Argentine Tango Dance Social

Last night we went to the Milonga Pasional at Dance Studio Lioudmila. We're trying to incorporate both Ballroom and Argentine Tango events into our schedule. Anya and Anthony have the Milonga on the 2nd and 4th Friday every month. We are alternating between this and the Friday social dance at Studio One. We do get to practice ballroom quite a bit. We have our lesson with Richard on Monday. We regularly go to the O Club on Wednesday night. On Sundays we usually go to the practice at the Dale City Rec Center. Saturday nights there is usually a selection of places to dance at. Tuesdays and Thursdays we stay home and practice. Yes, we are nuts about dancing.

A milonga describes both a dance event and a dance where two people move together to music. The dance event normally includes tango, milongas, and vals. The songs are played in groups of three. There will be three tango, three milongas, then three vals. There is a short break between each set where some other dance style is played. We've been taking lessons from the Tango Duos for about a year. We are planning to take our vacation this year in Buenos Aires where we will see what kind of differences there are between tango taught in America and in Argentina.

Ax the Tax Party

It has been a pretty good weekend for dancing. On Friday we went to the weekly party at Studio One. It's always a friendly crowd there. The philosophy there seems to be to see how many different partners you can dance with during the evening. I used to be more hesitant to dance with other ladies. However, I have found that dancing with other partners really helps me develop my lead. Doris and I have been dancing together for 4 years and know each other so well that leading her is completely different than anyone else. It also helps that she can read my mind. That comes from being soul mates and over 30 years of marriage.

On Saturday night we went to the "Ax the Tax" party at Lioudmila's. They gave a special rate for the party and were having a sale on group lessons. There was quite a crowd. Fortunately, the floor is large enough to accommodate a crowd. We saw several people that we have met at different dance venues. You meet the nicest people dancing.

Part way through the evening they had several showcases danced by instructors and students. They really have some world class dancers who instruct there. There were:

• Bryan Duffy and Pauline Wang dancing the Argentine Tango


• Dimitar Petrov and Migle Mareele dancing the Waltz and Rhumba/Cha-Cha


• Krasi Petkov and Yana Blinova dancing the Viennese Waltz, Rhumba, and Jive

We won't ever get to the level of these dancers, but they sure are fun to watch.

Milonga Brava!

As part of the DC Tango Festival we went to the Argentine Embassy for a Milonga last night. The dancing began at 9:00 pm and there was a short introductory class and a demonstration mid-way through the evening. The couple who gave the class and the demonstration are performing tonight at Lisner Auditorium in the Tango y la Milonga at 8:00 pm.

This was our first time at the Embassy. We had a little trouble getting around the Lincoln Memorial circle; we ended up going over the Memorial Bridge only three times. The Embassy is on Q Street near DuPont Circle. We even found a parking garage nearby.

The Milonga was held in an upstairs ballroom. It was oval with very high ceilings, a marble fireplace, and works of art displayed on the walls. There were tangueros of all levels of skill as the floor filled. We saw Anthony of Tango Duos with Tatiana, his partner for the evening.