Maipu 444

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Plaza Bohemia at Alsina 2450: Sentimental y Coqueta and Lujos Sunday have new home

September 13, 2011

This is an update to page 140 of Happy Tango: Sallycat’s Guide to Dancing in Buenos Aires, the Plaza Bohemia entry.

***Plus, some extra good news dated 16 October 2011. Via an email from the Sentimental y Coqueta organisers Daniel Rezk and Juán Lencina, I hear that the new Plaza Bohemia at Alsina 2450 now has a wooden floor. I will be trying it out very soon.***

The original update posted on 13th September.

Some months ago I wrote about the closure of Plaza Bohemia, also famously known by its address Maipú 444. All the milongas previously held there were left homeless at the time. El Maipú (Mondays from 6pm) quickly moved to La Nacional, where it now thrives. And, La Marshall (Wednesdays from11.30pm, and featured in Happy Tango on page 147) found fresh life at Independencia 572. Other milongas took a well-earned break, but they were missed.

Now, I’m delighted to tell of a newly opened venue for milongas, managed by Plaza Bohemia. Its address is Alsina 2450 and it’s the new home of the previously much-loved Sentimental y Coqueta (Tuesday from 6pm) and Lujos (Sunday from 6.30pm). Both these milongas were last held at Maipú 444. I’m excited to try them out in their new home as soon as I get the chance. Meanwhile, my friend Rachel at TangoTaxiDancers has given me a super little report of Alsina 2450, after her first visit to the new Sentimental y Coqueta. She says,

The layout is absolutely traditional, though tonight it wasn’t boys on one side, girls on the other – more mixed. It is about twice the size of Maipú 444 and a tad chilly – but it is winter here at the moment, remember! It is at the back of the building, so you walk down a long corridor to get in, passing a little courtyard which will delight smokers and probably provide some ventilation in the summer. It’s on the ground floor. There was a food menu - the empanadas smelt very good, but in the end I was busy dancing so I didn’t get round to ordering any. They had a good range of drinks on offer and an actual wine list. Glass of coke $8, bottled pop or water $10, and upwards from there. My guests won the champagne, which was nice!

I imagine that the floor can be a bit hard on the feet (it’s tile not wood), and I’ve heard that the milongas at Alsina 2450 are still fairly quiet, though this of course may change fast once word spreads. When milongas close for a while, their dancers are forced to seek new favourites… so, this could be your chance to stake your claim to a well-located seat before the crowds catch on!

You can find details of Sentimental y Coqueta, Lujos, and other dance events at Plaza Bohemia, including the telephone numbers for reservations, at the Plaza Bohemia website (plazabohemia.net) under Salon — you have to wait for the day of the week to cycle round on the left of the screen and then click on the picture of the organisers… rather novel, if slightly annoying; I prefer a simple list myself.

The photo at the top of this update shows you the smiling organisers of Sentimental y Coqueta, Juán Lencina and Daniel Rezk. May they smile on you, and may you enjoy many ‘Happy Tangos’ in their care! I am looking forward to visiting their milonga soon.

Many Happy Tangos to you all! Sallycat

Buy Happy Tango and start planning your tango adventure to Buenos Aires, today! Do join our Facebook page facebook.com/happytango for updates, because sometimes I post things there first.

The book remains very well received, as you can see from the latest 5* review from Alice Liddel at Amazon.com here. Yes there have been a few changes on the ground in Buenos Aires, but I continue to cover them here in these updates, and the vast majority of the book remains relevant, useful and “spot on”.  It continues to be a must-have read for tango dancers. Please do buy before travelling as the book is not widely available in Buenos Aires. Thank you!

Click a link to buy Happy Tango from:

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amazon.com
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BookDepository.co.uk
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If you’re in Buenos Aires and need the book, let us know and we’ll do our best to help; sadly due to El Pipa’s recent death the bookstore in Salon Canning (mentioned in previous updates) has closed.

Maipú 444 milongas (El Maipú, La Marshall, Cachirulo, Sentimental y Coqueta and Lujos) plus a word on La Milonguita in Centro Montanés

February 24, 2011

***Updated 21 April 2011 to reflect recent changes***

A Happy Tango reader comments on the Happy Tango Facebook page,

I feel sick to my stomach and heartbroken. My favorite venue has closed and I never gave it a proper goodbye.

And I reply,

Neither did I. Just breezed out of there after some incredibly intense tango with some of my fave dance partners, changing my shoes and laughing with my girlfriend in the ladies, kissing the organisers and saying I’d see them in 5 weeks (UK trip), winking at the last man I danced with (very naughty), letting the dark curtain fall back behind me, chattering excitedly as I clomped down the carpeted stairs towards my Monday night pizza… Maybe, giving the space my passion for tango on that last night was the best goodbye of all; it knows that it was loved by our tango hearts and perhaps it is good that there weren’t goodbye tears there, just joy and the energy of the music filling the air. I will be keeping my ear to the ground for its future and will let you know. Just so grateful to have danced there at all.

Me and C. dance merengue in Maipú

Yes, it seems that Maipú 444 (Plaza Bohemia, page 140 of Happy Tango) really has closed. Sold, and with no plans for tango there in the future. I’ll walk past when I’m back in Buenos Aires to pay my respects and whisper my thanks through the doorway and up the stairs that were climbed, over the years, by so many expectant tango-hearts and stepped down by so many tango-tired feet. I’ll tell you what I find there, but, until I’ve actually seen its locked door for myself, there’s a teeny part of me that won’t quite believe it’s over. Perhaps you feel the same.

Meanwhile, here is a quick summary of the state of play for the milongas that were most recently being hosted in the place so often fondly referred to as ‘Maipú’, and that now continue life somewhere new.

Monday: El Maipú has moved to La Nacional at Alsina 1465, first floor, in Monserrat (6pm-1am, reservations 1553170257).

Wednesday: La Marshall (gay-friendly, and featured on page 147 of Happy T.) moves to Club Independencia, first floor, Avenida Independencia 571/2 from Wednesday 2nd March; from April 2011, La Marshall no longer operates on a Saturday, instead they hold a Friday night class and milonga in El Beso, 416 Riobamba; see their Facebook page.

Saturday: Cachirulo moves to Club Villa Malcolm, Cordoba 5064, from Saturday 5th March and continues in El Beso on Tuesdays. You can see the Facebook status update from the organisers of Cachirulo confirming this, here, and you can see the ad for the new Saturday Cachirulo in Villa Malcolm on page 79 of the B.A. Tango magazine edition 206 (in PDF) here. This YouTube video, by Tango Zen Chan Park, showcases the inauguration of Cachirulo in Malcolm: Inauguración de Milonga Cachirulo en Club Villa Malcolm, el 5 de marzo 2011, by Tangozenhouse; you will see why it is always a good idea to reserve a seat at this popular milonga.

Lujos has no new home for Sundays yet, but continues in El Beso (as usual) on Thursdays, and Sentimental y Coqueta (previously Tuesdays) has no new home either.

Off the subject of the Maipú milongas, other little change to the milongas in Buenos Aires is that La Milonguita (Centro Montanés, page 138 of Happy T.) now only operates on Sundays, not Fridays; Sunday was perhaps always its most popular night, and can be packed; it has a strong local vibe, and unless you are arriving after midnight (when a few people start leaving), you’ll need to reserve. Stay in touch with La Milonguita, via the website milonguitabaile.com.ar. Rather splendidly La Milonguita hosted a contest to find the most bewitching piropos (compliments with touches of smarm and even a flash of thinly-veiled lust) in honour of Valentine’s Day 2011; if you speak Spanish, you can enjoy the fabulous entries and winners here. You can also see that I got a little mention for my excited enthusiasm for the event, here on Facebook. It’s so good to support ventures that seem to me to be absolutely in the spirit of ‘Happy Tango’. Centro Montanés is now home to the new milonga Vida Mia on Friday nights.

Buy Happy Tango online and start planning your tango adventure to Buenos Aires, today!

Click a link to buy Happy Tango from:

amazon.co.uk
amazon.com
amazon.ca
amazon.fr
amazon.de
amazon.co.jp
barnesandnoble.com
BookDepository.co.uk
BookDepository.com
whsmith.co.uk

Please buy before travelling, as Happy Tango is not generally available in Buenos Aires.

Monday El Maipú milonga moves from Plaza Bohemia to La Nacional

February 7, 2011

La Nacional (El Club Italiano)

Following on from my last update on the subject of the closure of the venue Plaza Bohemia at Maipú 444, I have news that the Monday milonga El Maipú (organised by Dany and Lucy) has a new home from today, Monday 7th February, at La Nacional, Alsina 1465 (first floor), in the barrio of Monserrat. You can see the confirmation at the website

lanacionaltangos.blogspot.com.

The milonga runs from 6pm to 11pm, and reservations should be made by calling 15-5317-0257.

La Nacional had just been renovated when I wrote Happy Tango and milongas were only just re-opening there; I gave it a brief mention in 10 More Places to Explore, on page 151, but perhaps it will need to be one of my 20 Places to Try First in the second edition of the book (planned for 2012).

La Nacional (the Club Italiano) is an historic building well-suited to Traditional-style tango of the type offered by the El Maipú milonga, and absolutely worth visiting at least once, whether you dance or not. The dance floor is of hard wood and can be a bit slippery (dusty), so you might want to wear suede rather than leather soles. The space is not as intimate as Plaza Bohemia. The salon is bigger and quite long and arrow, has a higher ceiling and can be pretty chilly even in summer (due to mega-strong aircon) so take a wrap, ladies, just in case you get seated in an icy blast. I often wonder about the ghosts in La Nacional, as the place can feel a little cold to me in other ways; while you are sitting out a tanda or visiting the restrooms, see if you can sense a spooky energy seeping from the nooks and crannies and hooking you back into times past.

Do stop outside in the street before you go in and stare at the stunningly beautiful entrance. It’s art nouveau and pretty impressive. I like the staircase too, makes me feel grand. In a way, it will be great news for keeping the historic buildings of Buenos Aires alive, if this venue gets filled with the buzzing energy of more milongas in 2011.

La Nacional is in Monserrat, on Alsina between Luis S. Peña and San José, and the zone can feel a little edgy and deserted after dark. But it’s very close to Plaza Congreso where it is really easy to get a taxi; turn right out of the venue on Alsina and take first right down Luis S. Peña and walk one block to the Plaza. The 60 bus also travels back into the city down S. Peña, so that’s a possibility for those who want to bus it in the direction of Barrio Norte, Recoleta and Palermo.

There’s no doubt that I’m feeling a bit sad at the closure of Plaza Bohemia, Maipú 444, and I am kinda wishing that perhaps it has not disappeared from our Buenos Aires ‘milonga map’ forever. But meanwhile, let’s support the Plaza Bohemia milongas as they embrace change and move into fresh spaces. More as I hear it.

Big thanks to the super-knowledgeable-on-all-things-tango-BsAs Rachel and Eduardo at TangoTaxiDancers for letting me know about the El Maipú move to La Nacional.

Buy Happy Tango online and start planning your tango adventure to Buenos Aires, today!

Click a link to buy Happy Tango from:

amazon.co.uk
amazon.com
amazon.ca
amazon.fr
amazon.de
amazon.co.jp
barnesandnoble.com
BookDepository.co.uk
BookDepository.com
whsmith.co.uk

Please buy before travelling, as Happy Tango is not generally available in Buenos Aires.

Cachirulo Saturday, on the move from Plaza Bohemia, Maipú 444

February 5, 2011

News has spread fast on Facebook today that there will be no Cachirulo milonga in Plaza Bohemia (page 140 of Happy Tango), at Maipú 444, tonight 5th February and for the remainder of the month. It will open again on 5th March, but it will be held in Club Villa Malcolm (page 143 of Happy Tango). You can see the Facebook status update from the organisers of Cachirulo confirming this, here, and you can see the ad for the new Saturday Cachirulo in Villa Malcolm on page 79 of the B.A. Tango magazine edition 206 (in PDF) here.

It seems that the move to Malcolm was planned (as evidenced by the ad in B.A. Tango), but that the cancellation for February may have been a surprise (and it certainly was to me!); rumour is that Plaza Bohemia, Maipú 444, may have closed its doors (temporarily?). I can’t confirm this at the moment, but to be sure of having the latest information, do phone the appropriate milonga organiser before setting out to Plaza Bohemia this week. You can find recent telephone numbers from page 78 of the B.A. Tango magazine, link above.

I am grateful to dear Tina Tangos for letting me know that the Saturday Cachirulo is on the move. Meanwhile, Cachirulo in El Beso continues on Tuesdays from 8pm.

.

Buy Happy Tango online and start planning your tango adventure to Buenos Aires, today!

Click a link to buy Happy Tango from:

amazon.co.uk
amazon.com
amazon.ca
amazon.fr
amazon.de
amazon.co.jp
barnesandnoble.com
BookDepository.co.uk
BookDepository.com
whsmith.co.uk

Please buy before travelling, as Happy Tango is not generally available in Buenos Aires.