Day 8: Milonga musts

Went to my first Argentinian milonga last night! For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, it's basically a big room or hall, where the lights are dimmed, tango music is played, and people come to dance all night. The dancing went ok - with a good partner and the basics it's easy enough to keep up, and it was cool to dance with loads of different partners, to get a feel for all the different styles. I learned that the embrace can be totally different - some people grasp the other person their body in what can be very passionate or weirdly uncomfortable, depending on how you feel about the partner! Some people only join one side of the body, some people touch only the head, and some leave plenty of "room for Jesus" as they say! Then there are slow dancers, and dancers who play with the music, and people who take it very seriously, and others who are there just to have fun.

The only problem for me were the little pauses. In between each song or piece of music (which are actually quite short) the music for the next dance comes on straight away, but no one dances! It's customary for everyone to stand on the dance floor chatting and have a bit of a rest, before continuing to dance again. Ok, so it's only about two minutes, but two minutes is a very long time when you're with the most beautiful guy in the room and trying to be attractive and intriguing, but just end up giggling in embarrassment and stumbling over basic phrases. I felt like such a tourist when he was saying something which sounded very sexy and promising, and I had to plead "In ingles, por favor!!" He didn't speak English (the cheek!) which was so frustrating but a very valuable lesson in hindsight.

The reasons for learning Spanish just keep piling up. You have no idea how much I will be concentrating in the lessons this week...