La Catedral

La Catedral remains one of the strangest but 'must visit' milongas in Buenos Aires just around the corner from Practica X it is a perfect finish to a Tuesday night. With an uneven floor, beer crates for chairs and a huge plastic heart hanging from the ceiling it is definitely a dress-down place - pity noone told Mariano :)

Weak at the knees

Johanna has a weakness for the Argentinien men but there is one particular kind that makes her go weak at the knees - the taxi-drivers. I don't mean the so-called Tango taxi drivers(the men that hire themselves out for the evening to dance with the ladies), I mean the real taxi drivers who sit behind the wheel in their black and yellow fiats. Here is one of her favourites!

Autumn

Weather report from Buenos Ares. Glorious weather, well almost, colourful leaves adorn the pavements, the city is cooling down but the sky is still blue and the sun hasn't gone into hibernation, yet! Temperature around 9 - 12 degrees with a light south-westerly wind. Yesterday was apparently exceptionally nice for the time of year - but we missed it as our nocturnal habits meant that we never saw the light of day.

Dinner quiz

Can you guess who ate the carrot salad and who ate the medium-rare Argentinien steak?

Clue - maybe it will help if you look at the faces
Answers on a postcard to Geronimo Primero, Nicaragua 5765.

Zoega's Presso

Don't you just hate 'those people' that can't travel abroad with their precious tube of Kalles caviar,'knäckebröd' and especially Swedish coffee. I mean do these people think that coffee doesn't exist outside Sweden? After all it comes from Brazil or Colombia and is only brought to Sweden to be roasted. HEEEEEEEEEEEEELP...now I have become one of 'those people' taking South American coffee from Europe back to South America - but thank God I did, there is nothing like Zoegas ;) especially when the B & B serves 'lagrimas'.

REENCUENTR0 3 milongas 1 day

The first day was long and just got better and better as it went on. The afternoon matinee milonga was made to the obligatory salon of Confiteria Ideal, the place is steeped in history and tradition and even though the dancers there are nothing to write home about a trip to BsAs cannot be made without dancing there at least once. The quote of the day came from a guy who tapped me on the shoulder and said "I'm 80 years-old and still dancing", when I told him my age he dismissed me and said I am double you and when I said Johanna's age he just laughed. The long-awaited dinner at the parrilla Reencuentro lived up to its standard of the past. I had 3 provaletas and salad (a strange choice for a place famous for its meat), while Johanna ate half a cow and was heard muttering, between mouthfuls, "This is how meat should taste". El Beso was the first evening dance. Johanna was not impressed at all why and was heard to say " Why did I travel all this way to dance with dancers at this level" it was not the best night at El Beso, Sunday is usually a lot better. La Viruta saved the day, say what you like about this place, they play crappy music at times, people can be drunk, chaos on the dance floor, not the best dance surface, dingy, tacky, like a basement nightclub but the dances here can be as good as anywhere else. Now Johanna's mood had changed and she now new why she had travelled so far and is quoted as saying "The best dances...ever".

Salsa queen

0615 Johanna caught in the act, strutting her stuff to the tones of salsa at La viruta and she wasn't even drunk! While she discovered a talent she didn't know she had with one of her new found Argentine admirers Simon was left to entertain himself in other ways

Milonga De Los Morochas

Milonga De Los Morochas - El Beso - the brunettes milonga - lucky for me that I had two with me otherwise they probably wouldn't have let the blond guy in.

Krishna - food of the gods

And so it was back to Krishna for food blessed from the gods. Last time I was here they closed for the holidays before I had managed to eat my way through the menu, so I started where I left off - empanadas with soja meat, tofu steaks - food to die for! Vishnu my hare krishna cat would love this place - I think he is thinking of opening a franchise in Sweden.

Gay Vodka

The search for a typical Swedish present contunued at the airport, I had just run out of ideas and was becoming a bit desperate when I saw an unusual colourfully designed bottle of Absolut vodka - perfect I thought! So I bought the present and Proudly carried the bottle in its sealed plastic bag through the airports onto 3 planes and all the way to Argentina. It was only when I got to Buenos Aires and read the writing on the bottle that I realised that I had been PROUDLY flaunting Gay vodka from one side of the continent to the other. The bottle was a special Gay Pride festival edition and the colourful design was the rainbow flag - now I know why the steward paid special attention to me on the flight and served my food with an extra flirty smile.

Events on the way!

The long journey from Copenhagen to Paris to Rome to Buenos Aires was nothing short of eventful. The first fright was when we couldn't check in at Copenhagen because our booked flight with Alitalia didn't exist, our agent had forgotten to rebook us with Air France. Once one the flight the next incident was when a a passenger kept pointing at me and then stood up shouting at the top of her voice in French - it turned out that she had taken offence to me taking off my shoes. Maybe time to buy some new insoles :)The steward asked me politely if I could put my shoes back on to avoid troubling her. Finally arrived at the B&B only to be locked out the girl on duty had fallen asleep a few phone calls later we finally got in just in time for breakfast, but when we asked for breakfast she told us " Not today" . The pictures are of us enjoying an espresso in Rome (well at the airport at least).

Midwinter soon

Final packing before the trip to the other side of the hemisphere, swapping the Swedish midsummer for the Argentine midwinter, one question I keep asking myself is Why? Those of you who dance know the answer, for those who don't dance start dancing or it wil remain a mystery forever.
We are staying at Cecilia's cousin's B & B 'Geronimo' in Palermo Hollywood
www.bedbreakfastpalermo.com.ar
just a stone's throw (if you have a catapult) from Canning, Malcolm, La Viruta and not to far from Estudio Calas for the private lessons with Carolina - this is Buenos Aires so everything is relative, close here means a taxi ride in Sweden.
Tickets...check...I pod...check...tango shoes...check...camera...check...Passport...ch...where the hell is it....

Berlin Revisted

22 May - 26 May 2008
No pictures from this trip as Kirsty the procrastinator has still not managed to buy a usb cable for her camera. So for the pictures from the sailing trip on the Berlin river you will have to use your imagination.
Thursday - Spee bar 3/5
Friday - Waltzerlinks 4/5
Saturday - La GloriBeta 3/5
Saturday - Rixdorf 5/5
Sunday - Tangoloft 1/5
Great weekend included two new milongas for me, the premier of Berlin's outdoor milonga La GloriBeta in kreuzberg and also Thursday at Spree bar (Osthaufen) by the river. Rixdorf remains by far the best milonga in my humble opinion while Tangoloft just goes worse and worse the aternative music they play has now gone totally 'whacky' and if you are lucky you might get two traditional tandas, still the food is good! Next stop Buenos Aires...

Malmö Festival - The END

A fantastic week full of inspirational workshops and fanastic dances is over...the Malmö Tango Festival 2008 has drawn to a close. Tango of international quality arrived on our doorstep last Wednesday and we were treated to 5 days of top quality dances and dancers.
*No more deciphering the metaphorical language of Thierry Le Cocq as he explains the intricate details of the milonguero
*No more amazing dances with internation dancers of high quality
*No more delicious vegan dinners made by my imported Stockholm chef Julia and her willing apprentice Anna
*No more after milonga morning tea before bed as we sit up until 0600 chatting about the nights events
*No more Kirsty moaning about the weather, having to smoke outside and her lack of sleep
I am now in the stage of tango depression... so there is only one cure... find my credit card, surf and book... I have just booked two new tango trips Liepzig in April and Berlin in May

Back to Baires

Well the flight is booked to Buenos Aires on Friday 13th June (Yes I know it is an unlucky day to fly and I know I will be swapping the Swedish summer for the Argentine Winter - but who cares when you are in he heart of tango)
2 weeks intensive training with Caro Calas (again) and no doubt lots of shoe shopping with Johanna.
A table is booked with Cecilia, Cinthya and Pablo at restaurant Reencuentro in Palermo on Saturday 14th before the milongas. And a week later at the same restaurant with Luba :)

Berlin Revisited

I am escaping all my cardboard boxes that litter my apartment ahead of the move on 31 January and going back to Berlin for the weekend.
Schedule:
Friday - Walzerlinksgestrickt
Saturday Balhaus Rixdorf (my favourite)
Sunday at Tangoloft
Thanks to Easyjet's campaign and Pixie's friend the return flight and apartment for the weekend cost a total of 500 SEK (35 GBP) - lovely!!!
Photos to follow soon...

Berlin

Berlin 6 Dec - 10 Dec 2007
With so many friends traveling to Buenos Aires there is only one thing to do... fly to Berlin and console myself in Europe's Tango capital. I have timed the trip to coincide with Kirsty and eight of tangueros/as making the trip from Brighton so it will be a big get-together. Who needs Buenos aires when you have Berlin? :O/

Warsaw Festival

An intensive, enjoyable, eventful weekend with many unexpected suprises and events Living in Malmö it is easy and very cheap to travel to Warsaw to dance tango - for example, the return flight is less than the fare to Stockholm (unless you are like Pixie and book your train ticket 6 months in advance. So my trip to Warsaw was long overdue and what better time to visit than the last weekend in September for the festival. Having booked my trip I was happy to find out that one of my favourite teachers was at the festival and not only that but he was only teaching milonga. This gave me the 'röda tråd' that I find is missing at (most)festival workshops. The chance to go deeper and build on previous workshops and expand your dance all under the watchful eye of the same teacher. I took all the milonga classes at all levels with Diego'El parajo'& Victoria. The milongas were a joy to be at. Even if the Thursday venue was not ideal and the floor quite bad the dances and music more than made up for it. The Friday and Saturday milongas were more plush, being held in a beautiful old building and the dances were second to none. Unfortunately I had to fly back on Sunday and miss the last evening of the festival, but it was good to go out on a high. I will have to plan better next year to include the Sunday milonga. All in all it was a great festival to end a perfect tango summer! (Sorry no photos - too busy dancing)

Stockholm 59 Festival - August

Just arrived back from 3 hectic days in Stockholm.
This time I managed to squeeze in some sun instead of just tango. 9 of us spent all-day Saturday on Arne's boat in the Stockholm archipelago a perfect way to recharge the batteries ahead of a long night of dancing. The festival was a fantastic experience, a great mix familiar and new faces. The official milonga finished at 3am and then it was a short walk to the 'after party' in the basement of Chicago. Now I can add Stockholm to the places I have danced in: Malmö, Lömma, Lund, Veberöd, Tylösand, Sitges, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Copenhagen, Stockholm and soon to be Warsaw. I have just booked my flight to the Warsaw festival at the end of August.

Sitges Tango Festival 2007

Well it lived up to its high expectations!
A mixture of fun dancing in the sand, serious dancing at the gorgeous milonga venue and narco dancing until well past dawn at the after party.

Tylösand

Living room Practica

Why do I have a coffee table, armchair and foot stool if all they ever do is get pushed up against the living room walls? It has become essential to have as much free floor space in my apartment as possible. My 'living room practica' is open 24/7 Monday evenings, Wednesday afternoons, Thursday mornings but most frequently in the small hours as my weary body comes home from dancing out-and-about and my brain says just one more Tanda. The tango drug addiction gives energy and extreme pleasure with the bearable side-effects of sleep depravation and an empty living room.

Sitges soon!

After a fantastic intensive long weekend at Tylösand it was back to basics in Malmö as I took 4 basic workshops to brush up on my skills ahead of the highlight of the summer in Sitges. Last year Sitges was a well-kept secret but now it seems like the cat is out of the bag as half of Malmö seems to be descending on the quaint Spanish resort not to mention all the other tango freaks from around the world. To refresh your memory of the festival here are some photos from last year's beach tango

Tango Camp Tylösand

Time for a midsommar weekend of dance, spa, lots of food and no sleep!
Courses in Advanced Classic with Malin from Uppsala - see photo!