More about taking classes in Buenos Aires

I am going to try and cover a number of things in this blog, first, private lessons, and then group classes at both tango schools and then pre milonga group classes. For each topic I hope to be able to clearly put forth what you can expect to receive in all these classes, as well as the general benefits and drawbacks to each of the options.
First, private lessons, what they cost, what to expect from each class.
Contrary to what you may have read, private tango lessons are expensive in Buenos Aires. The average lesson in Buenos Aires runs about 150 peso an hour. If the lesson requires the teacher to bring a partner, expect to pay 200 for the hour. This might happen if you are guy taking lessons with a guy. Sometimes when I don’t have a partner and I have a class with Fernando, he has to bring Geri, this is going to cost 50 peso more. If you are already a great dancer and you want lessons with brand names that are the best in the biz, expect to pay around 300 peso an hour.
Sometimes you will have a case where instructors do not show up for classes, so I do not recommend paying them for services you have not yet received. That being said, I have never had a problem with any of the instructors I recommend, if you do use one that you read about on this blog, and have a problem, please let me know right away so I can remove them from my list.
Most of the time, you will benefit from 90 minute classes more the 60 minute ones. If gives you the chance to work on technique. Also, expect a lot less in terms of steps to dance. If the teacher is really good, you will spend most your time walking, how to walk, walking to the music, the whole deal.
For the most part, I think it takes about three lessons to really get to the point of getting the most out of a teacher, that being said, in BA, if you are not getting a lot of out every lesson, find a new teacher.
Also, pick the teacher you want for what you need. Seeing a technique teacher for musically might not be the best idea.

Second group classes at tango schools
This is a much cheaper option then private lessons, and is a really great way to meet other people that have come to BA to learn or improve their tango.
Expect any group class to run about 15 pesos for an hour and a half. For all of the classes I have taken at tango brujo the teachers are all really good, and I would expect the same from the other schools around town. If you are in town for more than a week and want to take a lot of classes, then you can get a card of four to eight lessons for a discount.
I have found that for the most part, two types of people take group classes, those that are new to tango and have spent less than six months learning to dance, and those that are already good dancers that are now working on learning new steps and starting to push into the advanced levels of the dance. This means that there are many people with many levels at the group classes, which in the end will always help you become a better dancer.
Do not expect a lot of technical work in these classes, how to walk and how to step is hard to do in a large group class. Expect to dance with a lot of very beginning dancers, and only a few good ones.
For me while I am here, taking three to four private lessons a week, with a focus on technique, then supplementing the rest of the week with group classes is the way to go.

Third, group classes before a milonga
If you are dancing in BA at the milongas and are new to BA, these classes offer two things you can’t get from the other classes.
The instructor(s) will be a milonga dancer for sure, and most the time is well liked by the organizer of the milonga. This is not always true, as money talks, but it is true most of the time. Getting to know the instructors and in turn the organizers is a great way to get good seats at the milonga, which is the other thing you will get out of these classes.
Usually you will get a discount entrada to the milonga as well after the class, and you will be meeting people at the class to dance with after the class.
All in all, this is a great option.

Regardless of what you decide to do, remember, the real key to dancing when you are starting out is to have fun. It takes a while to become a true tango snob, so enjoy it while you can!

A guide to the BA world of tango

Well, a cool thing happened today, I got asked if I might be interested in putting together a tango guide for the ins and outs of finding, watching, learning, and dancing tango in non other then my personal meca, BsAs. If I accept this outstanding opportunity, it means an extended stay, a chance to visit all the tango schools, every milonga I can find, exploring all the types of tango that exist today, and the overall history of the dance, along with an expense account(very small one).  Oh, and I get to be published by a travel company and have my guide sold in like a million languages, all over the world. That is so really cool.

I received some emails a bit back asking me for my opinions on a few things, so I gave them best I could, and it seems I was one of the few people to answer the questions without trying to promote my own interest, so I got asked. Should I do it, I have to find a counterpart that can speak Spanish and English to help me out. We still have a few things to work out, but it seems like fun. I am hoping we can do a downloadable list of milongas by category, and group classes all over town.

For anyone that doesn’t know at this point, I am a firm believer that once you feel the fire for tango, you have to come to buenos aires to really learn the dance. Tango is about a passion, a feeling, and a culture, all kind of mixed together. It is my personal feeling that you really have to be raised in buenos aires to understand the dance. Deep down inside me, that feeling really bothers me. I have felt so close to some of the woman I dance with that sometimes I can’t tell where they start and I end, but to watch the argentines, the look on their faces while they dance, it is indescribable

Everyone should come here to learn to dance.

Anyway, it is a little too early to really talk about a book, and I had to get permission just to post this much, so hush is the word for now.

If you happen to be in BsAs right now and are taking lessons at any of the schools or milongas that are really good, let me know, I might just be stopping by soon;)

It is like a broken record, but one last time, this is why I don’t recomend any Argentina Tango Tour Companies!

This is the last time I post this, as it is getting old, however, after getting more than a few emails, here you go:

It is kind of funny, I have asked many times to have my response removed from the testimonials page of a tour company. It is not that I didn’t mean it when I wrote it, it is because of what is below that I can not in good faith recomend them. Ok, so to be fair, I might have overreacted to a point and became a little to upset, however, I am the customer, and a really good one.  After all this went down, I found more than a few other people that have had the same problem, the guy is great as long as you like him, if you have a problem with something, get lost.

So, to start, let me say again that I do like Charles(He goes by Carlos,neither his real name, have to wonder why), he is a personable guy and a great dancer. Easy to spot, look for the black guy at the milongas hair sticking out everywhere. I met him though a friend the first time I came to BA and he got me all set up with classes. On top of that he sent me to places for shoes and places to eat. He is not Argentine, however, he has a great lay of the land.

 

The second trip, he offered me a discount, 50 an hour for classes instead of 60. He also got me a practice partner and one night a taxidancer, and this is where the problems all started. To make a long story really short(read the full story here https://tangogod.wordpress.com/2008/07/05/taxidancers-%e2%80%93-maybe-not-the-best-way-to-go/) she was really short, like 4 feet, and I am 6 ft. the person in charge knew me and had danced with me before, so she choose poorly. The milonga was having a competition that night and the girl that set up my taxidancer was in it, so I only got to dance two tandas.

 

So I am upset, really upset, and I email Charles. He doesn’t’ say anything at all. I mean nothing. After a couple more emails I am told I am going to pay for the dancer anyway, it is all my fault as I should have left when I saw the girl was too short. The fact that I was trying to make the best of a bad deal didn’t matter. Later I find out the person in charge has offered to pay for the taxidancers out of her pocket and admitted to him I had a bad time because the girls where lazy. I have a copy of that email posted on my blog.

OK, now I am pissed, so I start looking at his website, well, turns out that discount I was getting on the teachers, well, he was overcharging me on the practice partner by 10.00 an hour, and she made up half of my lessons. So I asked, what is the deal with that? He tells me I am ruining his vacation. This is a guy that I gave over 10K in two trips two. On top of all of this, he only sends you to places that he gets a piece of the action from, which means lower quality shoes and higher price to you. I have checked this out personally. Same for the restaurants he sends you to.

 

Plan your own vacation, a large group of volunteers are working on building a great community for people that have never been to BA, become part of it, let me know the milongas, group and private lessons you love and why, and together we all can help others have a great trip!!

Planning your buenos aires trip, part 3, in buenos aires, what to watch out for and where to dance

Ok, at this point you have a ticket, you know exactly where you are going to stay, you have booked at least a handful of classes, now what?

Well, let’s start with the airport. Customs is going to want to know where you are staying, so bring that info with you on the plane. Next, if you did not arrange to be picked up, and then wait until you exit the airport to get a taxi. You should not pay more than 100 pesos to get to where you are going, unless you are really out far. From Palermo I paid between 60 and 75.

Changing money in the airport is a very bad idea as well, as the exchange rate will not be in your favor. Stop at one of the many ATM’s and get a few hundred pesos, then fill up later. If you are renting a furnished apt, they will take USD’s for both the rent and deposit, so you don’t need pesos.

On the money front, be very careful where you change money, the best thing to do is use an ATM. Banks will change money for you as well, but trust no one! Counterfeit money in BA is big business. Even getting change from say a taxi driver or well, anyone, you have to feel the paper, look for the watermarks, and look at the numbers on the bill to see if they give off a kind of shiny reflective surface, if not, it might be a fake. Ask your tango teacher, your landlord, or a friend in BA to show you what to look for. If you watch the Argentines when they get change, they look at every bill, it is not an insult to do so. Also, if you think a bill is bad, give it back and ask for a different one.

So, as far as internet goes, BA is not lacking in internet cafes, and also has many wifi friendly places. If you have to use an internet café, I would be careful about entering any information, and as a rule of thumb, I just assume that every place I go is using a keyboard scanner and is getting both my username and password for every site I visit. I prefer to bring my own laptop and find places with wifi, and even then I do not access any banking or other sensitive sites.

Next, where to go to dance? Well, I got this handy dandy little sheet from a tour company, so I am going to pass it on. I have not been to every one of these, but I have marked them as follows

Daily list of Milongas in Buenos Aires:

Note: If you want to explore milongas alone, you might want to go to those that are in BOLD, although, they are better for those that have been dancering awhile. Those in Red are better for beginers

 

Monday

15-22 *	Conf. La Ideal	Suipacha 384 1º P	5265-8069
20-00	Villa Malcom	Av. Córdoba 5064	4776-6664
20-04	C. Gimnasia y Esgrima	Bartolomé Mitre 1149	4755-7620
21-03	Plaza Bohemia	Maipú 444	4311-3310
22-03	Viejo Correo	Av. Díaz Velez 4820	4958-0346
22-03	Club Independencia	Av. Independencia 572 º P	15-5422-1667
22-03	Lo de Celia	Humberto 1º 1783 1ºP	4304-2338
22-04	Sabor a Tango	Pte. Perón 2543	4952-0300
11p-4ª	Salón Canning	Av. Scalabrini Ortiz 1331	4342-4794

Tuesday

15-22*	Salón La Argentina	Bme. Mitre 1759	4371-6767
20-01	Saraza	Saraza 951	4925-5830
21-01	El Beso	Riobamba 416	4953-2794
22-03	Conf. La Ideal	Suipacha 384 1º P	4957-0111
21-02	Club Sin Rumbo	J.P. Tamporini 6157	4545-5003
22-03	Porteño y Bailarín	Riobamba 345	4372-6080
22-04	Sabor a Tango	Pte. Perón 2543	4952-0300
22-04	Viejo Correo	Av. Díaz Velez 4820	4862-0502
23-04	Salón Canning	Av. Scalabrini Ortiz 1331	4342-4794

 

Wednesday

 

15-22	Conf. La Ideal	Suipacha 384 1º P	5265-8069
15-23	Salón Canning	Av. Scalabrini Ortiz 1331	4832-6753
16-04	Viejo Correo	Av. Díaz Velez 4820	4958-0346
17-24	Plaza Bohemia	Maipú 444	4328-0465
22-02	La Carbonería	Venezuela 2939	15-5308-5468
22-03	Conf. La Ideal	Suipacha 384 1º P	5265-8069
22-03	Dandi	Piedras 936	4307-6780
22-04	El Beso	Riobamba 416	4953-2794
23-04	Asoc.Nat. Italiana	Alsina 1465	4307-0146

 

Thursday

 

14-20	Conf. La Ideal	Suipacha 384 1º P	5265-8069
15-20	Plaza Bohemia	Maipú 444 1ºP	15-5422-0905
15-22	Salón La Argentina	Bme. Mitre 1759	4371-6767
16-23	Club Español	Bdo. de Irigoyen172 2ºP	4201-7199
18-24	El Beso	Riobamba 416	15-4199-5902
18-23	Salón El Pial	Ramón L. Falcón 2750	4612-4257
20-02	Club Platense	Zufriategui 2021	4796-5412
21-02	Club Fulgor	Loyola 828	4778-1511
21-24	Club Villa Malcom	Av. Córdoba 5064	15-5813-6470
22-04	Viejo Correo	Av. Díaz Velez 4820	4958-0346
22-04	Salón Canning	Av. Scalabrini Ortiz 1331	15-5035-6095
22-04	Cto. Región Leonesa	Humberto 1º 1462	15-4147-8687
14-20	Conf. La Ideal	Suipacha 384 1º P	4780-1788

 

Friday

 

14-20	Conf. La Ideal	Suipacha 384 1º P	5265-8069
15-22	Viejo Correo	Diaz Vélez 4820	4958-0364
21-03	Plaza Bohemia	Maipú 444 1ºP	4771-8827
22-03	Club Independencia	Av. Independencia 572 º P	15-5719-2597
22-03	Salón El Pial	Ramón L. Falcón 2750	4601-7988
22-03	Club Sin Rumbo	J.P. Tamporini 6157	4574-0972
22-04	Viejo Correo	Diaz Vélez 4820	4958-0364
22-04	Glorias Argentinas	Bragado 6875	4659-2035
22-05	Salón La Argentina	Bme. Mitre 1759	4413-7239
22-05	Hotel Bauen	Av. Callao 360 PB.	4902-2728
22-05	Club Trovador	Av. Libertador 1031	4838-0546
23-05	Conf. La Ideal	Suipacha 384 1º P	5265-8069
23-04	Salón Canning	Av. Scalabrini Ortiz 1331	4832-6753
23-04	Pigmalión	J.A.Cabrera 4137	4867-0277
23-05	Club Gricel	La Rioja 1180	4957-7157
24-06	Asoc.Armenia	Armenia 1366	4774-6357

 

Saturday

 

15-22	Cto. Región Leonesa	Humberto 1º 1462	15-4023-5906
15-21	Salón La Argentina	Bme. Mitre 1759	4371-6767
17-24	Plaza Bohemia	Maipú 444	4932-8594
18-22	La Glorieta	11 de Sep y Echeverria	4674-1026
22-04	Club Sunderland	Lugones 3161	4541-9776
22-05	C. Social Chicago	L. de la Torre 2319	4687-1693
22-04	Viejo Correo	Av. Díaz Velez 4820	4958-0346
22-04	Club Pedro Echagüe	Portela 836	4637-0843
22-04	Glorias Argentinas	Bragado 6875	4659-2035
22-04	Asoc. Fomento B.Pop.M.Acosta	Mariano Acosta 1544	4612-4412
22-04	Conf. La Ideal	Suipacha 384 1º P	5265-8069
22-04	Club Bohemios	F.Bilbao 3760	4671-6946
22-05	Circulo Trovador	Av. Libertador 1031	4838-0546
22-04	Club Sin Rumbo	J.P. Tamporini 6157	4574-0972
22-04	Cto. Región Leonesa	Humberto 1º 1462	15-4147-8687
22-04	Salón Canning	Av. Scalabrini Ortiz 1331	4832-6753
22-05	C. Gimnasia y Esgrima	Bartolomé Mitre 1149	4755-7620
15-21	Salón La Argentina	Bme. Mitre 1759	4371-6767
23-04	Lo de Celia	Humberto 1º 1783 1P	4304-2338
23-04	Pigmalión	J.A.Cabrera 4137	4867-0277
23-05	Club Gricel	La Rioja 1180	4957-7157
21-01	El Beso	Riobamba 416	4953-2794
22-04	Asoc.Armenia	Armenia 1366	4774-6357

 

Sunday

 

13-19	C. Social Chicago	L. de la Torre 2319	4687-1693
15-21	Conf. La Ideal	Suipacha 384 1º P	5265-8069
16-22	Cto. Región Leonesa	Humberto 1º 1462	15-4023-5906
17-22	Plaza Dorrego	Humberto 1º 449
17-22	Plaza Bohemia	Maipú 444	4311-3310
18-23	La Glorieta (outdoor)	11 de Sep y Echeverria	4674-1026
18-24	Salón El Pial	Ramón L. Falcón 2750	4612-4257
18-24	Lo de Celia	Humberto 1º 1783 1P	4304-2338
18-24	Salón Canning	Av. Scalabrini Ortiz 1331	4832-6753
19-04	C. Gimnasia y Esgrima	Bartolomé Mitre 1149	4755-7620
19-01	Club Fulgor	Loyola 828	4778-1511
19-04	Club Señorial	Quesada 5286	4542-8589
20-04	Hotel Bauen	Av. Callao 360 PB.	4902-2728
19-02	El Rincón De Los Amigos	A. Nazca 1920	4501-7104
21-03	Club Platense	Zufriategui 2021	4796-5412
21-02	Club Gricel	La Rioja 1180	4957-7157
21-02	Glorias Argentinas	Bragado 6875	4687-1782
21-03	Salón La Argentina	Bme. Mitre 1759	4371-6767
21-04	C. Social Chicago	L. de la Torre 2319	4687-1693
21-03	Club Independencia	Av. Independencia 572 º P	15-5719-2597
21-03	Viejo Correo	Av. Díaz Velez 4820	4958-0346
21-03	Porteño y Bailarín	Riobamba 345	4372-6080
21-03	C. Cultural Torcuato Tasso	Defensa 1575	4307-6506
22-04	Asoc.Armenia	Armenia 1366	4774-6357
22-04	Sabor a Tango	Pte. Perón 2543	4952-0300
22-04	El Beso	Riobamba 416	4953-2794
23-04	Conf. La Ideal	Suipacha 384 1º P	5265-8069

 

 

 

I will also be posting these in a separate page later to make for easy reference.

Ok, now you have the list, go out and have fun!

Planning your tango trip to buenos aires part two – learning tango

Ok, so I do not feel that I am by any means qualified to tell people what to do and not to do as far as tango teachers go. Personally, I have heard a lot of really bad stories about some teachers and problems people have had in BA, but I have not had those problems, so take this post with a grain of salt. By the end of the part 1 blog and this one, you should be able to find a place to stay, and pick some teachers to have lessons with.

First, find a couple of teachers you want to have lessons with, either before you go to BA, or soon after getting there. The first time I went to BA, I did two lessons a day for 15 days, never regretting anything, other than how much I ended up over my budget (the more classes I had, the more I wanted, they are that good). I did the same thing the second time I went, but in the end, I believe I would have gotten more out of the second trip if I had backed off and stuck to one or two lessons, every other day, which is my plan for next trip.

A lot of the complaints I hear from people coming back from BA about finding good teachers are as follows:

1.       Class pricing, a lot of the teachers’ start their pricing at 100.00 USD, then negotiate down.

2.       Lessons from couples, I have heard good and bad from this, the good is one partner watches and the other dancers, the bad is, the student ends up watching the two teachers dance most of the time.  

3.       Everyone in Argentina teaches tango, so it is really hard to find good teachers. The really good ones are hard to get classes with, and are really expensive.

4.       I just don’t know where to start, there are the magazines, but they really don’t help at all in telling me who the really good teachers are.

My experiences where very different, due in part to the fact that I had a teacher from Seattle in BA when I went that was able to help me find someone that in turn was able to get me great a few great teachers. Unfortunately, after lessons with the BA teachers, I really felt that my Seattle teacher had been more or less cheating me out of really learning tango, but that is just how it goes sometimes.

So, what made me think that the lessons I got where so good? Well, to be honest, after my first two lessons, I really didn’t think I was learning anything, and was not all that happy. Then after the third lesson, I remember heading back to my apt. and when I walked thought the door, my head touched the ceiling lamp. It was like I had grown an inch or more overnight somehow. After that, I started to notice that I could much more easily get my follows to read my moves.             Here is the small list of things I was being taught:

1.       How to use my chest, up and out, and always starting my walking from my chest, not my feel.

2.       How to stand, believe it or not. Stand tall, slightly forward, chest out.

3.       How to walk, leading with the chest, and stepping to the music, first in regular time, then mixing it up a bit, faster and slower, but still with the music.

4.       How to feel what my partner was doing without having to look

5.       How to walk backwards.

6.       Lots and lots of drills, most of which help with staying on my axis. I think a lot of people don’t realize just how important this is.

By now you might be thinking, wow, so what about the steps? How can you tango with learning the steps? Well, I was very surprised to discover that learning the steps really does take a backseat to the rest of tango. If you can’t lead small clear concise steps that are easy to follow, then it doesn’t really matter how well you know the steps.

Now, to be clear, I was very much a beginner when I got to BA the first time, and even though I had been taking up to 10 private lessons a month in Seattle, no one had ever shown me anything but steps, and I can tell you that after 4 months of learning steps compared to 3 weeks of this technical stuff in BA, I was a much better dancer after the three week run.

I do not believe I would have been able to learn tango in three years if I had not gone to BA. So the point I am trying to make? If you teacher doesn’t bother to focus on your chest, your walk, and drills, and is only focusing on steps, you might want to try another teacher. From now on, the teachers I am taking lessons with in BA will in fact spend the first 30 minutes working on drills, and then we can walk and finally dance. That being said, this works well for me, and might not be what you are after.

I will vouch for my teachers, Andrea Mansilla being my favorite, but the others as well as being worth every dime. They charge me 50 an hour per lesson, but do package deals as well(note, even though you are getting package lessons, still pay each lesson after the lesson, this goes for all teachers). I have not had to ever neg. with them, and to tell the truth, I feel the price for what I am getting is really cheap.

So where can you go to find teachers? Get a recommendation from people that have been to BA and had great experiences. Head to the local tango salons where they teach at! I only know of two, Callao 86 on the fourth floor, and 1886 Alsina, both downtown. Once in, there are tons of teachers that have their cards out for you to take. You can also use the B.A. tango magazine, many good teachers advertize there. My rule of thumb is, try and get three classes with the teacher, as I do believe it takes that many to get started. If you are seeing strong results, keep going, if not, change and try someone else.

Watch out for the ones that say things like, wow, you are really getting better, when in fact you are not really leaning anything other than the steps, more so if you are only learning one step a class, or less. A good teacher will always be reinforcing your upper body movements, as well as the steps.

That is it for teachers, my next post, where to go and practice what you are learning, the ins and outs of milongas and practicas.

Planning your tango trip to buenos aires part one, getting ready

Because I seem to get so much interest and emails from those who want to plan a trip to BA, and get the most out of it, I am going to create this three part blog post about where to start, to stay, to go dance, lessons, and meeting up with others that are doing the same thing. I am just starting to plan my next trip, which will last for three months, and these are the exact things that I am doing to prepare as well.

The very first thing to do when planning your trip is to decide what you want to get out of your time in BA, and how long you have to complete that goal. This means, how long are you planning to stay in BA?

First, if you are going for more than 5 days, you might want to look at renting a furnished guest house. They are cheaper than hotels, and come with any number of amenities, including maid service, and internet. They don’t all come with these things, so make sure you look at the amenities section well for each of the listed apartments.

I like bytargentina.com because they have something like 1900 places to pick from, but there are many more you can use. Also, location can be important. If you stay downtown, you will be walking distance to a lot of milongas, practicas, and tango salons to take lessons at. If you like a little quiet, you might want to stay in Palermo, but you will spend money and time getting to and from milongas and salons, taxis could run you 5 to 10 USD each time, while if you are willing to take the subway, it is .33 cents each way.

If you are a first time tango dancer and you really want to ramp up, 10 to 15 days with a focus on more rather than less lessons would be a good idea. Believe it or not, I took 2 lessons a day with difference teachers and came back from BA a much better dancer then when I left. To give an idea of how much better, I truly feel that I had been wasting my money on private lessons in Seattle before going, and in fact ended up having a major falling out with that teacher soon after coming back to Seattle. In three weeks I had learned more than in 6 months of private lessons. I spent less money in the three weeks, including plane fare, and learned much more. Never again will I waste my money on private lesson in North America. Instead, I will ramp up my group lessons and workshops while waiting to go back to BA.

If you have been dancing tango for a while and are confidant in your dancing, maybe you want to focus more on dancing at the milongas and just cleaning your movements with your teachers. So you might want to take just 3 or 4 lessons a week, and some of those might be group classes. A copy of BA Tango magazine can help find group lessons. You can get a copy at most of the tango salons, and a lot of the tango shoe stores. I know that neo tango has plenty of copies every time I stop in.

In my next post I am going to focus on what to look for in a good teacher, and where to start to look for them, and how to get the most out of your lessons. I need to also add that everyone in BA teaches tango, so you want to get recommendations from people that have been to Argentina.

I am also going to announce a plan to create a new website (yes, another tango websiteJ), totally free and community based to help with these things. It is a place we can all go to see what has worked for others that have been to ba, and how to meet up with those of us that are there for the same reason. I am hoping to have it ready in the next month or so, and would really like to find people that have had good experiences in ba to help add places to stay, instructors that they love, places they dance, and good food and places to shop. From there we can have the community see and vote up or down on these things, and really be able to add value to the site.