Tango y Cultura Popular ® English Edition TyCP Special | Page 28

Ruined by Tango
There is another world, but
it’s within this one.
Paul Eluard.
We waste a lot of time
working.
A milonguero
I leave early from a dinner
with friends who are not
from the Tango world, at
a certain point I just can’t
follow the conversation, I get
anxious, agitated sitting on
a chair, I’m a lost case for
that mundane life, I make
up a gentle excuse, I have
to be responsible and go
where I’m being awaited. As
I arrive at the milonga, the
waitress will point out my
fickleness, making me feel
guilty: “What happened?
We were expecting you the
past weeks, I didn’t want to
release your table but...”
Is every tango dancer so
fanatic? Yes. Mondays El
Canning, Tuesdays Porteño,
Wednesdays La Nacional,
Thursdays Los Zuca,
Saturdays La Viruta... And
also, classes, technique, the
constant search of the best
teacher, the secret facts, and
the clothes, and the shoes...
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Tango is very demanding:
-Art (Tango is art) makes you
suffer if you don’t dedicate
yourself to it, it’s a very
demanding lover, and if you
share it with other things, it’s
all right, you will only miss all
its magic.
-The only way to dance well
is to let go everything else,
become a lazy bastard.
I attend two milongas per
week, and some more if I
have chance. My teenage
kids understand it, and if
I have to choose between
my wife and tango, I get a
divorce.
-Ah, no, that’s not right,
you’re just not dancing
enough, how come?
-But I’ve been working a lot
and my son...
-You’re not practicing, I can
tell, you’re not walking,
practicing ochos, giros...
you should do that every
single day, there’s no other
way... Tango must be danced
constantly, and besides, you
have to listen to Tango...
And foreigners, who are so
eager to come and dance
here, just can’t stand it once
they’re back home: