Tango is too expensive for the locals. It used to be we could go to dance every night and maybe in the afternoon. Now, no matter how much you love tango, you can only go maybe twice a week. The entrance to a milonga is 20 pesos, something to drink another 10. If you have to take a taxi home, at the least it is 20 pesos. A 50 peso night. For an American this is $12, for a European, 10 euros. For us, it is still 50 pesos
Sobering post, looking at how the economics of Argentina are affecting tango in Buenos Aires.
This blog post in my opinion was just extremist to get attention.
I've lived here in BsAs for 7 years and the milongas I go to are just as packed with locals as ever--summer or winter, the Saturday afternoon Milonga de los Consagrados is always full of hundreds of dancers, mostly local, just a few foreign. The other regular milonga we always go to is Nuevo Chique on Thurs. afternoon, and if you don't get there by 7 you don't get a seat. Deby, the writer of the blog you cited, does not attend those.
I also heard that last Monday in Gricel it was standing room only. Generally the Sat. afternoon milonga at Maipu, Cachirulu, is jammed and in fact the organizers are opening another one on Tues. I think at El Beso. Sueno Porteno on Weds. is a huge success and is always crowded.
Several new milongas have opened, some older ones are losing attendees and are fading away. It's true, some are hanging on by a thread. That is the rise and fall of the business--like any other dependent on being popular or trendy to attract customers.
While it's true that inflation has made all prices shoot up, it was never true that working locals went to several milongas every night of the week. A few milongueros did and still do, but they usually don't have to pay admission. Normally people go to dance on the nights before their days off. When Ruben was young and dancing every night, he'd sleep a couple hours in his car before reporting for work at the TV station. But that life doesn't appeal to him anymore and 2-3 times a week is sufficient.. However visiting tourists do dance every night, often at several milongas, because that's what they're here to do for 2 weeks or however long their vacation is.
Don't worry. There is definitely no danger of the death of tango in BsAs any time soon!
Come down soon and check it out for yourself!
Cherie
Posted by: Cherie | June 08, 2010 at 02:31 PM