12/31/2007 – 3/5/2008: Buenos Aires, Argentina
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The 9 weeks spent in Buenos Aires could be easily described as the path of a drug addict. As any educated cultured human being, I had hope in myself in exploring something in the beautiful Argentina other than tango. But alas, that desire, however meek it became starting from the very first tango outing, got completely annihilated in the mad non-ending maelstrom of milongas... Ok, a trip to Iguazu counts for something...

It all started out with a sober 3-4 times a week + occasional classes, escalated to every evening by week 3 (with only 3 nights missed – 2 of them being outside of the city in Melina's and Claudio's vacation house (quinta), and one because of an illness. The last month, i was dragging my poor exhausted body to at least 2 (at times 3) different tango outings every single night. My legs could no longer hold me, my ears couldn't bear the music, my eyes got tired of seeing the same places and faces, but some mysterious force would invade my body around midnight, get me decked-up and made-up, put 2 pairs of high heels in the bag, and off I go (or off I stumble)!

January and February being the hottest months in Argentina apparently didn't prevent hoards of foreign tangueros (present company including) of taking over the dance halls of Buenos Aires. Some nights, one could hear more English than Spanish around the tables. Claudio (that man who knows everyone and is known by everyone in the tango world of BsAs) told me that he was happy when he would see a familiar face around at a milonga.

Buenos Aires tango is hard to describe factually, but much easier emotionally. It leaves you with a felt sense that whirls around long after you leave – an emotional range that it presents to you, so rich and so densely packed in the short course of time you spend there. It's best to go prepared for anything, because it fills you up and then leaves you empty and back up again just to remind you how much of a zebra life if – black stripe after white, back to black, just to be sure that after it is another ribbon of white. How addictive that is...

Milongas is nothing but lyrics from tango songs acted out on the dance floor and around. The idea is to create emotional dynamics – the more intense the better. Underlying all of them is a great desire that could never be fulfilled. The longing for a lost love, the childhood house that no longer exists, the mother that passed away... People work hard in creating desires, and then work even harder to maintain that state of permanently desiring something – the key is never satisfying it completely because that's what murders the desire; in the satisfaction is its antidote.

BA is rather strict about its styles. This idea of “I dance every style” that makes some of us so proud is thrown out of the window there. After so much dancing with certain partners of a certain style, the body and its movement acquire a particular energetic signature. I've had a stage-style dancer ask me after our first dance if I dance “nuevo”. “How did you know?” - I asked. “Oh, it's obvious: the embrace, the hips”. There you have it – at some point your body makes a choice, even if your head wants otherwise.

Through a very caring, and proactive (read: introducing me to everyone they knew) attention of Claudio, Melina, and someone who became a close friend over those weeks, Patricia – I successfully avoided the problem of sitting out, or “planchar” (ironing) as they say at milongas. From El Beso to La Virtuta, from Nino Bien, to Villa Malcom – every night contained the mystery of a new great partner to be uncovered. This partly explains the escalating addiction... The beauty of the scene is that it's large enough that there is always a new face to be discovered – whether it's a local accidently dropping by this particular milonga, a teacher returning from a tour abroad, or a passing foreign tanguero – every night has the potential of being the best yet. Potential, I say, because let's not forget that the desire cannot be completely satisfied, and expectations fulfilled – for every magical night, there is one of... well, leaving something much greater to be desired.

With that, enjoy the pics. In case you wonder about the characters – Meli & Clau are Melina Brufman and Claudio Gonzalez. Together with Patricia, they were my absolute best friends and guides in BsAs. Lidia is a russian dancer with whom I became good friends towards the very end of my stay... Salon Canning and Villa Malcolm are milongas in Buenos Aires. It doesn't take a genius to see that the former is posh, well-dressed, more traditional style place, the latter is the crazy nuevo venue for the youngsters. Disfrute, muchachos!

P.S. For those of you who remember Sharukh Merchant from Boston, he has moved to Buenos Aires a few years ago and opened his own Indian restaurant. Here we are - over a delicios good-bye dinner for me: Clau and the girls: Patricia, Melina, and moi.