Me, Nicky and Yetta (dutch girl from school) went to a milonga, or public dance, in the basement hall of an Armenian social club. It sounds random, and was in many ways, but all in all it was a brilliant night. There was 300 odd people in this quite sweaty hall. Only 10 pesos to get in, and went on from 9pm to 4am.
1st off there was general salsa dancing, then salsa lessons for everyone, and then some more salsa. Nic and Yetta were good, and I was poor but none of my dance partners complained. Prob coz they were all old girls in beginners class that I was in, and therfore their hips couldnt actually move hence matching my lack of samba sway.
After some fairly tragic 200 strong salsa line dancing to some story and a fisherman, with the dance moves trying to match the story, there was a Tango show with these world class dancers (or so we were told. It was pretty impressive so I´m not doubting it.) then tango free for all and then salsa again. It was incredible to see it in a natural environment, not one just for the tourists. We were very lucky to find it.
It made me feel sad that nobody dances in England. Seeing old and young mixing, and dancing together and enjoying themselves seemed do much better than people getting wasted and then dancing badly. It not being sleazy was the big thing. Nobody seemed to be on the pull, despite salsa and tango both being pretty sexy dances. The other thing was that the older the guys were the more in demand they were, because it´s such a difficult dance and the guy does all the hard work leading the girl.
We met a chap called Pancho. A top drawer comedy name, and a nice bloke too. He did some impressive salsa with the girls, and we had some good banter with him. Over a few beers and some pizza, he indulged us with our pigeon spanish and gave us the ins and outs of what was going on.
