebastian and the Basque country in to France is one of the best areas for dancing. 

- Why is that - because the music is better?   

- The music, the dancing, the organisation.

My friend and her friends gave me tips about the good guy dancers, the men recommended women, which became a small number of couples and individuals.  By quiet words and looking and in the mysterious way of the milonga, connections rippled through the air.  I had a great evening.  

It can really help to know people.